Search

The Laurens Château at Agde in the Hérault department is an outstanding example of the decorative eclecticism that was in fashion around 1900, and its bathroom, designed by the Parisian artist Eugène-Martial Simas, can be seen as an ideal example of the paradoxes of Art Nouveau. It is a unique decorative ensemble, conceived in a rational manner based on the union of art and industry. Simas, who was primarily a theatrical designer, was attracted by the industrial arts. For this hygienic bathroom designed to honour the blessings of water, he made ample use of the products manufactured by the Sarreguemines glazed earthenware factory and by the Paris metalworking firm of Fontaine. But the presence of tiling and metalwork created by the leading lights of the ‘Art dans Tout’ movement (Félix Aubert, Alexandre Charpentier) seemed to cast the owner of the chateau, Emmanuel Laurens, in the role of some forgotten aesthete from the Midi. This is to ignore the important part played by local decorators and designers, perfectly aware of the latest fashions likely to appeal to the bourgeoisie keen on expressions of a certain modernity. And in its theatricality, this ceramic interior in fact expresses a subtle kind of symbolism in keeping with the spiritual theories of Laurens, the somewhat obscure ideas of a man who was an Occitan speaker and a great admirer of mythical Cathar asceticism, in which water had important purifying virtues. The 1898 bathroom can be seen then as the first act in the foundation of a place dedicated to Nietzschean excess, emerging from fin-de-siècle Christian esoterism.

Resumen : Este artículo analiza el exilio de los refugiados españoles de la Guerra civil en el departamento del Hérault así como la política de acogida llevada a cabo por el prefecto Antoine Monis a finales de la Tercera República. Consta de cuatro movimientos : 1) Presentación de las fuentes ; 2) Crónica de un exilio anunciado ; 3) El exilio de los refugiados en cifras ; 4) La repartición de los refugiados en el departamento del Hérault. Résumé : Cet article analyse l’exil des réfugiés espagnols de la Guerre civile dans le département de l’Hérault ainsi que la politique d’accueil menée par le préfet Antoine Monis à la fin de la Troisième République. Il se compose de quatre mouvements : 1) Présentation des sources ; 2) Chronique d’un exil annoncé ; 3) L’exil des réfugiés en chiffres ; 4) La répartition des réfugiés dans le département de l’Hérault. Summary: This article is a study of the exile of the Spanish Civil War refugees in the Hérault department and the hospitality policy achieved by Prefect Antoine Monis at the end of the Third Republic. It is composed of four movements : 1) Presentation of sources ; 2) Chronicle of a preseen exode ; 3) Statistics of refugees ; 4) The distribution of the refugees in the Hérault department.

This article uses unpublished documents in the Archives of the Department of Hérault to examine the policy of administrative internment of Spanish refugees implemented by the Prefect Antoine Monis throughout 1939. There were four types of camp in Hérault : the «concentration camp» at Agde, the «holding camps» at Sète, Lodève, Clermont-l’Hérault and Ceilhes-et-Rocozels, the «sorting camp» at Villodève in Montpellier, and the «specialised camps» at Béziers, Pézenas and Saint-Bauzille-de-Putois.