Municipality of Ornolac-Ussat-les-Bains - Altitude: 481 m
Location: near the Vicdessos valley, near Tarascon-sur-Ariège Number of inhabitants: 315
Distances: Tarascon-sur-Ariège 7 km, Les Cabannes 7 km, Luzenac 15 km, Vicdessos 18 km
The Pyrenean thermal village of Ornolac-Ussat-les-Bains formerly divided into two distinct communes: Ornolac at the top and Ussat les Bains at the bottom. Right next to Ornolac and Niaux, lies the Lombrives cave, one of the largest in Europe.
If the thermal baths of Ussat-les-Bains are essential against spasmodic and psychosomatic illnesses, the village owes its notoriety to the picturesque monuments and its neighboring caves including those of Fontanet and those of the churches.
The caves of Ornolac like that of Lombrives contain a number of clues and vestiges, particularly from two distinct eras: the Bronze Age (votive deposits in the porches) and the Middle Ages (fortified habitats).
The Fontanet cave preserves traces of occupations, passages and much older drawings, some of which date from the end of the Magdalenian period.
Another cave in Ornolac is famous for having sheltered fleeing Cathars for a while in the middle of the XNUMXth century. It was a fortified cave of the Counts of Foix for surveillance of the Ariège valley road.
Ornolac-d'en-haut is the first of the existing villages to have been built in the Middle Ages. It retains its beautiful Romanesque church. But at the same time, another village was born, today abandoned and named Lujat. Only the ruins of a pre-Romanesque church remain, which can be reached after a good walk.
It was only recently that the two villages of Ussat-les-bains were added: they were born with the thermal baths, which gave the whole name by the merger of the two villages. The first drilling dates from the Napoleonic era. The thermal baths and the Ornolac and Ussat sector were important sites of the Resistance during the Second World War.
The site is also an excellent starting point for hiking, particularly towards the Ussat pass, lined with paths leading there.
Town hall opening hours: Tuesday: 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and Thursday: 14 p.m. to 17:30 p.m.
Location
Ariège Pyrenees