Néris-les-Bains

The church in Néris-les-Bains

Coat of arms

Néris-les-Bains

Location within Auvergne region

Néris-les-Bains

Coordinates: 46°17′19″N 2°39′44″E / 46.2886°N 2.6622°ECoordinates: 46°17′19″N 2°39′44″E / 46.2886°N 2.6622°E

Country

Commentry–Néris-les-Bains

Government

• Mayor (2008–2014)

Jean-Claude de Pin

Area¹

33.13 km² (12.79 sq mi)

Population (2008)²

2,704

• Density

82/km² (210/sq mi)

INSEE/Postal code

03195 / 03310

Elevation

230–441 m (755–1,447 ft)
(avg. 360 m or 1,180 ft)

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

² Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Néris-les-Bains is a commune in the Allier department in the Auvergne region in central France.

Etymology

The name Néris comes from the Gaul God Nérios, deity personifying the local thermal spring (Latinized in Nerius)

Geography

8 kilometers southeast of Montluçon, the town is on "départementale" road 2144, which links Clermont-Ferrand to Bourges via Montluçon, and follows the trail of the ancient Roman way.

The town is at 352 meters of altitude, on the first foothills of the Massif central, more precisely the plateau of the Combrailles.

History

The Gaul era: Nériomagos

At that time, Néris is called Nériomagos (the town of Nérios, deity personifying the thermal spring). It is a village with a booming trade, at the crossroads of two major ways.

The Roman colonisation: Aquae Nerii

Nérios is Latinized into Nérius, and Nériomagos becomes Aquae Nerii (Nérius' waters). The spring is used for therapeutic purposes and two luxurious thermal baths are created. Numerous monuments are built: temples, villas... The 8th legion Augusta stations there in the end of the 1st century, and a circle theater (amphitheater) is built to offer circus games and stage performance to the soldiers and inhabitants. A lot of relics remain from that golden age.

Germanic invasions and Merovingian era

Around 275 before Christ, the Germanic invasions destroy a part of the town and the population flees, leaving behind monetary treasures. In the 4th century, the thermal baths and the houses are partly rearranged and occupied again. A new wave of invasions destroys the town again, and the ruins are then used as a gravel-pit by the Merovingian population. Stone blocks belonging to the public buildings are thus used for the sarcophaguses now located under the glass pyramid on the church square.

Evangelism and Carolingian era

Saint Patrocle evangelized Néris in the 6th century and built a church and a convent there. The current romanesque church dates back to the 11th or 12th century and was built in the same place as the original 6th-century basilica, which was erected upon the ruins of a Roman building. The Carolingian king Pépin the First of Aquitaine, Charlemagne's grandson, stayed in Néris in 835 and 838.

The 16th Century

Néris' thermal baths' fame increases. Rabelais mentions them in Pantagruel (which is why Néris' middle school is called Collège François Rabelais), and Nicolas de Nicolay, king Charles the Ninth of France' geographer, cites the "Baings de Nérys" in 1569 (modern orthograph: Bains de Néris = Baths of Néris).

The 19th Century

Néris' new golden age begins when the Dauphine, Duchess of Angoulême, lays the foundation stone of the new thermal resort. The hotels, the casino and the theater are built. Among the famous people who followed a thermal course of treatment in Néris, there are Chateaubriand, Musset, Lamartine, the empress Eugénie... At that time, archaeological excavations are started to discover the Roman Aquae Nerii's infrastructure. Society life is in full swing, grand parties are organized.

The 20th Century

Néris becomes an "hospital town" during the first World War, injured soldiers are taken care there. By the end of the war, the thermal baths are prosperous again. In 1930, the railroad line between Néris and Montluçon entered service, as did the trains station in Néris, with its pink sandstones and its multicolored roof, designed by Louis Brachet. The bourgeoisie and the politic class use the thermal baths: the Poincaré family, Léon Blum... The second World War and the social progress that preceded it (social security and paid vacation) give the town a new look and a new clientele. The thermal baths were modernized and the town equipped itself with a golf, an archaeological museum and a swimming pool. Néris started opening up to health tourism and emphasizing its heritage.