Neris-les-Bains
| Néris-les-Bains | ||
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The church in Néris-les-Bains
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 Néris-les-Bains
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Location within Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
Néris-les-Bains
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| Coordinates: 46°17′19″N 2°39′44″E / 46.2886°N 2.6622°ECoordinates: 46°17′19″N 2°39′44″E / 46.2886°N 2.6622°E | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | |
| Department | Allier | |
| Arrondissement | Montluçon | |
| Canton | Montluçon-3 | |
| Intercommunality | Commentry–Néris-les-Bains | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2014–2020) | Alain Chapy | |
| Area1 | 33.13 km2 (12.79 sq mi) | |
| Population (2012)2 | 2,588 | |
| • Density | 78/km2 (200/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 03195 / 03310 | |
| Elevation | 230–441 m (755–1,447 ft) (avg. 360 m or 1,180 ft) |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Néris-les-Bains is a commune in the Allier department in the Auvergne region in central France.
The name Néris comes from the Gaul God Nérios, a deity personifying the local thermal spring (Latinized to "Nerius").
8 kilometers southeast of Montluçon, the town is on departmental road 2144, which links Clermont-Ferrand to Bourges via Montluçon, and follows the trail of the ancient Roman way.
The town is at 352 meters of altitude, on the first foothills of the Massif central, more precisely the plateau of the Combrailles.
At that time, Néris was called Nériomagos (the town of Nérios, the deity personifying the thermal spring). It was a village with a booming trade, at the crossroads of two major ways.
"Nérios" was Latinized into "Nérius", and "Nériomagos" became "Aquae Nerii" ("Nérius' waters"). The spring was used for therapeutic purposes and two luxurious thermal baths were created. Numerous monuments were built, including temples and villas. The 8th legion Augusta stationed there at the end of the 1st century. A circle theater (amphitheater) was built to offer circus games and stage performances to the soldiers and inhabitants. Many relics remain from that golden age.
Around 275 C.E., the Germanic invasions destroyed a part of the town and the population fled, leaving behind monetary treasures.
In the 4th century, the thermal baths and the houses were partly rearranged and occupied again.
A new wave of invasions destroyed the town again, and the ruins were then used as a gravel-pit by the Merovingian population. Stone blocks belonging to the public buildings were thus used for the sarcophaguses now located under the glass pyramid on the church square.
Saint Patrocle evangelized Néris in the 6th century and built a church and a convent there. The current romanesque church dates back to the 11th or 12th century and was built in the same place as the original 6th-century basilica, which was erected upon the ruins of a Roman building.
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Wikipedia