Domaine impérial de Solférino

Solférino

A model village born of an imperial dream, where the rows of workers' houses keep the memory of an agricultural utopia planted in the heart of the pines.

In 1857, Napoleon III had 8,000 hectares of uncultivated moorland bought to create the "imperial farm of the Landes", an experimental estate entrusted to Henri Crouzet, an engineer of the Ponts et Chaussées, who was charged with pine planting, drainage, well-boring and agricultural trials there, in the spirit of the 1857 law on the draining and cultivation of the Landes de Gascogne. Thirty-eight houses were built along a central street leading to the church of Sainte-Eugénie, the labourers being housed there free of charge in return for 75 days' work a year. After the emperor's death in 1873 the estate passed to the Empress Eugénie until 1920.

Getting there : Site patrimonial remarquable (protected heritage site); the village is still inhabited, the church of Sainte-Eugénie and the small imperial museum (former town hall) can be visited, discovery trails across the estate.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound