Appart'Hôtel Victoria Garden Lourdes - Hotel Lourdes, France

History of Lourdes

Lourdes in the 19th. Century was one of the main places in the district with more than 4,000 inhabitants including nobles, notaries, advocates, doctors, officers as well as manual workers, tradesmen, slate workers, small artisans such as millers. Mills were plentiful; many were dotted around outside the town, along one of the streams that flowed into the Gave - the Lappaca. Bernadette Soubirous was born in one of these, the Boly Mill, on 7th. January 1844.

She lived there for 10 years with her parents, François Soubirous and Louise Castérot; they gained a decent living as millers. She used to call the place the "Mill of Happiness", because it was there that she discovered something that is very important to every man and woman – human love. She used to say that her mother and father loved each other. This experience made into a balanced person, especially at times of difficulty, poverty and sickness.