Bagnères

Bagnères, the name of two towns in the Pyrenees, France, both well known as watering-places.—BAGNÈRES DE BIGORRE, on the Adour, in the department of Hautes Pyrénées, is situated 1820 feet above sea-level, at the base of Montalivet, and at the entrance to the romantic valley of Campan, 13 miles SE. of Tarbes by rail. Besides its extensive bathing-houses, it has a college, a theatre, a Pyrenean museum, a trades-hall; and contains a pop. of 7634. By the Romans it was known as Vicus Aquensis Balneariae or Aquæ Bigerrorum. It was destroyed by the Goths, but the fame of its waters survived, and is now so great that it is visited by about 20,000 strangers yearly. It has fourteen baths, the chief Les Thermes and Villa Théas, and above fifty springs (90° to 135° F.), recommended for catarrhal and nervous diseases. Woollens, linens, and Baréges (q.v.) are manufactured here.—BAGNÈRES DE LUCHON is situated in the department of Haute Garonne, in the beautiful valley of Luchon, 43 miles by road SE. of Bagnères de Bigorre, and 22 by rail S. of Montrejeau Junction. Its cold, tepid, and hot sulphurous waters (up to 130° F.) are recommended in rheumatism, gout, cutaneous diseases, and paralysis, and attract some 10,000 visitors annually. Pop. 3582.