Digne-les-Bains is a town located in the heart of the Alpes de Haute Provence department. The city has 17 inhabitants. Its economy is mainly based on trade, tourism, hydrotherapy and its administrative nature. The smallest prefecture in France, Digne-les-Bains is a quiet town, in the heart of nature: a real advantage for the people of Digne. Its geographical location is quite remarkable given that it is halfway between the ski resorts (Vallée de la Blanche and Vallée de l’Ubaye) and the sea (Marseille, the Côte Bleue, etc.). Digne-les-Bains is located in the heart of the largest geological national nature reserve of Europe and the first UNESCO Geopark in the world.
This circuit, along the main fountains of the city, will be an opportunity to discover these historic arteries and buildings.
The Fontaine des Trois Vallées signal
Located on the Tampinet square, it is a work by the painter and sculptor François Fau, known as Farvèze. It is made of a special steel sheet 3mm thick. It symbolizes the geographical location of Digne, nestled in a crisscross of mountains, at the confluence of 3 valleys and 3 rivers:
- La Bléone : takes its source in the massif of the three Bishoprics
- The Mardaric : takes its source in the Marcoux plain and crosses the city from the Bourg district to flow into the Bléone
- Hot Waters : takes its source in the Eaux Chaudes valley
Republic Fountain
The Fountain of the Republic is located at the intersection of Boulevard Gassendi and rue du Colonel Payan. It was formerly called the Column or Saint Charles fountain. Its construction was decided in 1831, but it was not carried out until 1850. On July 14, 1889, it took the name of the Fountain of the Republic on the occasion of the centenary of the Revolution. It is a strong symbol of the Dignoise resistance, it is also the place of commemoration of the liberation of August 19.
The Great Fountain
The waters of the so-called spring Five floors, located in the Bourg district between the Colette and Prévôté valleys, were captured under the municipality of Mr. Jassaud de Thorame, mayor from 1822 to 1825, and then distributed by the following municipality, that of Jules du Chaffaut, mayor from 1825 to 1829.
The construction of the Grande Fontaine, using the overflow from the reservoir, dates from 1828. It is the work of an unknown contractor.
Built in Marcoux and Barcelonnette stones, it consists of two pools, a two-sided portico, seven columns topped with Tuscan capitals, characteristic of the Restoration, and two basins. A wash house was built next to the fountain in 1867. It no longer exists.
Around 1890, a flower lover, Mr. Brunet, had the idea of throwing seeds of all kinds on mosses and lichens which would thus “ formed in summer a carpet of greenery enamelled with buttercups ". But a few years before the First World War, the municipality was obliged “ to make a clean sweep of the tuff and the plants that adorned it ».
La Grande Fontaine was also the center of the festivals of the same name which, from 1936 to the end of the 1960s, enlivened this district every summer during the first week of July.
This monument has been immortalized by numerous painters, the most famous of whom were Paul and Étienne Martin, Henri Jaubert...
The Grande Fontaine was included in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments by ministerial decree of March 9, 1927.
On May 15, 2006, major renovation work began: removal of limestone concretions, new coating on the stones, etc. Led by the Impressions company of Guy Raimon, stonemason in Thoard, they ended at the end of July the same time. year.
The Lavoir fountain
Place du Mitan. It dated from the 1857th century, but was demolished in 1858-1860 to allow the expansion of the square; finally a fountain and a washhouse were rebuilt around 2009. The central wooden beam was hit and destroyed by a vehicle in September 2010, thus causing the roof to collapse. Repair work carried out in January XNUMX by the company Monardo.
The Saint Charles well
In the 13th century, the medieval well Saint Charles was one of the main water points in the city. Its use ceased around 1446 when a pine wood pipe was installed to bring water from the Vallon Saint-Jean spring.
During the wars of religion, the well resumed activity at the end of the 16th century and again in 1786 when the pipe coming from the Saint-Jean spring broke. From 1826, this source was abandoned in favor of that of Cinq Sols discovered in the Bourg district. Following this discovery, the Great Fountain, the most monumental in the city. Then Saint Charles was then definitively decommissioned.
Diameter of the well: 2,20m. It was undoubtedly a fortified well. It was accessed from the castle via an underground gallery.
Built using very fine limestone cut stones, it ends with a dome in the shape of a furnace closed at street level by an inspection buffer (block visible in the niche in the wall opposite). Water could be drawn from the outside but also through an interior gallery still present and connected to the castle.