Station 1 · Le Centre Bourg

At the center of the village, behind the church, the buildings essential to the life of the inhabitants were grouped together. Most of them were damaged in 1940, along with the stained glass windows of the church, when the French army dynamited the bridges over the Altenbach to delay the advance of the German army. The residents of the town center, who had been evacuated to the Landes region, found only ruins upon their return in October of the same year.

The town hall, or mayor's office, also housed the school until 1913. Damaged by the bridge explosions, it was demolished in 1950 and rebuilt in its current form, then renovated between 1991 and 1994. It was during this time that the Fountain of the Three Virgins was also created.

Before the Revolution, there was a guardhouse that also served as a police station and prison located between the church and the town hall. Restored in 1847, it was demolished in 1946 due to damage caused by the bridge explosions.

Behind the town hall and along the stream, there was a washhouse and a dairy built in 1935 to collect milk produced in the village by its many farmers. As modern elements, refrigerated lockers were also built here during the same period, rented to residents. The entire complex remained operational after the war and was only demolished in 1992.

Seen by the Children

At the center of the village, there used to be a dairy where farmers would store their milk. It was demolished because there were no longer many dairy farmers. A communal freezer allowed families to rent a locker to freeze their food. It was destroyed in the 1990s because nowadays, everyone has a freezer at home.