PTM 1 - LUCHON : FLÂNER, VISITER, DÉCOUVRIR… LE PATRIMOINE

The esplanade in front of the thermal establishment was realized in 1849 with park and kiosk.English formal gardens with catalpas and tulip trees planted in alternate rows, (a pattern known as "quinconces" in French) with a bandstand where numerous concerts are played during the season.

Jean-Marie Mengue – 1900Located in the small pond in front of the lake, it is an allegory of the nearby Lys Valley. The statue stands in the centre of the Parc des Quinconces, in the middle of a circular pond situated next to the lake. It rests on a cluster of small, haphazardly arranged rocks. The statue is made of white Carrara marble. The construction of the statue was initiated by the Cadets de Gascogne, who were visiting Luchon on 10 and 11 August 1898. Led by Georges Leygues, a politician, and Mr Roujon, Director of Fine Arts, they were given a grand reception by the town under Mayor Bonnemaison. On their return from their excursion to the Lys Valley, they proposed the construction of a statue to symbolise it. It was to be funded equally by the town and the State and created by the Luchon-based sculptor Jean-Marie Mengue, winner of a gold medal at the 1896 Salon. The project was approved by the town council on 11 October and confirmed by a ministerial decree dated 30 March 1899. The total cost was estimated at 10,000 francs, with the State also undertaking to supply the blocks of marble, which in fact constituted the bulk of the expenditure. Following discussions between the mayor and the sculptor regarding the nymph’s nudity, the statue was completed swiftly and presented at the 1900 Salon. As the town was experiencing financial difficulties, the statue was subsequently stored for three years in a shed before being installed by municipal workers, who arranged the rocks to serve as a plinth, in accordance with the original design. It was unveiled on 6 September 1903, alongside another work by Mengue, *Cain and Abel*, which was donated to the city. The statue was initially enclosed by a wire fence; it is now surrounded by a circular water basin. Since 2004, the Musée des Augustins in Toulouse has held the plaster model of the statue.

Gallery with painting and sculpture exhibitions.Art gallery featuring temporary exhibitions (paintings, sculptures, arts and crafts). Soothing baths were used as a counterbalance to sulphurous water baths. Made from herbs, they had soothing properties and were reputed to reduce nervous irritability. There were emollient baths available in the town: the spa management company had a dedicated building constructed on the Quinconces, on the site of the former horse-washing pool, which is still shown on Castex’s 1882 map. Press articles from May 1895 indicate that artists were commissioned to decorate the casino’s grand ballroom and the new emollient baths complex, which provides an approximate date of construction. B. Castex’s design, dated October 1891, does not appear to correspond to the scheme that was ultimately adopted. In that design, the baths occupied the ground floor, whilst accommodation for the supervisor was provided on the first floor. The adjoining annexe (to the west) housed offices. The baths were arranged in a U-shape, accessed via a covered gallery and a service passage at the rear. Each wing of the U-shape contained eight bathing cubicles, preceded by changing rooms. The central wing housed a shower and two bathing cubicles in the centre, whilst the corners of the U were reserved, on one side, for the heating room and, on the other, for the toilets and laundry room. The building ended on the east side with three apses dedicated respectively to the wood store, the coal store and the boiler room (in the centre). When its purpose changed in 1920, the pavilion was converted to accommodate radioactive baths and was renamed the “Moureu Pavilion” in honour of the chemist Charles Moureu. Water from the Lepape spring was channelled there and was used to treat conditions such as rheumatism and high blood pressure. The building now houses the “spa guests’ centre”, a place for relaxation and exhibitions available to spa guests.

Listed as a Historic Monument. The casino dates from 1878 and 1929. The entrance hall, staircase, façade, gallery, grounds, auditorium and pavilion were listed in 1999.The Casino is emblematic of Luchon’s Belle Époque architecture. The Luchon Casino was built in 1880 by the architect Raymond Castex, who took over the project from Edmond Chambert. For its time, it was one of the finest examples of its kind in France. Built in a classical style, the building comprises a main block, flanked by two L-shaped wings, and a façade 100 metres long. Featuring an eclectic Second Empire architectural style, it is characterised by the polychromatic use of brick and stone. With the railway having recently reached Luchon, it was now easy to have materials delivered from far afield. It is a celebratory piece of architecture, a palace of pleasure where no expense was spared on either space or scale: a superb Napoleon III theatre, concert halls, a restaurant, games rooms and lounges alternate in styles ranging from Moorish to Art Nouveau. Until 1925, the Casino housed the museum’s collections in the salons on the second floor. The façade was modernised in 1929 in the ‘Art Deco’ style by Henri Martin: with a blast of dynamite, the majestic stone staircase gave way to a large glass-fronted gallery overlooking the terraces and gardens. The theatre has hosted a long line of artists: Sydney Bechet, La Belle Otero, Sacha Guitry, Charles Trenet, Stéphane Grappelli; and in the late 1950s, it hosted the ‘Voix d’Or’ singing competition on several occasions. More recently, it has been frequented by Michel Galabru and the many artists who come every year to present their films at the Luchon Television Festival. The Casino houses Luchon’s village hall, which was completely renovated in 2006 and now bears the name of Henry Pac, a poet, writer and iconic figure of Luchon. On the edge of the esplanade stands the ‘Pavillon Normand’, built for the 1900 Paris World’s Fair and subsequently moved to Luchon at the request of Paul Bonnemaison, who served as mayor from 1894 to 1912. It is constructed of half-timbering, cement-bonded brickwork and a flat-tiled roof supported by a colossal 20th-century roof structure, the work of master carpenters. Surrounding the park, at number 10 Boulevard Edmond Rostand, stands the Villa Julia, built in 1880. It was here that Edmond Rostand spent his summers during the first 22 years of his life and wrote the poems ‘Les Musardises’. His wooden balcony is said to have inspired the author to write the famous balcony scene in *Cyrano de Bergerac*. It was for health reasons that Edmond Rostand left Luchon for Cambo in the Basque Country. In a letter to his friend Henry de Gorsse, he wrote: “I shall never return to Luchon because… I was too happy there…”. As you walk along the Pique on the Boulevard de Gorsse, the villas follow one after another. First comes Villa Le Pigné, a Romantic-style villa with turrets, which hosted Sacha Guitry and Yvonne Printemps when they came to take the waters in Luchon. Next, Villa Santa-Maria (barely visible from the street) is the former residence of Princess Narishkine, a Russian aristocrat and wife of Alexandre Dumas. Further on is Villa Raphaël, where Clémenceau stayed in the 1900s. It was later occupied by Mata Hari and served as Gestapo headquarters during the Second World War. On the right bank of the Pique, the Russian and Persian chalets, dating from 1860, were the residence of the princess’s mother. They symbolise the European aristocratic holidays of the Belle Époque. This juxtaposition of two architectural styles – neoclassical and picturesque – is highly representative of the eclecticism that was in vogue in the last century. At the end of the boulevard stands the Ramel Hospice (Villa Bertin), where Prince Napoleon resided in 1867. This residence, in the distinctive Second Empire style, is also the work of Chambert. On Place Lézat, the Hôtel Majestic, built in 1880, served for many years as an annex to Toulouse’s hospitals. In the centre of the roundabout stands the statue of François I and his sister Marguerite. It is a work by Eugène Guillaume dating from 1905. On the other side of the Casino park, on the corner of Place Richelieu and Avenue Boularan, the two semi-detached houses were the residence of Gustave Flaubert during his visits to Luchon. Along Boulevard Charles Tron stands Villa Luisa, which dates from 1870. The princely family of Monaco used to stay there; Prince Rainier spent several summers of his childhood there and, in 1930, presided over the flower festival. At the rear, the former stables have been converted into a detached house. They can be recognised by the horse’s head above the façade. A little further on, the Pyrénées Palace, designed in 1911 by Edouard Niermans, is a former hotel that has now been converted into flats. To enable hotel guests to reach the Casino safely, an underground tunnel linked the two buildings.

Listed as a Historic Monument. The Church of Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption, originally dating from the 16th century but rebuilt between 1847 and 1857, features paintings by Romain Cazes and was listed in its entirety in 2003.The church in Luchon, dedicated to Notre Dame de l'Assomption, was built during the Second Empire under the direction of the architect Loupot, and completed in 1857. Of varied architectural inspiration, the plan is in the Southern Gothic style, while the facades are in the Lombard-Romanesque style, in the spirit of the churches in the Luchon valleys. At the request of Mayor Charles Tron, the old 12th-century church was demolished in 1850 on the grounds that it had become too small to accommodate the crowds of spa visitors and tourists who flocked to Luchon. The new church has a capacity of around 600. However, vestiges of the old church still remain, the main one being the Gothic north side portal. A listed historic monument, this white Saint-Béat marble portal is decorated with scallop shells on the 2 side entablatures, a reminder that we are on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Gallo-Roman remains and a cemetery were discovered in 1977. A number of sarcophagi are on display at the foot of the church. On the north side of the church, a small square with the presbytery in the background retains a very village feel. The limestone of which the church is made has the particularity of being bluish, veined with white. The bell tower has 4 bells: the first, dating from 1596, has been listed since 1942, 2 other bells are from 1832, and the last was cast in 1923. Inside the church, the frescoes are the work of the painter Romain Cazes, a disciple of Ingres. Early in his career, Romain Cazes offered the parish priest of Montauban de Luchon 2 drawings imbued with a deep religious feeling. A few years later, while the painter was convalescing in Luchon, the abbot, who had not forgotten the talent of his young friend, asked him to decorate the church of Saint-Mamet, which was being rebuilt, with paintings and frescoes. In view of the quality of this work, Romain Cazes was then asked to create the frescoes for the church in Luchon, followed by those for the Thermes. After 4 years' work from 1852 to 1856, these frescoes formed 3 major compositions: the Coronation of Mary, the Litany of the Blessed Virgin and the Divine Liturgy. The architect Loupot's decoration project was to make this spa church a holy reference for the benefits of water. To illustrate the works of Cazes, the Luchonnais themselves were used as models. The monumental organ in the church is decorated with angel musicians and is said to have come from an English church.

Le Courtat is bordered to the north by Rue Victor Hugo, to the west by Rue Laity, and to the south by the Superbagnères mountain. Its origins date back to the late 11th century and early 12th century. At that time, its buildings housed stables belonging to horse and carriage hire firms. Back then, the neighbourhood was home to a number of small trades, such as wine deliverymen, woodcutters and blacksmiths. In the evenings, residents would gather in the cool of the street, and conversations could last until late into the night. People’s happiness or misfortune was then shared by everyone. Whilst the age-old traditions of neighbourhood life endured for a long time, it was the arrival of television in homes that gradually eroded them. However, one tradition remains: the Saint-Pierre bonfire, held every 29 June. On this occasion, a tree trunk planted vertically – the ‘brandon’ – is set alight at nightfall. This marks the great Courtat festival. The bonfire is lit at the Source Palo det Mailh, at the top of the path to Superbagnères. Once the brandon has burnt out, the neighbourhood ball begins. At the heart of the Courtat neighbourhood lies the market square and its market hall. This was the first metal-framed building erected in Luchon in 1896 on the site of the Frères school. At the end of the 19th century, the wonders of industry made it possible to select this factory-prefabricated model from a catalogue, which was then assembled in a matter of days. The architectural hallmarks of that era are evident here: arcades, pinnacles, columns and capitals, all enhanced by refined decoration featuring ceramic elements and colourful friezes. It is a building with a fairy-tale quality, the aesthetics of which must have seemed shocking at the time of its construction. Though long disparaged, market halls have been appreciated since the ‘Baltard craze’ at the Musée d’Orsay. The market hall was restored in 2000. Open from Tuesday to Sunday, its stalls house shops and a small bar. Every Wednesday and Saturday, the entire market square comes to life and becomes a favourite meeting place for the valley’s residents and local producers. The long building bordering the market square now houses the Nelson Mandela Cultural Centre. This was once the site of the town hall, which burnt down completely on 25 October 1935. Its attic housed all the pyrotechnic equipment used to organise fireworks displays; a large part of the archives was lost in that fire.

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