TRAVELERS HOTEL

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The former Hôtel des Voyageurs was built in several stages: a first building in neoclassical style dating from the first half of the 1881th century replaced the first inn frequented from the XNUMXth century. A small regionalist-style outbuilding was grafted against the north gable wall in XNUMX, and a multi-storey corner building, in an eclectic style, dating from the end of the XNUMXth century, completed the alignment to the south.
From the 1785th century, an inn called Maison Bellou then Auberge Vergez-Bellou occupies the site and is a stopover on the way to the port of Boucharo. Accessing Gavarnie at that time was a matter of expedition. It was necessary to cross the chasm of the ladder after Luz, then the chaos of Coumély after Gèdre, all on horseback on paths at the edge of the precipice. The first Pyreneists who stopped there (like Ramond DE CARBONNIÈRES) described a "very cold" place. In 1807, Mrs. DE JUILLY in her story "Voyage de Bagnères" evokes a peasant's hut, a refuge for smugglers, covered with thatch, icy, with a single bedroom, two pallets and an attic with straw to complete. The wealthiest had their stay prepared there in advance: in July XNUMX, Queen Hortense DE BEAUHARNAIS spent the night there after climbing the mountains.
After the conquest of Aneto in 1842, Pyreneism moved west (Luz, Cauterets), favoring the growth of the hotel. The building is then rebuilt larger (date on the lintel: 1843) and is called Hôtel des Voyageurs. Writers and Pyreneists follow one another. Among the most famous: Victor HUGO, George SAND, Gustave FLAUBERT and Alfred DE VIGNY. We keep a register of travelers with the signatures of Pyrenees and famous people, now offered to the Museum of the Pyrenees. But where the hotel went down in history was in 1864, when several friends founded the Ramond company in this place, which was at the origin of the creation of the Pic du Midi observatory and published many newsletters that are still a reference today. Among the founding members present that day: Émilien FROSSARD, Charles PACKE and Henry RUSSELL. The latter stays there in summer, we even kept his room as it was and we could still visit it recently.
Old postcards show the sign "Hôtel des Voyageurs" painted on the facade. The roof has been raised but retains the canopies visible in the old lithographs. The extension of the building to the south, in an eclectic style, dates from 1881. Unfortunately, the hotel will close its doors around 1990. The barn, which served as the hotel's stables, was also destroyed there. a few years to make room for a residence. Finally, the hotel was damaged in 2006, in its oldest part, by a fire. It is now in ruins.
Sources: loucrup65.fr / patrimoines.laregion.fr

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  House, History