Au fil de l'eau: following the water
Although there is no trace, the qualities of La Roche-Posay's thermal waters have probably been known since the days of the Romans. The first written record about the benefits of the waters is by Denis Généroux, notary to Parthenay who wrote: "...on the Thursday 13th of the said month, tormented by a migraine with terrible headaches and scabies, I was in La Roche-Posay to bathe and drink the sulfurised water. I was healed, as was the case for most of the other patients who drank the water and were rid of several illnesses, which seems as miraculous as it is natural. The reputation has so travelled, they came from as far as Paris and I saw two to three thousand people. I stayed for two and a half days." Our town's waters were even studied by Million, personal doctor to King Louis XIII. La Roche-Posay was famous until the French Revolution when it was forgotten until the First Empire when Napoléon's wars gave a new boost to the town. In 1807, Napoléon ordered the construction of a military hospital near the springs.
Au fil du temps: in the footsteps of time
A flint carving workshop dating back to between 75,000 and 30,000 BC, revealed during the construction of a wastewater plant, is the only such vestige discovered in La Roche-Posay. Curiously, as Dr. Michel Jaltel, the author of "La Roche-Posay, station thermal européene de la peau", published in April 1991, mentions the market town of Rupes Pusica, the former name of La Roche-Posay, which supposedly developed due to its proximity to the Roman route between Poitiers and Orléans. The Middle Ages is the oldest period of history still visible in La Roche-Posay. Pass through Porte Bourbon, the only remaining gateway in the fortifications, and enter the medieval town...