Limoges-Bénédictins ( French: ''Gare de Limoges-Bénédictins'') is the main

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

of Limoges. It is situated on the Orléans–Montauban railway. It was named Bénédictins due to the presence of a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

closed during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

History

The CF du PO opened the first railway line in the city in the 1850s. The first station, built of wood, opened on 16 June 1856. The first stone-built station opened in 1860. On 21 November 1918, the city council of Limoges and CF du PO signed an agreement regarding the construction of a new station. The construction works lasted from 1924 and 1929. The station was inaugurated on 2 July 1929. The Germans also used an underground roadway as a passive defense shelter, located under the tracks, which previously linked the Ambazac road to Locarno Avenue, now partly walled. The "

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...

Reserved" sign (nur für Wehrmacht) is still present. On the night of 23–24 June 1944, thanks to information from the Resistance, the Allies bombarded the Puy-Imbert marshalling yard in Limoges, preventing the movement of trains for more than a week. The next day, the Germans requisitioned the labor available to clear and clear ... under a sun of lead. The station was listed as a '' monument historique'' on 15 January 1975 and work to restore the Great Hall ended in 1979. Gare des Bénédictins About 13:20 on 5 February 1998, a fire broke out under the station's dome. The city's population was deeply moved and distressed, and the dome was rebuilt to its original design. The railway accident at Brétigny-sur-Orge was a derailment on 12 July 2013 at the Brétigny railway station in the commune of Brétigny-sur-Orge (

Essonne Essonne () is a department of France in the southern Île-de-France region. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659 across 194 communes.Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to: History * Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte Places * Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...

and Limoges-Bénédictins derailed, resulting in the death of seven people. On May 20, 2008, the Limoges station was used for the filming of an advertising clip for the perfume Chanel No 5, "Un train de nuit", directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and featuring actress Audrey Tautou. The rest of the clip was shot in the stations of Nice and

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, around the theme of the

Orient-Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe and int ...

. At the end, broadcast in 2009, the station appears at the very beginning of the clip, Audrey Tautou running on the forecourt and causing some pigeons to fly up. This clip suggests that the Limoges station could be the departure of a direct train to Istanbul

Architecture

Bénédictins station was designed by architect Roger Gonthier. A particularity of the station is that it was built over the ten railway lines as opposed to next to them. A large 90 by 78 metre platform was built over the line to support the station building. The building is made of a concrete skeleton, filled in with limestone. The dome which covers the passenger concourse is made of a metallic framework, covered in copper. On the Southwest corner is a clock tower composed of thirteen levels. It is mounted by a dome itself mounted by a vase. Below these are four clocks. The first floors are occupied by offices. The view from the top floors is stunning over the city of Limoges, part of the agglomeration and the Vienne valley. You can see most of the most important monuments of the city: the town hall, the churches of Saint-Michel and Saint-Pierre, the Gay-Lussac high school, the city of Coutures, the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Limoges, the Bastide, The

technopole A technopole, commonly referred to as a high-technology cluster or tech hub, refers to a center of high-tech manufacturing and information-based quaternary industry. The term was coined by Allen J. Scott in 1990 to describe regions in Southern C ...

or the castle of the Bastide.

Services

The following services call at Limoges-Bénédictins as of January 2021: *intercity services (''

Intercités Intercités (before September 2009: ''Corail Intercités'') is a brand name used by France’s national railway company, SNCF, to denote non high speed services on the 'classic' network in France. SNCF established the Intercités brand in January ...

'') Paris - Vierzon - Limoges -

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pa ...

*local service (TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Limoges - Angoulême (partly by bus) *local service (TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Limoges - Uzerche - Brive-la-Gaillarde *local service (TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Limoges - Saint-Yrieix - Brive-la-Gaillarde (partly by bus) *local service (TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Limoges - Poitiers *local service (TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Limoges - Guéret - Montluçon *local service (TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Limoges - Ussel *local service (TER Nouvelle-Aquitaine) Limoges - Thiviers - Périgueux - Bordeaux File:Vue_de_l'ancienne_gare_des_Bénédictins_à_Limoges.jpg, The former station (~1905) File:Tgvli.jpg, TGV

References

External links

*
Details and information of the station.

{{Authority control Limoges Limoges Monuments historiques of Nouvelle-Aquitaine Buildings and structures in Limoges Buildings and structures completed in 1929 Art Deco architecture in France 20th-century architecture in France