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Rennes-les-Bains | |
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 The baths | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
 Location of Rennes-les-Bains | |
  Rennes-les-Bains  Rennes-les-Bains | |
| Coordinates:42°55′11″N2°19′11″E / 42.9197°N 2.3197°E /42.9197; 2.3197 | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Occitania |
| Department | Aude |
| Arrondissement | Limoux |
| Canton | La Haute-Vallée de l'Aude |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2023–2026) | Olivier Buscail[1] |
Area 1 | 18.77 km2 (7.25 sq mi) |
| Population (2022)[2] | 224 |
| • Density | 11.9/km2 (30.9/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 11310 /11190 |
| Elevation | 254–822 m (833–2,697 ft) (avg. 310 m or 1,020 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Rennes-les-Bains (French pronunciation:[ʁɛnlebɛ̃]ⓘ;Occitan:Los Banhs de Rènnas) is acommune in theAudedepartment in southernFrance.
Bathers have enjoyed the natural hot spring waters for thousands of years - they are still used today as a cure for rheumatism and certain skin problems. Today, it is a modernthermal spa with the latest equipment. Due to a microbe found in the piping of the old baths they have been closed and a new hospital built which gets its water from another source. Due to its enormous popularity the 'Bains Forts', an old 'lavoir' where young people have bathed for the last 40 years, have been cemented in and closed indefinitely. This event has led some to rename Rennes-les-Bains,Rennes-sans-Bains.
Rennes-les-Bains is located in the valley of the RiverSals, 48 km (30 mi) fromCarcassonne, 20 km (12 mi) fromLimoux, and 3 km (1.9 mi) fromRennes-le-Château.
The origins of Rennes-les-Bains go back to Antiquity. Archaeological artifacts indicate that the spa was at one time popular with the Roman colony inColonia Narbo Martius (Narbonne).
Traditionally the serving doctor of the village is also the historian.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 177 | — |
| 1968 | 192 | +8.5% |
| 1975 | 192 | +0.0% |
| 1982 | 194 | +1.0% |
| 1990 | 221 | +13.9% |
| 1999 | 159 | −28.1% |
| 2008 | 171 | +7.5% |
Rennes-les-Bains is known for another reason, however: it is mentioned numerous times in many books about Rennes-le-Chateau, famous now also because of Dan Brown's novelThe Da Vinci Code. Subsequently, the authorKate Mosse set the larger part of her 2007 novelSepulchre in the immediate vicinity.
AbbéHenri Boudet was the parish priest of Rennes-les-Bains at the same time thatBérenger Saunière was the incumbent of Rennes-le-Château. Boudet's strange book,La vraie langue celtique et le cromleck de Rennes-les-Bains (1886) argued that all languages were derived from the English tongue whereby the Abbé tried to establish his theory through the use of puns.
In 1832 a book by Auguste de Labouïsse-Rochefort entitledVoyages à Rennes-les-Bains first referred to a treasure located at Mont Blanchefort, whereby a story was told about a wizard who nearly succeeded in taking the purse-strings of the Devil, but failed because the local villagers did not help him at the crucial moment - Auguste de Labouïsse-Rochefort had married a daughter of a millionaire that had lost his fortune.
InLes Amours, A Éléonore, recueil D’élégies divisé en Trois Livres (1817), Auguste de Labouïsse-Rochefort had the motto "Et in Arcadia ego" placed on its title page; this was a reference to theAcademy of Arcadia that was formed in Italy in 1690 - Labouïsse-Rochefort later became a member of the Academy in 1832.
Since July 1985 the village has been twinned with the city ofRennes inBrittany.
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