For many people—both French and foreign—Vichy calls to mind first and foremost the provisional French government of the years 1940-1944 that collaborated with the Nazi Germany occupation of France. Or, as an American tourist I recently met in Paris put it, “Didn’t something bad happen there?”

But what one sees at Vichy, a town of 28,000 in the center of France, a 2-hour-50-minute train ride from Paris—at least what I saw during a two-day stay early this month—isn’t the waste of war but rather the echo and life of the old spa town that was here before the French government called it their temporary capital. In other words, the town that tourists and curists now visit is the Vichy of the Vichyssois (those who live in Vichy) rather than the town of the Vichyists (supporters of the Vichy regime), even if some may have once been one and the same. Nevertheless, here’s a bit of wartime history before moving on.

During the German Blitzkrieg into northern France in the spring of 1940, the French government originally fled to Bordeaux from Paris. In June 1940, France signed an armistice with Germany, and France was formally divided between the Occupied Zone, which comprised northern France and the length of the Atlantic Coast, and the so-called Free Zone, which compromised the rest, with the exception of the southeast corner of the country which was occupied by Italy. The French government then set up shop in Vichy.

Why Vichy? Not for its spring water and hot springs but for the modern infrastructure that had grown from it.

In the 1850s, Vichy was a small budding spa resort. But no sooner had Napoleon III (emperor from 1852 to 1870) started to find relief from his rheumatism here in 1861 then threw his full imperial weight behind its development. A town of leisure and luxury began growing immediately.

The town’s development over the past 150 years has left structures and details that reveal four major periods of architecture and urbanism: Napoleon III (1860s), Art Nouveau (1895-1903), Art Deco (1925-1935), Contemporary (since the late 1980s). Each period has modernized the infrastructure, technology, comfort, and architecture of the town. It’s those details, and the general sense of well-being in this town, that can entice a traveler off the beaten track of major highways and high-speed train routes to spend a day or two or three in Vichy.

For a government in search of a new, provisional capital, Vichy in 1940 was an ideal location in that it was situated in the center of France, had extensive modern communications system—by air, by rail, by telephone—, and had, for such a small town, an astounding number of hotels—300—that could be requisitioned for government purposes. The government arrived on July 2, 1940.

A plaque inside the opera house at Vichy indicates that it was there that on July 10 the National Assembly voted full power to Field Marshal Philippe Pétain, thus ending France’s Third Republic, which had been born in 1870 from the fall of the aforementioned Napoleon III.

Oops, I said that backwards. The plaque actually states that 80 members of the National Assembly (out of 649) voted to “affirm their attachment to the Republic, their love for freedom, and their faith in victory [over Germany].” Or maybe the plaque got it backwards. Either way, it was here that was created the Vichy Government.

Although the German army didn’t physically occupy the Free Zone, the French government collaborated with German powers in an echo of the latter’s policies in the north, particularly by allowing like-minded militia, supplying the Germans with forced labor, and interning Jews and dissidents, eventually handed over to the Germans.

But pass that plaque and open the door to the theater and you won’t be struck by memories of war but rather by the radiance of the Art Nouveau décor. Visiting Vichy today doesn’t mean forgetting the war but rather recognizing it and moving on since the true interest of a 24-72-hour stay is the architecture and the pleasure of walking around its small, languorous center with an eye open for details.

Leaving aside contemporary buildings, here are some details from the Napoleon III (1860s), Art Nouveau (1895-1903), and Art Deco (1925-1935) periods that have marked the town with some luxuriant architecture.

Napoleon III
As noted above, the imperial push of Napoleon III, who took power as emperor in 1852 and was sent into exile in 1870, caused the development of Vichy, then a budding spa town, into a town of high luxury that would rival with the great German and Hungarian spa towns. Boosting Vichy’s place on the map in the 1860s naturally implied the construction of a new train station, shown here, that has just been restored.

The façade of the casino (now convention center) is also a remnant of the 1860s. The next major development of Vichy was at the turn of the century, which has left the town with numerous Art Nouveau details. For example, in 1900 a glass canopy was added to the casino, so this photo reveals the beauty of both eras.

Art Nouveau
Other than this canopy, the most stunning example of Art Nouveau is inside the theater, completed in 1903, that’s adjacent to the casino. The exterior would likely get mixed reviews even if it were restored, but the interior of the 1400-seat theater, which was restored in the 1990s, is worth the trip for anyone who admires grand theaters or Art Nouveau. Click here for more information and for the current program.

These photos don’t do it justice because they weren’t taken with the right lighting or equipment.

Vichy’s central park, Parc des Sources, lies between the Casino/Opera/Convention Center and the central building where medical spa-goers and non-medical tourists can come to take dose of Vichy water. Two covered walkways border the park leading between the two.

I visited Vichy over two days in the company of a dozen French journalists, one Japanese journalist, and one Irish journalist who are members of the Association des Journalistes du Patrimoine, i.e. journalists writing about heritage. I’m not a member.

Heritage/Patrimoine is an important concept in France, one that’s frequently discussed and endorsed. It relates to the conservation and promotion of landmarks and other historically revealing buildings, parks, monuments, and much else that people are willing to fight to maintain, such as French cuisine. The English would also easily understand the concept (without the extension to cuisine). But it’s a rather vague notion to my American mind. In American terms, I can only explain patrimoine as being a combination of the endangered species list in Oregon, the desire to bear arms in Texas, the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade in New York, government assistance for car manufacturers, and Yellowstone National Park. I’ll explore the subject further on another occasion.

For now, I mention the Association des Journalistes du Patrimoine for two reasons:
1. The members I met were more fun than I thought they would be,
2. Through them I had access to the holy of holies of this old spa town: two of the few remaining rooms from the high luxury spa area in the 1903 spa complex.

To the right is a view from the central portion of the first-class spa complex, the Thermes du Dome. The Thermes du Dome had a men’s wing and a women’s wing and each wing had two grand luxury suites consisting of a dunking pool room, a bathroom, and a lounge room. Here is the pool room in the men’s section with its beautiful Art Nouveau irises.

That section isn’t open to the public but you might be able to enter the central portion under the dome so as to see the mural painting at the entrance to the women’s wing. Here’s a portion of that painting.

Those thermes (thermal baths) are no longer in use as a spa, however the active spas are all nearby. As far as its water and spas go, Vichy is a company town, with the Compagnie Fermière de Vichy, which has existed since Napoleon III’s time, having the concession from the State. CFV joined forces with the Accor Hotel Group to exploit the three main spas and adjacent hotels in the center of town. The 3-star Novotel-Thermalia complex is just behind the Thermes du Dome and partially integrates another building from 1903. The 4-star Sofitel-Célestins complex is a few hundred yards away, while the 2-star Ibis-Callou complex nearby in the opposite direction. Information about the three is available on www.destinationvichy.com. 

Despite the Art Nouveau purity of some turn-of-the-century building in Vichy there was a lot of neo-whatever going on between 1880 and 1914, hence the variety of style of villas on this street. Many of the great palace hotels of Vichy were built or transformed during this period. The only major hotel that’s still active is 4-star Aletti Palace Hotel www.hotel-aletti.fr, which was built in 1908.

Down near Lake Allier, here’s the spring that’s open to the public, the Source des Celestins, the best place to fill your water bottle before enjoying a stroll along the lakeside promenade.

Art Deco
Among the most striking Art Deco details in Vichy are these three stained glass windows Francis Chigot from 1926 found in a sweet little 500-seat theater that’s now part of the Centre Culturel Valery Larbaud. I’ve cut out the central portion of the windows here and pasted them together. They’re actually separated by columns of wall and are about 15 feet high. Reading left to right, the window represents Comedy, Music (or The Orchestra), and Tragedy.

In the same theater here’s an image of bathing women that’s worth comparing with the Art Nouveau-era image of bathing women above.

Around town you’ll occasionally come across Art Deco villas, mixed in with villas and hotels from earlier periods.

This one served as the American embassy to France from 1940 to 1942. It may seem strange that the U.S. had an embassy in Vichy, especially once the U.S. and Germany were officially at war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Relations with Vichy, never very direct in any case, degraded through 1942, until France’s Vichy Government cut diplomatic relations with the U.S. in the fall of that year.

The main street from which the above photo was taken nevertheless maintained its name Boulevard des Etats-Unis (Boulevard of the United States), a name which it had prior to the war. It now runs into Boulevard du Président J.F. Kennedy.

For another glimpse of the U.S. presence in Vichy, here’s the left half of a plaque indicating that a military hospital was set up here during WWI. (The right half shows the same text in French.)

Notice the bullet holes in it, probably pot shots taken by militiamen during WWII.

For an official U.S. summary of French-American diplomatic relations since 1776, including the Vichy period, see this page from the site of the U.S. Department of State.

 

 

Returning to Paris
Before leaving town some of us went to the famous chocolate-and-candy shop Aux Marocains. The shops colonial-era name is also that of caramels with a soft caramel interior and a harder caramel exterior, patented in 1920.

Below, here’s one last photo of the high luxury bathroom in the first-class spa of 1903 (left). I would have felt right at home there as you can tell from the sectional image of the toilet of my apartment in Paris (right). A man’s home is indeed his castle.

A more extensive article about Vichy will appear in France Revisited’s France/Southeast section this summer.

In the meantime, for more information about Vichy visit the site of the Vichy Tourist Office.