lavoir
{{Short description|Public place for the washing of clothes}}
{{No footnotes|date=February 2016}}
Image:Bonnat lavoir 0425.jpg straddling a small stream]]
A lavoir ({{IPA|fr|lavwaʁ|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick-lavoir.wav}}, wash-house) is a public place set aside for the washing of clothes. Communal washing places were common in Europe until industrial washing was introduced, and this process in turn was replaced by domestic washing machines and by self-service laundries (British English: laundrette; American English: laundromat) The English word is borrowed from the French language, which also uses the expression {{Lang|fr|bassin public}}, "public basin".
Description
File:Brogi, Carlo (1850-1925) - n. 12182 - Sanremo - Popolane al lavatojo.jpg
Lavoirs were built from the seventeenth to the early twentieth centuries. With Baron Haussmann's redesign of Paris in the 1850s, a free lavoir was established in every neighbourhood, and government grants encouraged municipalities across France to construct their own.{{cite book|last1=Roddier|first1=Mireille|title=Lavoirs: Washhouses of Rural France|date=2003|publisher=Princeton Architectural Press|location=New York|isbn=9781568983929}} Lavoirs are more common in certain areas, such as around the Canal du Midi.{{cite book|last1=Visentin|first1=Francesco|last2=Vallerani|first2=Francesco|title=Waterways and the Cultural Landscape book cover Waterways and the Cultural Landscape}}
Lavoirs are commonly sited on a spring or set over or beside a river. Many lavoirs are provided with roofs for shelter. With the coming of piped water supplies and modern drainage, lavoirs have been steadily falling into disuse although a number of communities have restored ancient lavoirs, some of which date back to the 10th century.
There are also {{Lang|fr|bateaux-lavoirs}} ("laundry boats") in some towns on the banks of large rivers such as Paris and Lyon.
Gallery
Groix-lavoir.jpg|A lavoir at Groix
Bourgogne_Noyers-sur-Serein_lavoir.jpg|Lavoir at Noyers
Lavoir-gunstett.jpg|Lavoir at Gunstett
Imm015BateauxLavoirsLavalFrance050105smallGFDLMelusin.jpg|Laundry boat at Laval
MHNT PHa 912 T144.jpg|Laundry boat in Haute-Garonne, 1901
Vellisca (Cuenca) lavadero público (RPS 27-09-2014).png|Lavadero público in Spain about 1874 at Vellisca in the Province of Cuenca
Tanque das Lavandeiras - comunitario II.jpg|Public wash-pool at Cabeção, Portugal
Lavoir San Miguel de Allende.jpg|Public washbasins at San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Fourneau St-Michel - Lavoir (Saint-Remy).jpg|Fourneau Saint-Michel - Lavoir (Saint-Rémy)
See also
{{Portal|History|France}}
- Baths and wash houses in Britain
- Bleachfield
- Dhobi Ghat, an outdoor laundry place in South Asia
- Laundry#Washhouses
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Wash houses}}
{{External links|date=February 2016}}
- [http://www.lavoirs.org Les lavoirs de France] {{in lang|fr}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110713191452/http://aube.lavoirsdefrance.com/ Lavoirs in the department Aube] {{in lang|fr}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110713191452/http://champagneardenne.lavoirsdefrance.com/ Lavoirs in Champagne-Ardenne] {{in lang|fr}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110713191452/http://bourgognefranchecomte.lavoirsdefrance.com/ Lavoirs in Burgundy and Franche-comté] {{in lang|fr}}
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