Vichy Célestins, Saint-Aubin-de-Blaye

Even if only two letters of this ghost sign are visible to the left of the modern hoarding, their design and positions are characteristic enough to be able to identify the product advertised there: the naturally sparkling mineral water Vichy Célestins.

Les Célestins is one of nine natural springs found in Vichy, a spa town in central France. It owes its name to the former convent of the Celestines, a branch of the Benedictine monastic order, whose remains stand nearby. Before 1939 the water emerging from the spring was used almost exclusively for medical and pharmaceutical purposes but by the late 1940s-early 1950s bottles of Vichy Célestins started to appear on the tables of cafés and restaurants. Nowadays around 200 m bottles are sold each year.

Vichy
Célestins

The logo of the company that managed this advertising space appears underneath the modern hoarding (below the price): "SFAR." To find out more about the Société Française d'Affichage Routier (French Society of Road Displays), please check this earlier post.

Location: D 137, Saint-Aubin-de-Blaye, Gironde / Pictures taken in May 2012