Blérancourt

Blérancourt
Commune
Chateau

Coat of arms
Blérancourt
Location within Hauts-de-France region
Blérancourt
Coordinates: 49°31′01″N 3°09′05″E / 49.5169°N 3.1514°E / 49.5169; 3.1514Coordinates: 49°31′01″N 3°09′05″E / 49.5169°N 3.1514°E / 49.5169; 3.1514
Country France
Region Hauts-de-France
Department Aisne
Arrondissement Laon
Canton Vic-sur-Aisne
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Patrick Laplace
Area1 10.8 km2 (4.2 sq mi)
Population (2008)2 1,276
 • Density 120/km2 (310/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code 02093 /02300
Elevation 53–159 m (174–522 ft)
(avg. 60 m or 200 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Blérancourt is a commune in the department of Aisne in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1962953—    
1968988+3.7%
19751,115+12.9%
19821,177+5.6%
19901,319+12.1%
19991,264−4.2%
20081,276+0.9%

Sights

The Château de Blérancourt, an influential design by Salomon de Brosse houses the National Museum of French-American Friendship and Cooperation, (Musée franco-américain), founded by Anne Morgan, daughter of the financier J. Pierpont Morgan (due to reopen in 2007). The collections of the Museum include many works on the theme of WW1, among them several painting of Joseph-Félix Bouchor.[1]

The corps de logis of the château no longer exists, but de Brosse's twin cubical stone pavilions and a grand entrance gateway approached by a stone bridge across a moat (now dry) survive. The pavilions have identical façades on all sides, framed in rusticated quoins at the corners: each consists of a pair of pedimented windows that make a composition with a central œil de bœuf window under a hemicyclical arch that carries the dentilled cornice across and breaks into the roof balustrading above. Slate roofs with cyma curves converge to a central four-sided cap. The central gateway takes the form of a triumphal arch with a prominent keystone. The Jardins du Nouveau Monde, on its grounds, contain an arboretum and garden plants from the New World.

The house of Louis de Saint-Just now houses a museum devoted to the French Revolution.

Notable people from Blérancourt

See also

References

  1. ↑ Franco-American Museum in Blérancourt, France
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