Rennes-les-Bains (; oc, Los Banhs de Rènnas) is a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Aude department in southern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
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 modern
thermal spa
A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring (hydrology), spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are als ...
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''.
Geography
Rennes-les-Bains is located in the valley of the River
Sals, from
Carcassonne
Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department.
Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the Au ...
, from
Limoux
Limoux (; oc, Limós ) is a commune and subprefecture in the Aude department, a part of the ancient Languedoc province and the present-day Occitanie region in southern France. Its vineyards are famous for being first to produce sparkling w ...
, and from
Rennes-le-Château
Rennes-le-Château (; oc, Rènnas del Castèl) is a commune approximately 5 km (3 miles) south of Couiza, in the Aude department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. In 2018, it had a population of 91.
This hilltop village is k ...
.
History
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 in ''Colonia Narbo Martius'' (
Narbonne
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in Southern France in the Occitanie region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. It is located about from the shores of the ...
).
Traditionally the serving doctor of the village is also the historian. As of 2007 the current doctor is Dr
André Authier who has written one book and co-authored another on "thermalisme".
Population
Miscellaneous
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 novel ''
The Da Vinci Code
''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel ''Angels & Demons''. ''The Da Vinci Code'' follows symbologist Robert Lang ...
''. Subsequently, the author
Kate Mosse
Katharine Mosse (born 20 October 1961) is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and Television presenter, broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel ''Labyrinth (novel), Labyrinth'', which has been translated into more ...
set the larger part of her 2007 novel ''
Sepulchre'' in the immediate vicinity.
Abbé
Henri Boudet was the parish priest of Rennes-les-Bains at the same time that
Bérenger Saunière
François-Bérenger Saunière (11 April 1852 – 22 January 1917) was a French Catholic priest in the village of Rennes-le-Château, in the Aude region. He was a central figure in the conspiracy theories surrounding the village, which form the ...
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 entitled ''Voyages 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.
In ''Les Amours, A Éléonore, recueil D’élégies divisé en Trois Livres'' (1817), Auguste de Labouïsse-Rochefort had the motto "
Et in Arcadia ego
''Et in Arcadia ego'' (also known as ''Les bergers d'Arcadie'' or ''The Arcadian Shepherds'') is a 1637–38 painting by Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665), the leading painter of the classical French Baroque style. It depicts a pastoral scene with id ...
" placed on its title page; this was a reference to the
Academy of Arcadia
The Accademia degli Arcadi or Accademia dell'Arcadia, "Academy of Arcadia" or "Academy of the Arcadians", was an Italian literary academy founded in Rome in 1690. The full Italian official name was Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi.
History
F ...
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 of
Rennes in
Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
.
See also
*
Corbières Massif
*
Communes of the Aude department
References
Bibliography
* CATEL, Guillaume, Memoires sur l'Histoire du Languedoc, 1633
* DELMAS, Abbé : Antiquités des bains de Montferrand communément appelés les bains de Rennes, 1709. (Manuscript)
* JULIA (J.S.E.) : Dissertation sur les eaux thermales connues sous le nom des Bains de Rennes, 1814. (Reprinted 1984, Schrauben) - (Mentions Delmas)
* LIGNON, Dr : Journal des Bains de Montferrand, 1819.
* LABOUISSE-ROCHEFORT : Voyage à Rennes-les-Bains, Paris, 1832.
* CAZAINTRE, Dr : Analyse des eaux thermo-minérale de Rennes (Aude), 1853.
* CAZAINTRE, Dr : Observations médicales relatives à l'emploi de l'eau salée de la rivière de Salz à Rennes-les-Bains (Aude), 1858.
* CAZAINTRE, Dr : Notice sur les eaux thermo-minérales de Rennes-les-Bains, 1862
* GOURDON, Dr Jean : Stations thermales de l'Aude - Rennes-les-Bains. Cote BN:8°TE163/155, 1874.
* BOUDET, Henri : La Vrai Langue Celtique et le Cromleck de Rennes-les-Bains, 1886. (Reprinted 1984 by Belisane)
* VAYSSE, Dr L. : Eaux Thermo-minérales de Rennes-les-Bains, 1886.
* COURRENT, Dr Paul : Etude générale sur Rennes-les-Bains, 1928.
* COURRENT, Dr Paul : Rennes-les-Bains (Aude) – Ses Sources et Leurs Indications, 1932. Editions du "Languedoc Medical".
* COURRENT Dr Paul : Notice historique sur les bains de Rennes connus anciennement des Bains de Montferrand - Leur origine gallo-romaine et leur évolution jusqu'à la fin du XVIIIe siècle. Carcassonne, 1934.
* COURRENT, Dr Paul : Station hydrominérale de Rennes-les-Bains - Thermes romains (ancien Bain Fort), 1934.
* COURRENT, Dr Paul : Rennes-les-Bains (Aude) : Monographie historique, scientifique, médico-thermale et touristique, 1942.
* COURRENT, Dr Paul : Découverte d'une mosaïque à Rennes-les-Bains. Bulletin de la société d'études scientifiques de l'Aude. Tome XLIX, 1948.
* COURRENT, Dr Paul : Un morceau de mosaïque provenant de Rennes-les-Bains. Bulletin de la société d'études scientifiques de l'Aude. Tome XLIX, 1948.
* GIBERT, Urbain et RANCOULE : Rennes-les-Bains : Notes sur une tête sculptée. Bulletin de la société d'études scientifiques de l'Aude. Tome LXIX, 1969.
* GIBERT, Urbain : Notes Historiques sur les Bains de Montferrand devenus les Bains de Rennes, actuellement Rennes-les-Bains. Bulletin de la société d'études scientifiques de l'Aude. Tome LXXIII, 1973.
* MONTS (Abbé Bruno de) : Rennes-le-Château et Rennes-les-Bains. 32 pages, 1984.
* ALESSANDRI, Patrice : Rennes-les-Bains (Aude) - vestiges antiques du site thermal au Parc de la Reine. Etudes Roussillonnaies, Tome XVII, 1999.
* WOOD, David : Genesis The First Book of Revelations Baton Press Ltd 1985.
External links
Photos and mapOfficial village website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renneslesbains
Communes of Aude
Spa towns in France
Aude communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia