Barèges

Barèges (; , , in the Gascon dialect) is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, administrative region of Occitania, southwestern France. It is situated in the valley of the Bastan on the former Route nationale 618 (the "Route of the Pyrenees") on the western side of the Col du Tourmalet.

Its spa has been known since the beginning of the 17th century and is the highest in the Pyrenees. It is famous also for the ski resort of Barèges, part of the Domaine du Tourmalet, as well as its landscapes.

Geography

thumb|The Village

Barèges village is a small mountain village in the French Pyrenees located in the heart of the Val de la Batsus at the foot of the Col du Tourmalet and the Pic du Midi de Bigorre, which stretches along the right bank of the Bastan. The commune is located some 20 km south of Bagneres-de-Bigorre and 12 km north-west of Aragnouet.

Topography

The town is bounded in the north-west by the Bastan river which flows from east to west in a narrow valley through the main village (at an altitude of 1250 m) and through its main inhabited areas. The Bastan forms the northern border of the commune with the commune of Sers.

thumb|The Valley of Barèges

The rest of the territory of the commune is mostly a vast plateau surrounded by several peaks that form most of its other borders with:

to the East: the commune overlooks the ski area shared with Bagnères-de-Bigorre, the Super Barèges station;
to the south-east: on the border with Vielle-Aure are the peaks of Aygues-Cluses (2620 m), Gourget (2619 m, the north-east ridge is also the northernmost part of the north-western boundary of the Néouvielle National Nature Reserve), Estibère (2663 m), and Madamète (2657 m). About 1 km north of the Madamète within the commune there is Tracens peak (2551 m), which slopes towards the middle of the plateau;
to the south: on the border of the exclave of Soulan (Saint-Lary-Soulan) are the Crêtes d'Espade (Espade ridges) leading to the Pic de Néouvielle (3091 m) which also marks the southern part of the north-western boundary of the Néouvielle National Nature Reserve;
to the south-west: on the border of Luz-Saint-Sauveur are the Pic des Trois conseillers (Peak of three councilors) (3039 m), the Turon de Néouvielle (3035 m), the Coume de l'Ours Peak (2855 m), and Mont Arrouy (2772 m but actually located in Luz-Saint-Sauveur and closer to the border with Betpouey, but the north face descends to the plateau in Barèges);
to the west: on the border with Betpouey and close to Barèges village is the Ayre Peak (2416 m) with a cable car up its north face from the village and ski lifts in winter.

Access and transport

The village sits on the D918 road, which to the west leads down the valley to Lourdes, Tarbes and Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport. To the north-east, the road continues up the valley to the Col du Tourmalet and onwards to Arreau and Bagnères-de-Bigorre.

Hydrology

The Bastan river, known locally as the "Gave de Bastan", is a right tributary of the Gave de Gavarnie and has its source in the north-east of the commune near the Col du Tourmalet whose slopes and the slopes of the surrounding peaks supply water. The Ruisseau d'Aygues Cluses rises in the south-east of the commune and flows north to join the Bastan. The Ruisseau de la Glère flows north from the Lac de la Glère in the south-west of the commune to join the Bastan east of the village. Two small streams rise south of the village and flow north to join the Bastan: the Ruisseau de Rioulet and the Ruisseau du Pontis.

History

In the 7th century the people of Barèges Valley were subjected to women - there was a custom that men served their wives with all marks of respect.

Under the Treaty of Corbeil in 1258, James I of Aragon renounced his claim to Occitania inherited from his ancestors, the Counts of Barcelona. In return King Louis IX of France agreed to waive his own claims to the Catalan counties. Effectively, as the descendants of Charlemagne, the kings of France have always retained their rights over the old Marca Hispanica. In this way the Vallée libre de Barèges (Free Valley of Barèges) was established.

Administratively, the town of Bains was a dependency of the village of Betpouey located downstream on the Bastan. A small mountain village was built around a thermal springs. It is not known when its hot springs were discovered. Tradition has it that the shepherds were the first users. They had noticed that sick or injured sheep came to soak in the hot and sulphurous waters.

Its warm sulphurous waters first became generally known in 1675 when they were visited by Madame de Maintenon and Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine, son of Louis XIV.

The commune owes its current name to Madame de Maintenon who, during her stay in 1675 in the village of Bains, dated her letters "Barèges" although that designation belonged to the whole Barèges Valley or, in the political sense, the valley of Bastan and that of the Gave de Gavarnie. The town was just called Les Bains in reference to its thermal baths.

In 1680 Louvois, Secretary of State and Minister of State for Louis XIV came to the Barèges Baths to treat a leg fracture. On returning to Versailles he obtained credits from Colbert for the first military hospital for the comfort of hydrotherapy.

In 1762 a flood from the Bastan took away 17 houses in the small spa town.

Barèges appears as Bareges les Bains on the 1750 Cassini Map

{| class="wikitable"

! From !! To !! Name

| 1946 || 1977 || Urbain Cazaux

| 1977 || 1995 || André Sabathier

| 1995 || 2000 || Emmanuel

| 2000 || 2001 || Philippe Trey

| 2001 || 2008 || Jean-Claude Crampe

| 2008 || 2014 || Emmanuel

| 2014 || 2026 || Pascal Arribet

Demography

In French, the inhabitants of the commune are known as Barégeois () or Barégeoises ().

thumb|The War Memorial

Economy

;Thermal Baths Photo Gallery

File:Barèges 1841 Louis-Céran Lemonnier.JPG|The Thermal Baths in 1841

File:Thermes de barèges (9).JPG|The Thermal Baths

File:Thermes de barèges (15).JPG|Inside the Baths

File:Thermes de barèges (19).JPG|Geological diagram

</gallery>

Tourism

thumb|Winter in the Village

Barèges is situated at the perimeter of the National Parc of the Pyrénées. In and around the village all mountain sports are practiced, such as paragliding, walking, cycling, canyoning/caving, mountain climbing, mountain biking, and more.

Barèges is also the second oldest ski resort in France, and when the funicular was opened in 1936 the resort became a tourist destination. The resort, now linked with La Mongie, is the largest ski area in the French Pyrénées.

The historic Funicular of Ayré started from the centre of Barèges and had an intermediate stop on the height of the plateau of Lienz. Later in 1947 it was extended and allowed to reach an altitude of 2005 m on the northern flank of Ayré Peak (which rises to 2416 m). In the early 1950s Électricité de France (EDF) implanted a huge construction site a little higher still (at 150 m below the top of the Ayré) to make an 11 km long tunnel to store water from the Néouvielle massif and from the Gavarnie for the Capdelong Dam and bring them through the mountains to the Pragnères hydroelectric plant. The existing funicular could not be extended and a cable car was built by EDF, first for its own use to connect to the tunnel construction site base camp and the refuge of Glère nearby (the remains of the tunnel construction and the base camp have not yet, in 2013, been cleaned).

With the development of tourism, the EDF cable car was then slightly modified to be also used by skiers and hikers visiting the refuge. When the piste which now descends to the refuge was established in the early 1980s, the cable car, which was no longer used for the transportation of engineers controlling the work (who were much less numerous than during construction) was downgraded. When it no longer met safety standards and it was no longer necessary to go to the refuge due to the new piste, the cable car was stopped completely and dismantled in the 1990s.

The old Funicular of Ayré was also closed in 2000 due to aging structures and safety, despite the maintenance and modernization of buildings and equipment that had taken place over the decades. As of 2013 it has not reopened but a new project is being supported by the council, much of the population, and the friends of the station to restore the structures and aging equipment to modern standards (this is the largest and most expensive part of the work required excluding the subsequent operating costs), to modernise and diversify activities in the resort, and to reopen year round tourism.

A cable car (1954–1968) and then a Gondola lift (1968–2002) also connected Barèges to Laquette (altitude 1715 m). As it no longer met safety standards it was removed. The only vestige of the cable car is the departure station on the right bank of Bastan above Barèges in the Aygat locality which was also used for the Gondola lift going up to the plateau of Lienz.

thumb|Tunnels to Super-Baràges

In order to ski since 2002 the ascent has been by car or bus from the D918 road (along the Bastan) to the departure point for the lifts at Tournaboup which has been built with ample parking, ticketing, and an ESF office. It is sometimes possible to access Super Barèges via the Col du Tourmalet (the road is often closed in winter or requires special equipment). The pass road is dangerous and the small resort does not allow extended parking for numerous ski vehicles so this station has been closed to non-resident passenger vehicles which must remain parked at Tournaboup and reach Super Barèges by the Caoubère and Tourmalet chairlifts which connect Barèges to La Mongie.

Gastronomy

Barèges-Gavarnie is an Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) for French Mutton. This AOC was created in 2003.

Fashion

thumb|Parisian Costume Satin Hat. Barège gown trimmed with Barège frills. Barège scarf, 1823

Barège is a type of goat wool which was originally made in Barèges. The undercoat from the goat fleeces yield a kind of lightweight wool and used as a Cashmere wool for a particular weave in gowns, scarves, and necklaces.

Barèges gowns are cited by Victor Hugo in Les Misérables, and in both Madame Bovary and Sentimental Education by Gustave Flaubert.

George Sand wrote on 28 August 1825, when in Bagneres-de-Bigorre, in a letter to her mother: "Je vous porterais du barège de Barèges" (I would bring you some barège from Barèges).

;Barèges Town Festival 15 August 2014 - Wool working

File:Baréges- fête des bergers 15 Aout 2014 - Laine de moutons.JPG| Wools from Sheep

File:Barèges - Fête des bergers 15 Aout 2014 - Travail de la laine 01.JPG|Carding

File:Barèges - Fête des bergers 15 Aout 2014 - Travail de la laine 02.JPG|Spinning on a Spindle

File:Barèges - Fête des bergers 15 Aout 2014 - Travail de la laine 04.JPG|Spinning on a Spinning wheel

</gallery>

Sites and Monuments

thumb|The Funicular in Winter

thumb|The Piets Barns

;The village and localities in the valley

From upstream to downstream on the Bastan:

Super Barèges
Tournaboup
Piets Dérat
Souriche
Transarious
Le Lienz
L'Hospitalet
Artigala
La Ribère
The Baths of Barzun and Cabadur

;Sites to see

The Thermal Baths of Barèges and Barèges-Barzun in the lower village
The old Funicular du Pic de l'Ayré, currently out of service but visitable at its 3 stations including the departure station in the village next to the thermal baths
The Piets Barns upstream of the village at Piets Dérat, built in the direction of the slope and fortified with a stone bow that protects from avalanches and snow
The Jardin botanique du Tourmalet (Tourmalet botanical garden)
The Domaine du Tourmalet which includes the ski resorts of several communes, including those of Tournaboup and Super Barèges in Barèges
The Col du Tourmalet between Barèges and Bagneres-de-Bigorre, reached by a steep, winding road which is closed in winter. In summer it is regularly visited by cyclists and the Tour de France

Notable people linked to the commune

thumb|The Chapel at Camp Rollot

Pablo Morillo 5 May 177527 July 1837, Spanish General, born in Barèges
Father Antoine Dieuzayde 13 June 187713 July 1958, founded Camp Rollot in Barèges

References

External links

Description of the ski area on PisteHors.com
Detailed Description of Tourmalet ski resort, per region and per blue/red/black runs including pictures