Bagnères-de-Luchon is located on the Spanish border some 50 km south-west ofSaint-Gaudens and 40 km south ofMontréjeau at the end of a branch line of the Southern railway at the foot of the centralPyrenees. To the south the Luchonnais Mountains form a natural barrier and there is no crossing point into Spain. Access to the commune is by the D125 road fromSalles-et-Pratviel in the north which passes through the town and continues south through the commune to its termination in the mountains. The D618A branches off the D125 south of the town and goes east toSaint-Mamet continuing to the Spanish border at theCol du Portillon leading to theVal d'Aran. The D618 goes west from the town toSaint-Aventin. The D46 goes north-east toSode. The D125C goes north by north-west toMoustajon.[4]
The town is located in a valley at the confluence of the L'One river from the west and thePique river from the south. Numerous streams flow into these rivers including the Ruisseau de Sahage into L'One, the Ruisseau de Bagnartigue, the Ruisseau de Jean, the Lys, the Ruisseau des Barguieres, the Ruisseau de Laus d'Esbas, the Ruisseau de Garante, the Ruisseau de Sajust, the Ruisseau de Layrous, the Ruisseau de Roumingau, and the Ruisseau du Port de Venasque all flowing into the Pique. The Ruisseau de Bouneu forms much of the western border of the commune as it flows north to join the Lys. There are several high mountain lakes in the south of the commune which feed the Pique including the Boums de Port and the Étang de la Frèche.[4]
TheGare de Luchon railway station is theSNCF terminal station for the Montréjeau to Gourdan-Polignan and Luchon line that also connects toToulouse viaMontréjeau. Previously on weekends (daily in summer), a night train connected Bagneres-de-Luchon directly to Paris. The Montréjeau to Bagnères-de-Luchon train line was suspended in 2014. The connection was made by bus until services resumed in 2025.
AGondola lift since 1993 has connected Bagneres-de-Luchon toSuperbagnères. It replaced the Chemin de fer de Luchon à Superbagnères (Luchon to Superbagnères railway)rack railway (Strub system) which operated from 1912 to 1966.
There is also a small public aerodrome in the commune just east of the town where the Aeroclub de Luchon is based. The nearest airports to the town arePau Pyrénées Airport, located 142 km (88 mi) north west andToulouse–Blagnac Airport, located 145 km (90 mi) north east of Bagnères-de-Luchon.
The commune is located on a slope that ensures a drier climate. Winter temperatures range from −10 to 10 degrees Celsius and summer temperatures range from 10 to 35 degrees Celsius. The northerly wind brings more anticyclonic conditions and south-west or north-west winds are very often a harbinger of a disturbance (rain or snow). Sometimes the north and south winds are reversed causing storms on the valley which are sometimes strong with hail due to the moist air in the south and dry air in the north.
Climate data for Luchon (altitude 618 m, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1994–present)
Plan of Luchon in 1914View of Luchon in 1908 (Eugène Trutat)Ferruginous spring, in Bagnères-de-Luchon, byJoseph Latour
The town has existed for more than 2,000 years. The presence of a population has been attested sinceNeolithic times at least in the Saint-Mamet Cave. The presence ofStone circles also attests to an ancient occupation.[7]
It is often claimed thatPompey, returning from a policing expedition in Spain in 76BC (where he founded the city ofPamplona named after him), stopped in the area and founded the new city ofLugdunum Convenarum where he brought together the scatteredConvènes tribe: this was the futureSaint-Bertrand-de-Comminges. However, extensive archaeological investigations have failed to find any evidence of this. During the Augustan period, the town was substantially Romanised and expanded.[8]
One of his soldiers who suffered from a skin disease immersed himself in the thermal waters of Luchon and its "Onésiens" baths where he discovered their thermal properties. After 21 days (the traditional and still current duration of a cure) he came out completely healed.
In 25 BCTiberius Claudius dug three pools and developed thermal baths. The baths had a modest motto:"Balneum Lixonense post Neapolitense primum" (the Luchon baths are the best after those of Naples) which is still today the motto of the town.Julius Caesar spoke of the region in hisCommentaries.
The invasions of theGoths andVisigoths passed through the region as well as the incursions of theMoors. People took refuge in the high valleys of Larboust or Oueil. Traces of these invasions remain in some local myths and legends.
Charlemagne andGaston Phoebus gave the area a special status of a borderMarch with a certain amount of autonomy between France and Spain.
The area was relatively untouched by theHundred Years' War, as well as by thesuppression of Catharism and theProtestant Reformation. People remained loyal to a 'modified' Catholicism, which it took the bishops ofSaint-Béat centuries to rein in; priests lived in communities, sometimes armed and married, and were poorly educated and poorly trained. They extorted payment for funeral Masses in the form of well-watered meals, and they were loyal to the interests of their house of origin, rather than to Rome.
In 987 the village of "Banières" and its thermal baths around its church was described as quite successful. At Toussaint there was a major fair which did not have, however, the fame of that ofSaint-Béat, which benefited more from trade with Spain.
Around 1200 theHospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem installed a commandery at Frontés, betweenMontauban andJuzet-de-Luchon. The goal was to control the passage to the mountain, which was a secondary road on theWay of Santiago de Compostela, and to organize hospices for pilgrims and merchants who risked their lives in winter. The building of theHospice de France dates from this period and is the only trace remaining of the Knights Hospitaller. The opening of thePort de Venasque Pass followed later.
Then commenced a continuous struggle for centuries between the Knights Hospitaller and the people who were guided by their priests. The objective quickly became more economic than religious and it was not a question of sharing taxes. Finally the order abandoned the region.
There have always been very few nobles in the region where the peasantry has always fought for their survival. The old treaties ofLies et passeries[9] gave the people of both sides of the mountain free movement and free trade even if the kingdoms were at war. Any boycott would have little support as it would easily decimate the population. These treaties were systematically renewed and imposed on kings and bishops. A popular form of elected representation existed: theconsuls. It was thus possible to speak of Pyrenean republics.
The kings of France sought to put an end to this situation which seemed to them abnormal.
In 1759 Baron Antoine Mégret d'Étigny, intendant of Gascony, was sent to Luchon. He began by creating a passable road using collective labour and expropriations. He was forced to appeal to a company ofdragoons to hold the population in check as they were unaccustomed to such authoritarian treatment. In 1761 he reorganized the baths and gave them a foundation for their future development. In 1763 MarshalDuke of Richelieu came to take the waters and he returned in 1769 with much of the Court. The spa was launched. The Baron also developed forestry to provide timber for the navy and charcoal for forges. He died in 1767 at the age of 47, ruined and disgraced.
His successor gave his name to the Alleys of Étigny, the main artery of the town, and in 1889 a statue in his likeness was still displayed in front of the baths.
TheFrench Revolution and the French empires had little impact in Luchon.
The arrival of the railway in 1873 and the construction of the casino in 1880 further developed the popularity of the town where upscale and cosmopolitan tourists came until theRoaring Twenties. Social benefits such as paid leave and social security then democratized the tourist population.
A hydroelectric power plant was in place as early as 1890 by theLa Luchonnaise company.
TheTour de France made the town one of its obligatory stages since its inception.
The commune was mentioned with the nickname "Queen of the Pyrenees" by Vincent de Chausenque in 1834 in his bookLes Pyrénées ou voyages pédestres (The Pyrenees or Hiking journeys).
Luchon mineral water has been marketed throughout France.
Excavations have uncovered traces of three large pools lined with marble with circulating hot air and steam.
Cyclone Xynthia at the end of February 2010 caused the death of 50 people in France and hit Luchon and its region. The winds blew at 200 km/h on the peaks which caused substantial damage.
Or, a mountain Sable mouvant from dexter where a jet of water spurts into a bath Azure the whole on a terrace in base Sable; in chief parti per pale, 1 of Gules charged with 4 otelles Argent, 2 of Azure with a votive altar the same with the inscription ILIXIONI DEO V.S.L.M. in roman capital letters of Sable.
TheCasino (1878)[25] was built in brick-stone in a conventional classical historicist style and expanded in 1929 with the addition of Art Deco decor on the front facade. The Casino Park is designed around a serpentine body of water with an artificial cave.
The commune has several religious buildings and structures that are registered as historical monuments:
TheChapel of Saint Étienne Portal at Quartier de Barcugnas (12th century).[28] The Chapel contains a Statuette of the Virgin and child (14th century) which is registered as an historical object.[29]
TheChurch of Our Lady of the Assumption (1847)[30] is a Romanesque Revival building built on the site of the old Romanesque church. The murals are byRomain Cazes. The Church contains two items that are registered as historical objects:
Bagnères-de-Luchon is celebrated for itsthermal springs. There are 48 springs which vary in composition but are chiefly impregnated withsodium sulphate, and range in temperature from 17 °C to 65 °C. The discovery of numerous Roman remains attests to the antiquity of the baths which are identified with theOnesiorumThermae ofStrabo. Their revival in modern times dates from the latter half of the 18th century, and was due to Antoine Mégret d'Étigny, intendant ofAuch.[33]
There is a more modern entrance to the baths next to the older buildings. The bathing experience consists of repeated spells within a hot sulphurous atmosphere in caves that run approximately 100 metres inside the Superbagnères mountain in a cool swimming pool within the entrance building. It was these sulphur springs that led to a twinning of the settlement withHarrogate in 1952.
Bagnères-de-Luchon is celebrated as a fashionable resort. Of the promenades, the finest and most frequented are the Allées d'Étigny, an avenue planted with lime-trees, at the southern extremity of which is the Thermes, or hot baths. The road is lined with bars and restaurants.
Thermal Baths Picture Gallery
The Baths in 1899
The Thermal Baths
Stained glass in the baths
Stained glass in the baths
A scene from 1899 Luchon, with a woman in a wheelchair accompanied by a male attendant.
Bagnères-de-Luchon is mentioned briefly in the short ghost Story, "Cannon Alberic's Scrap-Book" by M.R. James published inGhost Stories of an Antiquary in 1904.
It is also the setting for an early scene in François Mauriac's novelLe Noeud de Vipères, published in 1932.
The town is the setting and subject for the 2018 filmThings Fall Where They Lie.[34]
Superbagnères is aski resort located on the territory ofSaint-Aventin commune to the south-west of the town only accessible from Bagnères-de-Luchon. Historically it was connected to the town by a railway being the second resort in France to install a rack railway but today it is connected with agondola lift. Each cabin holds up to four people and takes about ten minutes to reach the summit, running in summer as well as winter. It is not possible to ski back down to Luchon, except in times of exceptional snow for talented locals who know the woods.
Bagnères-de-Luchon has been a permanent stage on theTour de France since its inception in 1910.
9th green at the Luchon golf course
In addition to the Tour de France the pro series raceRoute du Sud also passes through Luchon with a stage finishing in Superbagnères in 2008 and Luchon in 2009.
Luchon is also a mountain biking destination. Its position at the confluence of two valleys gives a wide variety of routes up into the mountains – although most of them start with a large climb (the gondola can carry mountain bikes). There is one mountain biking guide organisation based in Luchon itself and another further down the valley. (See external links).
Luchon also offers a golf course, tandem paragliding (from Superbagnères), tennis courts, and an aerodrome withgliding.
Luchon has a nine-hole golf course close to the town centre. It dates to the early 1900s, making it one of the oldest golf courses in the department. In 2008 the "Club de Golf Luchon" celebrated its 100-year anniversary.
Antoine Mégret d'Étigny (1719–1767), intendant of the generality of Gascony, Béarn, and Navarre. The commune named theAllées d'Étigny, the main street in the town, after him and a statue stands in front of the thermal baths.
Nérée Boubée (1806–1862), naturalist, entomologist, geologist, and teacher at the University of Paris, died at Luchon.
Théodore Gobley (1811–1876), pharmacist and chemist, member of theAcadémie Nationale de Médecine, established the chemical structure of phospholipids, died in Bagnères-de-Luchon on 1 September 1876 at the Hôtel des Bains, cour d'Etigny, where he was staying with his family.
Stéphen Liégeard (1830–1925), French writer and poet, author ofTwenty days as a tourist in Luchon country (1874)
Jean-Marie Mengue (1855–1939), sculptor, born in Bagnères-de-Luchon.
Henri Gadeau de Kerville (1858–1940), zoologist, botanist, and archaeologist, died in Bagnères-de-Luchon.
Henry de Gorsse orHenri de Gorsse (1868–1936), man of letters, playwright, screenwriter, and songwriter, born at Luchon.
Edmond Rostand (1868–1918), playwright who spent 22 summers in Luchon in his youth where he composedLes Musardises. InCyrano de Bergerac, Act IV, Scene VI, the author was inspired by the place names in the Luchon Valley, among others, to name his Gascon cadets: there is one called a "Knight of Antignac-Juzet".
Jules Brévié (1880–1964), colonial administrator, Governor-General of French West Africa (AOF), and of French Indochina, Minister, born in Bagnères-de-Luchon.
Georges Lucien Guyot (1885–1973), wildlife artist, his work "Bear of the Pyrénées" is in the Thermal Baths grounds.
Jean Arlaud (1896–1938), doctor and mountaineer.
Lys Gauty (1908–1994), singer, took over management of the Luchon Casinor in 1950 and created the Festival of the Voice.
Michel Warlop (1911–1947), jazz violinist, died in Bagnères-de-Luchon.
Guy Lapébie (1916–2010), racing cyclist, died in Bagnères-de-Luchon.
Alexis Kanner (1942–2003), Anglo-Canadian actor, born in Bagnères-de-Luchon.
Nérée Boubée,Promenade de Bagnères au lac d'Oô. Reprinted 2009, Éditions Aux pages d'antan, 88 p.(in French)
Anne Dupic,Économie et démographie dans la commune de Bagnères-de-Luchon, 1815–1870, mém. de maitrise, Université Toulouse II, 1976 (in particular noted the difficulty of measuring the true impact of tourism development for the local population).(in French)
Philippe Francastel,Luchon et ses vallées, Éditions Privat, 1999ISBN2-7089-9123-X(in French)
Philippe Francastel,Le Pays de Luchon – poésie et lumière, Atlantica, 2004ISBN2-84394-711-1(in French)
Jean-Bernard Frappé,Autrefois Bagnères de Luchon, 2 tomes, Atlantica, 2001ISBN2-84394-432-5(in French)
Henri Gadeau de Kerville,Autour du canton de Bagnères-de-Luchon (France et Espagne), Toulouse, Privat, 1928(in French)
Alban et André Leymarie,Le Chemin de fer à crémaillère de Luchon à Superbagnères, 1912–1966, Éditions Lacour-Olle, 2006ISBN2-7504-0702-8(in French)
Henri Pac,Luchon et son passé, Éditions Privat, 1984ISBN2-7089-2385-4(in French)
Anne Samson,Thermes tragiques,ISBN2-9501-3090-9 (a detective novel set in Luchon)(in French)
Patrick Turlan,Bagnères-de-Luchon à la Belle époque. Pau, imprimerie Ipadour, 1999, 63 pp., [Many reproductions of old postcards of Luchon.], Preface by Henri Dénard (General Councilor for the Canton of Luchon).(in French)
Patrick Turlan,La fête des fleurs de Bagnères-de-Luchon à la Belle époque. Pau, imprimerie Ipadour, 1999, 32 pp., [Many reproductions of old postcards of Luchon. History of Guides...], Preface by Jean Peyrafitte (former senator-mayor of Luchon).(in French)
^Rome in the Pyrenees. Lugdunum and the Convenae from the first century B.C. to the seventh century A.D. Simon Esmonde Cleary 2007 Routledge ISBN 9781134091034
^Agreements between rural communities in the Spanish and French valleys in the Pyrenees
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