Vichy

Vichy has a very long and eventful history, especially in the time before the 20th century when the foundation of the city's wealth was laid. The symbolic colors of Vichy, which you can find in many homes and for example in the majestic building of the Thermes Les Domes are blue and beige / gold. Because of the thermal water (blue), the city became very wealthy (gold). The place was already founded in Roman times under the name Aquae Calidae. However, the present name comes from its owner Vipius, who owned the area approximately 300 AD. Vipiacus was changed to Vichiacus and finally to Vichy.

Street scenery in Vichy

The aforementioned Thermes Les Domes were established in the late 19th century when a pump room, a ½ mile promenade and an oriental bath were opened. With its oriental architectural features, originally meant as a friendly political gesture, the spa also became very popular with sultans and sheikhs holidaying in Europe. At the turn of the century 40,000 guests per year came to Vichy.

Thermes Les Dômes: Historical bathing complex from the 20th century.

The French rulers had also known about Vichys magical springs for a long time but it wasn’t until the Marquise de Sevigné visited the town for a lengthy spa retreat in 1676/77 that it rose to proper fame. The writer suffered with severe rheumatism in her hands but found such relief in the Vichy water treatments that she praised their healing powers in many of her works. This spelled the beginning of the town’s heyday as a favourite society destination and royal spa retreat.

Thirty-one years later a physician called Dr. Haller recognised the positive properties of the geothermal springs when an injury on his arm healed much faster than expected after exposure to the water – it was he who founded the Laboratoires Vichy which are to this day the home of the famous brand of cosmetics.

Pastilles de Vichy

Very famous are the »Pastilles de Vichy«, as a delightful little souvenir, that you can only buy in the candy shop and also in many pharmacies or souvenir shops. They were invented during the 19th century and were originally made from pure sodium bicarbonate which was believed to help with digestion. Empress Eugénie de Montijo was apparently a big fan of them. Later they extracted the minerals from the thermal water and added sugar. Nowadays you can buy them in mint, lemon or aniseed flavor.

L'Allier Postkarte

Today Vichy is also known as a city of sports as the river was dammed into the lake Lac d'Allier to offer water sport facilities. In the 1960s the Parc Omnisports was established.