CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Ouvrage Rimplas

museum in France

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 19, 2026
Entity authorityQ3358738 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ouvrage Rimplas is a work (gros ouvrage) of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, known also as the Little Maginot Line. The ouvrage consists of one entry block, two infantry blocks and three artillery blocks at an altitude of 986 metres (3,235 ft). This ouvrage was the first ouvrage of any portion of the Maginot Line to start construction in 1928. The ouvrage features an aerial tram entrance.

Located on a height to the southwest of Rimplas, the position was originally called Ouvrage de la Madeleine. While it was a prototype for later work, it is not entirely typical of Maginot fortifications, with large expanses of wall armored with 20 cm steel plate and other sections overlaid with stone masonry. The construction encountered problems with soil consistency and water infiltration. The underground portion of the ouvrage, containing the ammunition magazines, living quarters, command spaces, generating plant and communication galleries between the combat blocks covers three levels. Rimplas stands on a prominent height above the Tinée and Valdeblore valleys before their streams join to form the river Var. It is supported by the petits ouvrages of Fressinéa and Valdeblore, all planned to control the approaches to Nice along the Var.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ouvrage Rimplas” is museum in France. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ouvrage, Rimplas and museum, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA strong orientation record where physical form, institutional use and historical geography need to be read together. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1928—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1928. For this dossier, Ouvrage, Rimplas and museum is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “museum in France” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3358738. Authority coordinates are 44.060, 7.128. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1928.

Critical limits

Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Ouvrage Rimplas”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Ouvrage Rimplas primary sources, Ouvrage Rimplas archive and Ouvrage research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Ouvrage Rimplas”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Ouvrage Rimplas” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.