Photo : A.BourgeoisP / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Luxeuil-les-Bains
Used since Roman times for their healing properties, the thermal springs of Luxeuil-les-Bains, in the Haute-Saône, made the town famous long before the Irish monk Columbanus founded an abbey here in the 6th century, which became one of the great monastic centres of Europe.
The Basilica of Saint-Pierre and the remains of the Gothic cloister of the former abbey bear witness to this rich religious past, while the Napoleonic baths, rebuilt in the 19th century in an elegant Neoclassical style, continue the town's healing tradition to this day. Renaissance mansions of pink Vosges sandstone along the streets of the centre complete the heritage of this spa town between the Vosges foothills and the Comtois plateau.
