Lamalou-les-Bains

Lamalou -les- Bains is a commune in southern France with 2551 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Hérault in the Languedoc- Roussillon region. The municipality is part of the Regional Natural Park of Haut Languedoc.

Location

Lamalou -les- Bains is located in a wooded area at the foot of the Cevennes about 85 km ( driving distance ) west of Montpellier and about 38 kilometers north of Béziers at an altitude of about 200 meters above sea level. inst.

Demographics

Economy

In earlier times, the residents of the community lived as subsistence agriculture, which included the wine and the breeding of sheep and goats. Only in the 19th century began with the development and utilization of known since the Middle Ages thermal springs.

History

From prehistoric and Roman finds missing time. Earliest evidence of human habitation of the area is a Gallo- Roman sanctuary of the 5/6 Century, its place in the 12th century, the Romanesque priory church of Saint- Pierre -de- Rhèdes was built. The church today and the place Lamalou emerged from the place Ville Celle, who in 1878 - in a heyday of the spa industry - the name, Lamalou -les- Bains ' accepted.

Attractions

• The former priory and parish church Saint- Pierre -de- Rhèdes stands on a hillside in the hamlet Rhèdes today. A predecessor was already mentioned in the year 990, but the present church dates from the 12th century and was built as part of a priory of the abbey Villemagne. As a former priory church is built of hewn stone and precisely stabilized with buttresses; Also it has two decorated with black Steininkrustationen portals on the south and west, and a third - unadorned - on the north side as well as on several decorated in a similar manner window arches. The defensive oriole and projecting embattled gables on the west facade is also of interest - the brackets show partially figurative motifs, which can be interpreted as unheilabwehrend ( apotropaic ). A tympanum of the arch of the apse frieze presents a 'primitive' seeming figure of a pilgrim with staff and bag. Located in the apex slightly pointed barrel vault of the nave exposed exclusively of south-facing windows is subjected to transverse arches of which rest on double half-columns templates designed with very simple figurative and vegetable capitals and a peripheral blocks Fries. Presented the walls of the nave is a double row of stone benches that could have possibly formerly served as a substitute for a nonexistent chapter house. The vault of the Apsiskalotte is underpinned by non-profiled arch ribs. The church has already been recognized in 1880 as a monument historique.

North portal

Nave window

Nave window

• In the cemetery surrounding the church are several exceptionally richly designed tombs and grave monuments from the 19th century.
• The Romanesque pilgrimage chapel of Notre -Dame de Capimont stands on a rocky and wooded hill about a mile outside the village. From here you can enjoy a beautiful view over Lamalou -les- Bains. Several crosses in the forest indicate a Way of the Cross has been committed under the Good Friday procession.
• The neo-Gothic parish church ( Église Saint- Pierre -et -Saint -Paul ) of Lamalou -les- Bains was completed in 1904.

Partner communities

• Leutkirch im Allgau, Germany
• Misasa, Japan