Luxeuil-les-Bains: Saint Columbanus's Abbey and the Roman Spa
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France
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Columbanus Pilgrim
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250
XP
+100 France
= 350 total
2 days
Luxeuil-les-Bains: Saint Columbanus's Abbey and the Roman Spa
250 + 100 XP
Attila wrecked the Gallo-Roman spa town of Luxovium in 451 and it lay forgotten for nearly a century and a half until the Irish monk Columbanus rediscovered the springs and founded his monastery here around 590. The baths still work, from March to November, in a classical building of pink Vosges sandstone put up under Louis XV. The abbey church, begun in 1215 and finished in 1330, was consecrated to Saints Peter and Paul, and the 15th-century house of Cardinal Jouffroy, abbot of Luxeuil, still stands in the town.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Take a spa session at the Thermes de Luxeuil-les-Bains, in their 18th-century building with 1930s mosaics
2
of 4
In the abbey church of Saints Peter and Paul, notice that the choir sits a few degrees off the axis of the nave, and work along its six sets of windows telling the lives of the forty-four saints of the abbey
3
of 4
Walk the 15th-century houses of Luxeuil — the Maison du Cardinal Jouffroy, the Maison Espagnole, the Tour des Échevins — then climb the 146 steps of the tower's octagon for the view over the whole town, and look in at the lace conservatory in the old abbey kitchens beside the basilica
4
of 4
Follow Columbanus through the monastery buildings and the town he founded, and find why Robert Schuman held an international congress here in July 1950: writing to two popes, Columbanus was the first to call Europe a community of peoples rather than a territory — we are all members of one body
Take a spa session at the Thermes de Luxeuil-les-Bains, in their 18th-century building with 1930s mosaics
In the abbey church of Saints Peter and Paul, notice that the choir sits a few degrees off the axis of the nave, and work along its six sets of windows telling the lives of the forty-four saints of the abbey
Walk the 15th-century houses of Luxeuil — the Maison du Cardinal Jouffroy, the Maison Espagnole, the Tour des Échevins — then climb the 146 steps of the tower's octagon for the view over the whole town, and look in at the lace conservatory in the old abbey kitchens beside the basilica
Follow Columbanus through the monastery buildings and the town he founded, and find why Robert Schuman held an international congress here in July 1950: writing to two popes, Columbanus was the first to call Europe a community of peoples rather than a territory — we are all members of one body
Before you go
The thermal season runs from early March to late November. The wellness pools open in the afternoon only — from 15:00 Monday to Thursday, 16:00 on Friday and 14:00 on Saturday — and are closed on Sundays, so plan the town and the basilica for the morning.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
250 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
350 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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