The "ca d'arbinée" of La Brigue, Houses of the Bees

Built during the 15th and 16th centuries by the Brigasques, name of the inhabitants of La Brigue, in the upper Roya Valley, these bee houses are a kind of dry stone enclosure whose purpose is to protect the bees and their honey from the appetites of brown bears, badgers, thieves and bad weather.
Called "ca d'arbinée", there are about fifty of them left today.
Built on a hillside, exposed to the rising sun, such houses could house a hundred hives. In the shape of an amphitheater, they have no roof and each one is under the protection of a saint.

Some Ca d'arbinée were rebuilt because the walls had collapsed. There are about fifty of them in La Brigue, some in Tende and Saorge.

Also to be seen in the department

Le Monastère de Saorge

The Monastery of Saorge, an exceptional baroque monastic architectural ensemble

placeSaorge – Alpes-maritimes 
label Remarkable buildings Religious, mystical & pagan cults  
Le Saut du Cepoun

Le Saut du Cepoun, the revenge of the cuckolded husbands

placeUtelle – Alpes-maritimes 
label Legends, stories & Treasures Festivities & festivals, brotherhoods Amazing... isn't it?  

Nice – La Turbie, première course de côte au monde... meurtrière

placeNice – Alpes maritimes 
label Amazing... isn't it?  
Le Musée Coupole Figas

The Coupole Figas Museum, the work of a lifetime

placeCoaraze - Alpes-Maritimes 
label Museums & Collections  

Discover the regions of the Great South