Orgues d’Ille-sur-Têt

On the left bank of the Têt, on the outskirts of Ille-sur-Têt, a maze of pale columns some ten metres high rises from land long considered barren: it was once known as « Els Terrers », the arid lands. These are the Orgues, among the most spectacular fairy chimneys in France, with the Canigó as a backdrop.

Their story begins nearly 6 million years ago. The Mediterranean, almost dried up, then dropped by more than 1,500 metres and the rivers carved deep canyons. When the sea returned, 5.3 million years ago, the Roussillon became a gulf: marine sands and clays filled the valleys. At the start of the cold periods of the Quaternary, a sheet of gravel and boulders covered these soft layers.

The Orgues are born of differential erosion. The Mediterranean rains, often violent, gully the sands, but where a hard block protects the rock, a column survives beneath its « cap ». When the cap finally falls, the column wears away much faster: the landscape is constantly changing.

Listed in 1981, the site was still a peach orchard, farmed until 1992. The commune then bought it and developed it to welcome the public; it now manages it alone. The visit is on foot, along waymarked paths: climbing the columns, which are very fragile, is forbidden.