JOURNEES EUROPEENNES DU PATRIMOINE – DÉCOUVERTE DES FRESQUES DE NICOLAÏ GRESCHNY

About

EUROPEAN HERITAGE DAYS – EXPLORING THE FRESCOES BY NICOLAÏ GRESCHNY

A free guided tour of the refreshment bar, followed by a look at the church’s baptismal font.

When Greschny decorated the Comminges…

Come and discover the frescoes painted by Nicolaï Greschny (1912–1985) in the Central Pyrenees in the late 1940s and early 1950s, via a trail devised by the Cœur et Coteaux du Comminges and Cagire Garonne Salat Tourist Offices.

This trail invites you to discover the painted decorations in the churches of Ponlat, Saint-Plancard, Le Cuing, Miramont-de-Comminges and Encausse-les-Thermes, as well as those at the school in Saint-Plancard and the pavilion housing the refreshment bar at the Encausse-les-Thermes spa, which is home to the artist’s only secular work.

In use since the 16th century, the springs attracted large numbers of visitors during the second half of the 19th century, right up until the 1930s. Renowned for the treatment of malaria, they drew a clientele that was predominantly from the colonies. Several establishments succeeded one another until the construction of the current building in 1882, based on a design by the architect Terrade. In the 1970s, its conversion into a holiday centre led to the removal of the facilities and equipment associated with spa treatments. With the frescoes painted by Nicolas Greschny in the early 1950s, the refreshment bar remains the feature that best recalls the site’s spa heritage.