Vichy

Related Topics:
Vichyssoise :: Vichy

For other uses, see Vichy (disambiguation).

Vichy is a French commune, situated in the département of Allier and the région of Auvergne. It is known as a spa and resort town. The inhabitants are known as Vichyssois. It was the capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1944. Its has a population of 78,000 (1999).

History

Ancient Times

Roman Gauls established a village at a ford on the "Flumen Elaver" (Allier) and its sources. This was the site of the bridge that Julius Caesar had to use in 52 BC, during his return to Gergovie. These settlers were the first to know of the therapeutic value of the Springs and to exploit them. During the first two centuries AD, Vichy was very prosperous because of these thermal springs. At the end of the 3rd century, Roman Emperor Diocletian undertook a vast administrative and land-surveying reorganization. At that time the place name VIPIACUS first appeared (name of a agricultural field belonging to a certain VIPIUS) which, by phonetic evolution, became VICHIACUS, then VICHIET or VICHIER, and rapidly ended up being written VICHY.

Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, by an act of September 2, 1344, Jean II ceded the châtellenie of Vichy to Duke Pierre I of Bourbon. On December 6, 1374, the last part of Vichy was acquired by Louis II, Duke of Bourbon. At that point Vichy was incorporated into Bourbonnais. In 1410, the convent of Célestins was founded with twelve monks. A building located above of this original site is still visible.

In 1527, Bourbonnais was acquired by the Crown of France. At the end of the 16th century, patients came to take care of themselves in Vichy, and the waters quickly obtained a reputation for having quasi-miraculous powers. Certain administrative officials, such as Fouet and Chomel, began a codification of the cures and gave great renown to the Station by attracting well known people.

The Baths gather renown

It was, however, the marquise de Sévigné, a patient herself, who in 1676 and 1677 would popularize the description of the tanks and baths in her letters. The Vichy waters, were said to have cured her paralysis of the hands, indeed enabled her to take up the letter-writing that she is most famous for. In 1761 and 1762, Adélaïde and Victoire of France, the daughters of Louis XV, came for the first time to Vichy, and returned in 1785. The Bath facilities seemed extremely inconvenient to them because of the muddy waters and because of insufficient access for the large number of patients. On their return to Versailles, they asked their nephew Louis XVI to build more roomy and pleasant thermal baths (built in 1787.)

In 1799, Laetitia Bonaparte, mother of Napoleon, came to be cured in company of her son Louis. Under the Empire, the Park of the Springs was arranged on the order of the Emperor (Decree of Gumbinen of 1812).

Under Charles X, the great increase in patients wishing to be healed at the springs led to an increase in the capacity of the Hydropathic establishment. Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte expanded the Janson Building using the same style, thanks to the plan of Rose - Beauvais (work completed in 1830.) From 1844 to 1853, theatrical and lyrical demonstrations were developed in the living rooms of the Establishment under the baton of the conductor Isaac Strauss.

Vichy in Style

At the 19th century, Vichy was a station à la mode, attended by the celebrities of the time. But in fact the stays of Napoleon III between 1861 and 1866 caused a deep transformation of the city: the Allier river was dammed up, 13 hectares of landscaped gardens replaced the old marshes, and along the newly laid out boulevards and streets, country cottages and houses were built for the Emperor and his court to lodge in. The distractions were not forgotten: an eclectic garden-view Casino was built by the architect Badger, inaugurated in 1865. The emperor would be the catalyst of the development of a small station which, without industrial contribution and being placed on a major road, will multiply the number of inhabitants and visitors tenfold in fifty years.

After the Second French Empire, the Belle Époque marked the second large construction campaign in Vichy. In 1903 the Opera, the hall of the Springs and a great bath of the eastern style were inaugurated. In 1900, the park of the springs was girdled by a metal covered gallery coming from the World Fair of 1889. 700 meters (2,300 feet) long, it is decorated by a frieze of thistles and was carried out by the ironworker Emile Robert. Many private mansions, with extremely varied architectural references, were erected during the first half of the 20th century.

Vichy welcomed 40,000 patients in 1900, nearly 100,000 on the day before of the first war. The "thermal life" had its apex in the Thirties. The success of the thermal springs treatment led those in charge with the Farmer Company to increase the capacity of the establishments by creating the Callou Baths and the Lardy Baths. The Art Nouveau-style Opera, inaugurated in 1903, accomodated all the great names of the international scenes. Vichy became the summertime music capital of France, but the war of 1914 would put a brutal end to this development.

The inter-war period would see a resumption of hydrotherapy, but the city would recover well in spite of being in the spotlight at the time of the Second World War.

Vichy as capital of the État Français

Following the armistice signed on June 22, 1940, the zone which was not occupied by the Germans took the name of the French State (État Français) (as opposed to the traditional name, République française or French Republic ) and set up its capitol in Vichy on July 1, because of the town's relative proximity to Paris (4.5 hours by train) and because it was the city with the second largest hotel capacity at the time. Moreover, the existence of an ultramodern telephone exchange (the current hotel had only been built in 1935) made it possible to reach the whole world by a phone call.

On the first of July, the government took possession of many hotels. 600 members of Parliament (Appointed members and Senators) would join Vichy for the meeting of the Chambers. On the 9th and 10th, in the room of the Opera, the members of Parliament voted for the end of the Third Republic. The republican system was abolished, and the French State, with Philippe Pétain at its helm as Head of State replaced it. Only 80 of the 600 members of Parliament voiced their opposition. Starting from this date, Vichy would be, for more than four years, the capital of the French State. This government is often called the Vichy Regime. The preferred term is "Pétainist Regime" or "Regime of the French State." The term "Vichyste," which designates partisans of this regime, should not be confused with "Vichyssois" which designates the inhabitants of the city.

Reine des villes d'eaux

The Fifties and Sixties would be the most ostentatious period for Vichy, complete with parading personalities, visits from crowned heads (The Glaoui, the Pasha of Marrakech, Prince Rainier of Monaco) and profits from the massive arrival of North African French clients, who holidayed in Vichy, having a lot of fun by getting dressed up and spending a lot. There were thirteen cinemas (which sometimes showed special previews), eight dance halls, and three theatres. It was at this period that the station would take the title of "Reine des villes d'eaux." From June to September, so many French-Algerian tourists were arriving that it almost seemed like there was an airlift set up between Vichy-Charmeil and the aerodromes of Algeria. Mayor Pierre Coulon (1950-1967) decided to create Lake Allier (June 10, 1963) and Omnisports Park (1963-68), giving the city its current look.

Decline

The war in Algeria, following decolonization, marked once again a brutal halt in prosperity for the city, which from then on had to deal with much less favorable conditions. The need to continue to pay the debts incurred by the considerable investments that had been made in happier times obliged the new mayor Jacques Lacarin(1967-1989), successor of Pierre Coulon, to adopt a much more careful policy of management.

Modern Revival

Claude Malhuret, former Minister of Human Rights, born in Strasbourg in 1950, has been mayor since 1989. He and Bernard Kouchner are the cofounders of Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières.) The City and its economic partners started and concluded an important program of restoration and modernization. These projects include:

Creation of vast pedestrian zone in the city center
a program of modernization
upgrading of hotels to the sector standards
rebuilding and restoration of the thermal baths
realization of a center for balneotherapy dedicated to wellbeing
development of the architectural heritage
realization of a center of congress within the old Casino
restoration of the Opera.

Administration

style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em"| List of Successive Mayors
Period	Identity	Party	Profession
since march 1989	M. Claude Malhuret	UMP	Doctor
september 1967 to march 1989	M. Jacques Lacarin		Doctor
august 1950 to august 1967	M. Pierre Coulon		Industrialist
april 1949 to july 1950	M. Pierre-Victor Léger		Pharmacist
may 1945 to april 1949	M. Louis Moinard		Trader
august 1944 to may 1945	M. Jean Barbier		Director of College
may 1929 to august 1944	M. Pierre-Victor Léger		Pharmacist
december 1919 to may 1929	M. Louis Lasteyras		Journalist
may 1912 to november 1919	M. Armand Bernard		Shareholder
may 1900 to may 1912	M. Louis Lasteyras		Journalist
21 may 1893 to 20 may 1900	M. Ferdinand Debrest		Pharmacist
15 may 1892 to 21 may 1893	M. Gabriel Nicolas		Lawyer
June 1879 to may 1892	M. Georges Durin		Lawyer
January to september 1878	M. Alfred Bulot		Lawyer
1876 to 1878	M. Antoine Jardet		Doctor
1874 to 1876	M. Ernest Jaurand		Doctor
1870 to 1874	M. Antoine Jardet		Doctor
15 september 1865 to 9 september 1870	M. Joseph Bousquet		Lawyer
7 may 1860 to 15 sept 1865	M. Norbert Leroy		Notary
7 may 1857-7 may 1860 to 7 may 1860	M. Antoine Guillermen		Hotel owner
20 august 1853 to 7 may 1860	M. Victor Noyer		Surgeon
August 1848 to 1853	M. Victor Prunelle		Doctor and Waters inspector
1843 to 1848	M. Claude Ramin-Prêtre		Hotel owner
1833 to 1842	M. Christophe Bulot		Shareholder
1831 to 1832	M. Louis Chaloin		Hotel master
1822 to 1831	M. Baron Lucas		Doctor and Waters inspector
	M. GAP		[GAP
1798 to 1800	M. Jean-Joseph Gravier Du Monceau		^*
	M. GAP		[GAP
1791 to 1795	M. Jean-Joseph Gravier Du Monceau		^*
2 february 1790 to 13 november 1791	M. François-Claude Chocheprat		^*

Source: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/carteret/ Site essentiel sur la ville

Economy

The city has been known for its thermal cures since Roman times. Its waters are famous worldwide (coming from springs including Vichy Celestins and Vichy Saint-Yorre) but lozenges made from soda contained in the spring waters are also famous.

The health and beauty business, with the laboratories of the L'Oréal company, also make it possible to publicize the city's name to a worldwide audience under the Vichy brand. (This French website discusses the history of this brand.)

Unlike the neighboring communes on the Allier, like industrial Montluçon and administrative seat Moulins, Vichy's economy is centered on the tertiary sector and aims at the development of the health and well-being sector to mitigate the decline of medical hydrotherapy. The local market, open Sunday, attracts purchasers from tens of kilometers around.

The closing of two important local employers, Manurhin and Sediver, threatens employment in the Vichy basin. Job creation by developing companies like NSE (electronics) or Satel (calls center) can't compensate for the removals of stations which will result from this, even if the tour operator on Internet Karavel (promovacances.com) establishes a new calls center in May 2005, which should create 300 jobs over 3 years.

Nevertheless, the three most important employers of the city belong to the public sector: the hospital (1120 employees), the town hall (720) and the college of Presles (370).

Since 1989 Vichy has been one of the 7 sites of the European Total Quality Institute (l'Institut Européen de la Qualité Totale .)

Pôle University and Lardy Technology, born from a project of thermal waste land rehabilitation and launched during the mid-nineties, is an economic priority. This 9,000 m² campus accomodates 600 students in the downtown area, in ten areas of study including the fields of biotechnology, international trade, multi-media and languages. The CAVILAM (Center of Live Approaches to Languages and the Media), created in Vichy in 1964, is now installed with Pôle-Lardy.

The Palace of the congresses is a venue primarily for the conferences of trade associations and learned societies. The structure is 1,800 m² large, including two plenary rooms and fifteen multi-use rooms. With 25,000 visitors yearly, the conferences must now carry the economic role once held by the hydrotherapy, which today counts only 12,000 patients each year. The hydrotherapy business will now have to reorganize itself to take a less strict therapeutic-only role, and reorient itself for patients' stays shorter than the traditional 3 weeks.

Current Building Projects

Currently, under the authority of the local communities, much work is being done on building sites and projects, which will deeply modify Vichy in the years to come. Some believe that construction by the Hotel of the Community of Agglomeration in September 2005 on the old site of the "Commercial City" may precede the total restoration of the market hall (which would cost €5.9 Million) which would be delivered in September 2006. Some also note the creation of a 12 000 m² mother-child center in the hospital complex, the restoration of the spa façade (removal of the metal boarding to uncover the original style of 1862), the transformation of the spa into a multi-use center, creation of parks with fountains in place of parking lots, the demolition and the transformation of the buildings in a congested area to create an enterprise center intended to create 800 jobs (opening of the site envisioned at the end of 2007), the construction of a new aquatic stadium including 5 basins (initially envisaged to cost €14.3 million but may end up costing €20 Million) whose delivery is envisaged with the autumn 2007, and finally motorway connection in 2011.

This French website gives key economic figures for the Vichy area.

Miscellaneous

Births

Vichy was the birthplace of:

Valéry Larbaud (1881–1957), writer
Albert Londres (1884-1932), journalist

Twin towns

Vichy is twinned with:

Sources

Translated from the French-language page, 29 June 2006.

External links

Communes of Allier | Spa towns | Sous-préfectures

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