Ouvrage Rimplas, Military museum and fortification in Rimplas, France

Ouvrage Rimplas is a Maginot Line artillery work on a height southwest of Rimplas, made of five combat blocks plus an entry block linked by galleries under the rock. Its walls mix large 20 cm steel plates with sections faced in stone masonry, and the concrete shows deep embrasures under overhanging lips. The underground works hold magazines, quarters, a command post, a generating plant and an operating theatre.

Work on the ouvrage began in November 1930, after Rimplas had been the first Maginot Line position to start construction in 1928; it was finished in April 1934 by the contractors Faraut and Contesso. The final cost of 34.2 million francs, including 1.7 million for the aerial tram, was four times the initial estimate, making it the second most expensive Alpine Line position after Monte Grosso. Three major design changes and friable rock that had to be concreted or faced with masonry delayed the work, and the ouvrage was fully operational in August 1937.

The position was first called Ouvrage de la Madeleine, after the site southwest of Rimplas; the present name comes from the commune. Visitors enter through the block served by the single-cable aerial tram, whose lower station still stands beside the Haute-Tinée road. Since 1972 the ouvrage has belonged to the commune, and the association Les Amis de l'Ouvrage Maginot de la Madeleine now runs it as a place of memory.

The ouvrage is open during the summer months, with visits run by "Les Amis de l'Ouvrage Maginot de la Madeleine", the association that restored it. The lower station of the old aerial tram still stands beside the Haute-Tinée road, and the entrance block is reached on foot over steep mountain ground.

The single-cable aerial tram, built by Brien-Anzun, ran 878 m with a 602 m rise and could lift 52 tonnes of ammunition or supplies a day in 21 cars, driven by two combustion engines. Its lower station is still visible beside the Haute-Tinée road.