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Bassin des Ladres (Ax-les-Thermes)

Ax-les-Thermes

Dimensions
Basin fed by a thermal spring given as 77 °C (Wikipedia EN); the water temperature of the basin itself was not found
Period
Antiquity (springs already used, according to Wikipedia EN); 1241 (tax privileges of the count of Foix); 1260 (foundation of the hospital according to tradition); early 14th century (hospital attested); 16th century (chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Bains); 1872 (lawsuit over ownership of the basin); 1979 (listing, according to the tourist office)
What stands there
Ax has some sixty springs from 18 to 78 °C (Wikipedia EN). Disagreement between sources: tourist sites give the foundation of 1260 as fact, but the inventory record of the Saint-Louis hospital (Mérimée IA09005656) states that no document confirms it and that the hospital is attested only in the early 14th century. The listing date (1979) comes from a single tourist leaflet; the Mérimée record PA00093770 could not be read. The rite of the Saint-John ashes rests only on Wikipedia EN. Another disagreement: Wikipedia EN says the Romans used the waters of Ax, whereas an article of 1998 on spa history (Histoire des sciences médicales) does not list Ax among the Roman spa towns; ancient use is therefore written in the conditional.

In the centre of Ax-les-Thermes, in front of the Saint-Louis hospital, a basin of steaming water is called the bassin des Ladres. ‘Ladre’ is an old word for leper. According to local tradition, the count of Foix Roger IV had it built in 1260, at the request of Saint Louis, to treat crusaders who had returned ill from the Holy Land. The heritage inventory specifies, however, that no document confirms this foundation: the hospital is attested only in the early 14th century, and its chapel, Notre-Dame-des-Bains, in the 16th. The word ‘leprosy’ may moreover have hidden something else: an article of 1998 on the history of spa treatment notes that the term was used for any stubborn skin disease, which the sulphurous waters of Ax relieved. Until the mid-18th century, the baths quarter, the ‘Barry des Bains’, was organised around this basin, with its steam rooms; wool was also washed there and pork and soup were cooked. The springs of Ax, up to 78 °C, are said to have been used by the Romans. In 1872, ownership of the basin was still the subject of a lawsuit. Every year, on Saint John's day, reports Wikipedia (EN), inhabitants smeared with ash bathe there for fun.

Ariège Pyrénées — Bassin des Ladres ↗

Further reading

Getting there: Basin in the very centre of Ax-les-Thermes, in front of the Saint-Louis hospital, 700 m (8 minutes on foot) from the railway station; tourist leaflet announcing opening every day in 2026. One can soak one's feet there, says the tourist office; full bathing, safety and the real water temperature: not verified, do not assume the water is fit for bathing. Coordinates: basin in OpenStreetMap (42.71965; 1.83963), 70 m from those of Wikipedia EN.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

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All places — Ariège (34).