Village wash-houses
In the not too distant past, washing machines did not exist. If even a couple of decades ago, they were still a luxury.
The laundry was therefore often done in a simple and flat stone placed near a stream or river.
Antique wall-fountain with washtub
Superb village wash-house in aged and patinated stones
Large Provencal wash-house-style basin with pediment in weathered stones
At the end of the eighteenth century, following numerous cholera epidemics, the first whas-houses were built. These constructions emerged everywhere after the French Emperor Napoleon III in 1851 voted a decree to open credits to encourage all municipalities to develop public laundries.
