Courtat is bounded to the north by rue Victor Hugo, to the west by rue Laity and to the south by the Superbagnères mountain. Its origins date back to the late 11th and early 12th centuries. At that time, its buildings housed horse and carriage hire stables. At that time, the district was home to a number of small trades such as wine delivery, lumberjack and blacksmith. In the evenings, the inhabitants would meet in the coolness of the street, and the discussions would last well into the night. The happiness or misfortune of each is then the happiness or misfortune of all. The ancestral habits of neighbourhood life have long endured, but it was the advent of television in the home that gradually erased them.
But there is one tradition that remains, and that’s the St Peter’s brandon, held every 29 June. On this occasion, a vertically planted tree trunk – the brandon – is burnt at nightfall. The great Courtat festival is then celebrated. The fire is lit at the Source Palo det Mailh, at the top of the Chemin de Superbagnères. Once the brandon has been burnt, the neighbourhood dance begins.
The brandon is an ancestral festival of the Luchonnais and the Pyrenees in general. The main event is celebrated on Midsummer’s Day. Its trunk is carefully split with wedges, then planted vertically to speed up the drying process. On the day of the ceremony, all the slits are filled with wood shavings and straw to form a highly combustible sheath. The Saint John’s Day brandon is burnt in front of the main entrance to the Thermes every 23 June, accompanied by a major folk festival.
At the heart of the Courtat district is the market square and its covered market. This was the first metal building erected in Luchon in 1896 on the site of the Brothers’ school. At the end of the 19th century, the miracles of industry made it possible to choose from a catalogue this model, which was prefabricated in a factory and then assembled in a few days. The formal references of the period are still present, with arcades, belfries, columns and capitals, all enhanced by refined decoration with ceramic elements and coloured friezes. It’s a fairytale-looking building whose aesthetics must have seemed shocking at the time it was built. But the halles have long been disparaged, and have been appreciated since the Baltard fashion at the Musée d’Orsay. The hall was restored in 2000. Open every day, it houses shops and a small bar. Every Wednesday and Saturday, the whole of the market square comes to life and becomes a favourite meeting place for the valley’s residents and local producers.
The long building bordering the market square now houses the Nelson Mandela cultural centre. This was the site of the town hall, which burnt down on 25 October 1935. Its attic housed all the pyrotechnic equipment used to organise fireworks displays, and a large part of the archives were lost in the fire.
