Sources de Sylvanès

At the foot of the Cistercian Abbey of Sylvanès, founded in 1136 by Pons de Léras in southern Aveyron, thermal springs rise whose reputation stretches back at least to the 12th century, already drawing bathers in medieval times. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Cistercian monks proved themselves skilled builders, raising a bathing inn for visitors seeking out these iron-rich, arsenical, bicarbonate waters, whose temperature ranges between 34 and 37°C.

In the 19th century, the area saw strong spa activity, with the hot waters of Sylvanès complementing the cold springs of Prugnes, Andabre and Le Cayla. Thermal use eventually declined in the 20th century, but the springs still flow today at the foot of the wooded hills surrounding the abbey, a striking site where Romanesque spiritual heritage and the memory of the waters meet in a single landscape.