Today we present a project that despite having taken 10 years to be built, has opened its doors in a timely moment. It is a monument to the memory of all those who passed through this military camp located at the foot of the French Pyrenees.

In the middle of World War II it was the largest concentration camp in southern France and later an internment camp for prisoners of war. But prior to this use, the camp was used as a temporary camp for Spanish refugees during the Civil War.

A monument which aims to remember the place and the people who were interned there, and it can also help us remember the solidarity of those who received us in times of war.

Created by Rudy Ricciotti the project was the winner of the competition held in 2005 together with the office Passelac & Roques Architectes. The building is a hard, opaque piece, which is half buried in the camp's ground, only offering views from the inside to the sky from a interior courtyard. The monument will host termporary and permanent exhibitions and will serve as research and learning space.

A witness to some of the twentieth century’s darkest moments – the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the Algerian War of Independence – the Camp de Rivesaltes occupies a unique and important place in French history. A former military camp (Camp Joffre), a camp for Spanish refugees, the largest internment camp in Southern France in 1941 and 1942, an internment camp for German prisoners of war and collaborators, and the primary relocation centre for Harkis and their families. Its history is unique.

In order to tell this story, a memorial designed by architect Rudy Ricciotti and the office Passelac & Roques, opened its doors on 16 October 2015. Built on the former block F of the camp, in the middle of the existing buildings, the memorial, measuring 4,000 sqm, provides an authoritative account of the history of the forced displacement and subjugation of populations. It is also a place where visitors may cultivate the memory of all those who once passed through its doors.

The project of the Mémorial du Camp de Rivesaltes has a long history, punctuated rather unsurprisingly by the vagaries of politics, given that history, politics and memory are so closely intertwined. Three individuals played a decisive role in the origin of the project: Claude Delmas and Claude Vauchez, who were instrumental in getting the local authorities on board with the project, and Serge Klarsfeld who worked on a national level. It all began in the mid 1993, with the publication of the Journal de Rivesaltes 1941-1942 (Diary of Rivesaltes), written by Friedel Bohny-Reiter, a nurse working with a Swiss relief organization for children. In 1994, a monument was erected in memory of Jews deported from the Camp de Rivesaltes to Auschwitz, with another monument being erected in December 1995 in honour of the Harkis. This was followed by another commemorative monument in 1999, in homage to the Spanish Republicans.
 

“We cannot remain detached from the history of the Camp Joffre through a discourse that is indifferent to the human drama that unfolded on this very site,”

Rudy Ricciotti

The memorial is silent and oppressive: it lies in the earth, squarely facing block F, with a calm and silent determination, a monolith of ochre-coloured concrete, untouchable, angled towards the sky. At once buried in, and emerging from the earth, the memorial appears on the surface of the natural landscape as one enters the camp, and stretches to the eastern extremity of the former meeting place, to a height that is level with the roofs of the existing buildings.

This arrangement or co-visibility doesn’t hinder a reading of the features of block F. The effects of erosion over time are noticeable in some of the buildings, thereby marking erasure and absence, questioning the visitor regarding memory or oblivion. The site has been reclaimed by a tenacious and spontaneous vegetation.

The project has altered none of this. If anything, it has been showcased, forming a natural backdrop to an exterior pathway where visitors can stroll freely. An environment propitious to meditation and serenity… To the west of the memorial, some of the buildings have been rebuilt, recreating the serial and alienating spatiality of the camp. Here, there is an absence of vegetation, resulting in a flat, arid landscape, unmarked by shadows, and buffeted by the wind. From the carpark, situated at the outer south-west corner of the block, the visitor can enjoy panoramic views of the camp.

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Architects
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Rudy Ricciotti + Passelac & Roques Architectes.
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Collaborators
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Engineering.- Grontmij. Acustics.- Thermibel. Landscape.- In Situ.
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Location
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Rivesaltes and Salses-le-Château.
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Client
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Rgion of Languedoc-Roussillon.
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Agent
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Roussillon Aménagement.

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Area
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3000 m² of which 1,700 m² are exhibition rooms.
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Exterior area
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42 ha.

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Budget
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14.800.000 € incluyendo escenografía
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Dates
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2005-2015.
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Photography
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Kevin Dolmaire. Olivier Amsellem.
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Rudy Ricciotti  was born in Kouba ( Algeria), of Italian origin on August 22, 1952 and he moved to France at the age of three. Rudy Ricciotti spent part of his youth in Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône. He studied engineering in Switzerland in 1975 and he graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Marseille in 1980.

Rudy Ricciotti represents a generation of architects that combine creative energy and true building culture. Author of large buildings in France, including the National Choreographic Centre of Aix-en-Provence, also gained international renown as the Gate of Peace in Seoul or Nikolaisaal of Potsdam in Germany, the Festival Palace in Venice, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Liège Philharmonic or Gstaad for a Festival created by Yehudi Menuhin.

In 2005, he won the competition for the construction of the library of Rouen. On November 7, 2007, He won the competition organized by the City of Paris for the construction of the new stage of John Bouin2. He was also appointed in 2002 to a flagship project of the second city of France: le Musée des civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée (MUCEM) in Marseille, as part of the European Capital of Culture 2013 of the city of Marseille.

He is President Al Dante editions since 2007. Al Dante publishes books (poetry, experimental prose and poetry, theoretical essays, catalogs and artist publications, anthologies, magazines), and CD (sound poetry, music), DVDs, newspapers, participates and organizes events (lectures, presentations , symposia, exhibitions ...). He is a member of the editorial board of the magazine L'Architecture d'aujourd'hui.

Rudy Ricciotti is a recipient of: Grand Prix National d’Architecture, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, Commandeur de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite.

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Published on: March 27, 2016
Cite: "Rivesaltes Memorial by Rudy Ricciotti + Passelac & Roques Archs" METALOCUS. Accessed
<http://www.metalocus.es/en/news/rivesaltes-memorial-rudy-ricciotti-passelac-roques-archs> ISSN 1139-6415
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