Traditional homes

Did you know?
The steep roofs of Mur-de-Barrez have a ball of basalt, supposed to bring fertility to the house.

Traditional homes : basalt and roof slabs

The originality of the architecture lies mainly in the roofs, the variety of chimneys and the skylights.

The roofs are very steep because there is a lot of snow in winter in Carladez and especially because the roof slabs are very heavy (100 kg to the square metre on average). The steeper the roof slope, the less weight it has to bear.

The roof slabs are made of schist.

Many roofs have windows in saddleback form, “fenestrou”, and fanlights.

At first glance, the local villages seem “austere”, with their black basalt houses. But this impression is quickly dissipated by the fineness of the lines and the light reigning in these hill villages.