Néris-les-Bains is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Allier

Allier

Allier is a department in central France named after the river Allier.- History :Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Auvergne and Bourbonnais.In 1940, the government of Marshal...

 department and in the Auvergne

Auvergne (région)

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 region

Régions of France

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 in central France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Etymology

The name Néris comes from the Gaul God Nérios, deity personifying the local thermal spring (Latinized in Nerius)

Geography

8 kilometers southeast of Montluçon, the town is on "départementale" road 2144, which links Clermont-Ferrand to Bourges via Montluçon, and follows the trail of the ancient roman way.

The town is at 352 meters of altitude, on the first foothills of the Massif central, more precisely the plateau of the Combrailles.

The Gaul era: Nériomagos

A cette époque, Néris s'appelle Nériomagos (nom qui vient du nom du dieu Nérios, divinité personnifiant la source thermale) C'est alors une bourgade au commerce florissant, au carrefour de deux axes de passage.
At that time, Néris is called Nériomagos (the town of Nérios, deity personifying the thermal spring). Then, it is a village with a booming trade, at the crossroads of two major ways.

The roman colonisation: Aquae Nerii

Nérios is Latinized into Nérius, and Nériomagos becomes Aquae Nerii (Nérius' waters). The spring is used for therapeutic purposes and two luxurious thermal baths are created. Numerous monuments are built: temples, villas... The 8th legion Augusta stations there in the end of the 1st century, and a circle theater (amphitheater) is built to offer circus games and stage performance to the soldiers and inhabitants. A lot of relics remain from that golden age.

Germanic invasions and Merovingian era

Around 275 before Christ, the Germanic invasions destroy a part of the town and the population flees, leaving behind monetary treasures. In the 4th century, the thermal baths and the houses are partly rearranged and occupied again.
A new wave of invasions destroys the town again, and the ruins are then used as a gravel-pit by the Merovingian population. Stone blocks belonging to the public buildings are thus used for the sarcophaguses now located under the glass pyramid on the church square.

Evangelism and Carolingian era

Saint Patrocle evangelized Néris in the 6th century and built a church and a convent there. The current romanesque church dates back to the 11th or 12th century and was built in the same place as the original 6th-century basilica, which was erected upon the ruins of a roman building.
The Carolingian king Pépin the First of Aquitaine, Charlemagne's grandson, stayed in Néris in 835 and 838.

The 16th Century

Néris' thermal baths' fame increases. Rabelais mentions them in Pantagruel (which is why Néris' middle school is called Collège François Rabelais), and Nicolas de Nicolay, king Charles the Ninth of France' geographer, cites the "Baings de Nérys" in 1569 (modern orthograph: Bains de Néris = Baths of Néris).

The 19th Century

Néris' new golden age begins when the Dauphine, Duchess of Angoulême, lays the foundation stone of the new thermal resort. The hotels, the casino and the theater are built.
Among the famous people who followed a thermal course of treatment in Néris, there are Chateaubriand, Musset, Lamartine, the empress Eugénie...
At that time, archaeological excavations are started to discover the roman Aquae Nerii's infrastructure.
Society life is in full swing, grand parties are organized.

The 20th Century

Néris becomes an "hospital town" during the first World War, injured soldiers are taken care there.
By the end of the war, the thermal baths are prosperous again. In 1930, the railroad line between Néris and Montluçon entered service, as did the trains station in Néris, with its pink sandstones and its multicolored roof, designed by Louis Brachet. The bourgeoisie and the politic class use the
thermal baths: the Poincaré family, Léon Blum...
The second World War and the social progress that preceded it (social security and paid vacation) give the town a new look and a new clientele.
The thermal baths were modernized and the town equipped itself with a golf, an archaeological museum and a swimming pool. Néris started opening up to health tourism and emphasizing its heritage.

Population

The inhabitants of Néris-les-Bains are called Nérisiens.

Sights

• The Saint Georges Church (11th and 12th centuries)
• The Merovingian necropolis
• The City Hall (19th century)
• The Former Train Station, Louis Brachet Architect
• Saint Joseph's Chapel (19th century)
• The Spa and Theater