1.635 meters
Champlan Tchampiàn
Les Fusines Li Fejeune – 1.700 m
Blanchard Biantchart – 1.724 m
Rovinal Rovénal – 1.709 m
Praz-Sec Pra-Sec – 1.700 m
Les Péyoz Li Péyo – 1.725 m
Les Droles Li Drole – 1.757 m
Bernosin Bernozìn – 1.750 m
This village with the telling name of Champlan (flat field, Tchampiàn in the local dialect) is situated on terraces that overlook the right bank of the Evançon, across from Champoluc, offering a beautiful view.
It stretches mostly along the sides of a very narrow alley, Rue des Rascards, sheltered by the facades and balconies of ancient rascards—now largely renovated—whose foundations rest directly on the rock. A rock face marked with cup marks (hemispherical indentations of mysterious origin) at the entrance to a rascard seems to attest to human presence at the site since prehistoric times.
The stone and wood, the dates carved into the beams (“millesimi”), the owners’ initials, and the various architectural and functional features of the buildings—constructed between the 16th and 19th centuries—tell the story of a settlement that certainly existed as early as the 16th century and later became almost completely self-sufficient and densely populated.
It had a communal oven, still well-preserved, while for other services it relied on Champoluc.
Outside the historic center, in Tchampiàn-Damón (Upper Champlan), beyond the Regional Road, stands the ancient building ‘lo Mìete dou Réi’ (the King’s House), also known as ‘Baita dell’Orso’ (Bear’s Hut), decorated with noble coats of arms and a fresco depicting a struggle between a man and a bear in memory of the killing of a bear in the locality of Barrére. According to tradition, Matteo Brunod, known as ‘lo Réi’ (the King) for his Herculean strength, lived in the cabin. He became famous throughout the valley for killing a bear with his bare hands in 1782 and for displaying its paws as a trophy on the door of a nearby rascard. One of these paws has been nailed to the balcony of the historic Casa Challant in Antagnod for several years now, while the other has vanished without a trace.
Map of Champlan
Rascard Lo Quer
Built in 1552, as attested by the date engraved on its door, the Rascard Lo Quer represents an excellence of rural architecture in the Aosta Valley, a perfect expression of the economic and climatic needs of the high mountain area of Ayas. This wooden structure, constructed using finely assembled half-wood logs, rises above a masonry base of one or two floors, often intended as a stable or dwelling. The choice to elevate the building on small pillars serves to prevent access by rodents and to promote optimal ventilation, indispensable for the preservation and maturation of cereals in a mountain climate where summer thunderstorms make outdoor threshing hazardous. The rectangular plan of the rascard, positioned halfway up the slope to take advantage of the natural incline, extends along the central corridor called the l’èra, a space dedicated to threshing. From here one accesses the tchambèrai, raised storage areas for sheaves, with high thresholds to protect against the loss of the harvest. On the downhill side are the tchambrette, small cantilevered granaries, protected by ventilation slits and wrought iron locks, which preserved the family’s food reserves and most precious objects. Thus, the rascard embodies an agropastoral system five centuries old, capable of combining functionality and protection in a hostile environment, carefully preserving the harvest and rural life of this alpine region.
The 'Bear's Cabin'
Just outside the historic center, in Tchampiàn-Damón (Upper Champlan), across from the Regional Road, stands the ancient building known as “lo Mìete dou Réi” (the King’s House), also known as ‘Baita dell’Orso’ (Bear’s Hut), decorated with noble coats of arms and a fresco depicting a struggle between a man and a bear in memory of the killing of a bear in the locality of Barrére. According to tradition, Matteo Brunod, known as ‘lo Réi’ (the King) for his Herculean strength, lived in the cabin. He became famous throughout the valley for killing a bear with his bare hands in 1782 and for displaying its paws as a trophy on the door of a nearby rascard. One of these paws has been nailed to the balcony of the historic Casa Challant in Antagnod for several years now, while the other has vanished without a trace.
