Le Cousson par Entrages

An emblematic summit of the Digne region, the Cousson is one of the locals’ favourite hikes, the panorama is magnificent. Up there, you can discover a work by Richard Nonas, from the L’Art en montagne collection of the Gassendi museum in Digne.

From the village square of Entrages, 6 km from Digne les Bains, take a mule track to Pas d’Entrages, take the path on the left in the undergrowth, it runs along the ridge line and allows you to reach the foot of Cousson, on a grassy plateau. On the left appears the chapel of Saint-Michel du Cousson, it is clinging to a dizzying cliff. It is a modest building in the Romanesque style, its walls are massive on three sides. A remarkable decorative element, a stone sculpted with interlacing, adorns the top of the door. During work carried out in 1983, the original was replaced by a cast, its foundation dates back to 1035.

Continue on the path to reach the Petit Cousson (1511 m) 100 meters lower between the two peaks, find the work of the American artist Richard Nonas, Col; the Second Day(2018). It is composed of a line of seventy-seven planks. It refers to the concept of “pass” which designates the site to be crossed, the place of passage between two mountains. Here, it is not the place that is at the center of the work but rather the space in between, the intermediary, the interstice, where the idea of ​​passage marks that of movement. With this proposal, Nonas renews the inversion of perspectives, a principle that he develops in another of his works present on the territory: Edge-Stone : Vière et les moyennes montagnes. An anthropologist by training, Richard Nonas is interested in the way in which the identities of peoples are constructed in contact with nature and its constraints. From raw materials, simple forms, serial processes, he creates sculptural pieces that attempt to underline these links and that truly take place in the site or place where they are installed.

Take the path on the left, further on one of the stones of this dizzying passage, engraved in gold leaf: it’s now here “Soit ici et maintenant” (2004-2006) by herman de vries*. This Latin phrase invites us to be in the present and to become aware of the experience of the here and now. It is part of the traces* series spread over several sites in the Digne region. These very small texts invite us, through observation and walking (ambulo) to a new interpretation of the landscape by the solicitation of thought, or philosophical reflection. In the following curve on the overhanging rock face, find an engraving in Tibetan “hasard et changement” (2004-2006). Located directly above the Maison Alexandra David-Néel, this work allows the artist to pay tribute to this great explorer who, upon her return from Tibet, chose to settle in Digne.

Continue along the path through a beech forest to the place called Hautes-Bâties de Cousson. Go down a forest track for 250 meters, then after a stream take the path on the right that goes up to Pas d’Entrages, then go back down to the village.

*we respect the artist’s wish not to use capital letters, a form of hierarchy

Find the full description of the route in the Topo guide “Art in the mountains, 22 hikes to discover contemporary art in the Haute-Provence Geopark” (€15), available at the reception of the Gassendi Museum, the Maison Alexandra David-Néel, and the tourist.