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Heritage classified

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Origin and history

The Recoumène viaduct, also known as the Recoumène viaduct, is a railway bridge built between 1921 and 1925 as part of the "Transcevenole" line project, which will link Le Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire) to Aubenas (Ardèche). Designed by engineer Paul Séjourné, specialist in masonry constructions, he crossed the Gazeille (formerly La Ricomène) and the departmental road 535. Despite its technical completion, the line was abandoned for economic reasons, leaving the viaduct unused. Its 270 meters in length, its 8 arches of 25 meters in local basalt, and its bold curve (ray of 325 meters) make it a prowess of engineering.

The site, led by Ortigues and Ollanier engineers and carried out by Ch. Milliat, employed innovative techniques for the time, such as the use of cement mortars for extremely fine batteries. Set in a 21-thirty ramp overlooking the 65.60-metre river, the work was almost completed when a ministerial decree of 9 October 1925 frozen the work, limiting conservation interventions. The adjacent sections were declassified in 1937 and 1941. The engineer Auguste Jouret, having participated in its construction, later called it "the last piece of bravery", stressing its elegance and its worthless work of art, intended to be contemplated.

Ranked a historic monument on August 21, 1989, the viaduct is now integrated into tourist routes (hiking, mountain biking, elastic jumping) and symbolizes the aborted ambition of the Transcevenole. Its black basalt, typical of the Velay, and its refined architecture make it a major visual landmark of the Mézenc landscape. The batch sale of the works of the line from 1958 finally marked the end of the railway project, transforming this viaduct into a poetic vestige of the industrial era.

The name Recoumene comes from a deformation of La Ricomene, former name of the Gazeille according to the Napoleonic cadastre. Located near the Monastier-sur-Gazeille, a place famous for its connection with Robert Louis Stevenson (author of Voyage with a donkey in the Cevennes), the viaduct today attracts for its history and aesthetics. The sources, including Wikipedia and Monumentum, highlight its role as evidence of early twentieth century railway techniques and their decline in the face of individual motorization.

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