The Boule d’Or and the Fairground
Henri IV in Saint-Germain-les-Belles-Filles
In October 1605, King Henri IV passed through Saint-Germain. Charmed by the lovely ladies of the village who sang for him, he supposedly decided to name the town
Saint-Germain-les-Belles-Filles (Saint-Germain-of-the-Pretty-Girls) this small town that welcomed him so well.
It is also said that the king feasted at the Auberge de la Boule d’Or, located in the “lower town,” and that he may have spent the night at Gourgandelle Manor…
The Old Hospital District
The lower town developed to the northeast of the former walled town.
Starting in the 15th century, this lower area became home to a hospital, a “hôtel-Dieu”,, with a chapel, located at the arrival point of the road from Saint-Léonard via Sauviat. Because Saint-Germain was on a pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela, pilgrims could stop at the hôtel-Dieu and find food and shelter there. The last of the sick were treated there until 1837.
Where today’s fairground lies was once the cemetery for the poor, adjacent to the hospital. The cemetery was moved outside the village in 1813.
The Fairground
The fairground was planted with plane trees around 1840, when it was set up in the middle of the town, along the main road.
Fairs and markets were regularly held there.
A weighbridge was installed in 1871 at the entrance to the Champ de Foire.
In 1923, it was moved to its current location in the middle of the fairground. The war memorial was inaugurated in 1922.
Sartre at the Boule d’Or
Simone de Beauvoir used to spend holidays at La Grillère, near Saint-Germain, at a cousin’s home. She introduced the Limousin countryside to Jean-Paul Sartre, who stayed in Saint-Germain during the summer of 1929, at the Hotel de la Boule d’Or (on your left). To avoid gossip in the village, Jean-Paul Sartre would meet Simone de Beauvoir in the meadows around La Grillère and in the dovecote on the estate.
Images :
- Hôtel de la Boule d’Or on the right.
- The Place du Champ de Foire in the early 20th century, before the construction of the war memorial, with the public weighbridge in the center of the photo.
To continue your tour, walk up Rue d’Arsonval for a few meters before taking the alleyway between numbers 5 and 3. Alleyway