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PARK OF THE SOURCESPARK OF THE SOURCES
©PARK OF THE SOURCES|Cindy Michaud

PARK OF THE SOURCES

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  5. Parc des Sources

Located in the heart of downtown Vichy, it connects the Hall des Sources to the Opera. It is also the first park of the city which was born in 1812.

A Royal Story

While many places in Vichy owe their existence to Napoleon III, the Parc des Sources has a close connection to his uncle the emperor Napoleon I. In 1799, his mother, Maria Letizia Bonaparte, came to Vichy for a cure with one of her sons and fell under the spell of the city. But she noticed that there was a lack of space to walk around and that the area around the spa was cluttered with various buildings. “Napoleon I signed the decree imposing the development of this promenade while he was in retreat with his troops, in the middle of the Russian campaign,” explains Alla Pikozh, guide-lecturer at Vichy Destinations. This park quickly became a meeting place for everyone.

PARK OF THE SOURCESPARK OF THE SOURCES
©PARK OF THE SOURCES|Xavier Thomas
PARK OF THE SOURCESPARK OF THE SOURCES
©PARK OF THE SOURCES|Cindy Michaud
PARK OF THE SOURCESPARK OF THE SOURCES
©PARK OF THE SOURCES|Xavier Thomas

    A vast renovation program

    We invite you to Jacques Decoret’s table: Best Worker of France, Chef of the Year 2017, 17/20 in the Champérard Guide, 4 toques and Gault & Millau d’Or the same year, and of course Michelin starred. Faced with this craze, large hotels will be built around the park and install the largest brands, from the early twentieth century. Everything was done for the richest people. “Until the beginning of the Second World War, 80% of the French population was made up of peasants. Those who traveled were wealthy people. So it makes sense to target that clientele.” It’s a strategic location, placed at the center of the city’s thermal activity. Like a beating heart. It was then embellished with a gallery and enlarged with the construction of the Horseshoe in 1901. The Parc des Sources, bought from the State by the city of Vichy in 2020, will be the subject of a vast program of restoration and renovation of its surroundings. As an emblematic heritage element of the thermal domain, the Parc des Sources will be rehabilitated. The objective? To bring to this space a renewal corresponding to the uses and the identity of the thermal and tourist city of the XXIst century as it already knew how to do it in the past with success.

    PARK OF THE SOURCESPARK OF THE SOURCES
    ©PARK OF THE SOURCES|Cindy Michaud
      Tarasses of the Park of the sourcesTarasses of the Park of the sources
      ©Tarasses of the Park of the sources|Xavier Thomas

        The largest terrace in Europe

        with 4,000 coffees served per day

        “One of the greatest entertainments of this age is to show off and show off your costumes. The more beautiful your lady’s dress, the richer you are.” Something that is more difficult to do in Paris because the policy of major works led by Baron Haussmann, between 1853 and 1870, generates a lot of dust. People grumble because they can only walk around in a carriage. “And so we can only show the upper part of the costume. Whereas in the water cities, as is the case in Vichy, you can walk around.”

         

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