Largentière

Largentière
Subprefecture and commune
The castle in Largentière

Coat of arms
Largentière
Location within Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
Largentière
Coordinates: 44°32′37″N 4°17′39″E / 44.5436°N 4.2942°E / 44.5436; 4.2942Coordinates: 44°32′37″N 4°17′39″E / 44.5436°N 4.2942°E / 44.5436; 4.2942
Country France
Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department Ardèche
Arrondissement Largentière
Canton Vallon-Pont-d'Arc
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Jean-Roger Durand
Area1 7.22 km2 (2.79 sq mi)
Population (2008)2 1,805
 • Density 250/km2 (650/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code 07132 /07710
Elevation 147–420 m (482–1,378 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.

Largentière (French: [laʁʒɑ̃tjɛʁ] ; L'Argentièira in Occitan) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southern France.

It is located in the narrow valley of the Ligne River, approximately ten kilometres southwest of Aubenas.

It claims to be the smallest sub-prefecture in France.[1]

Its name, adopted in the thirteenth century in place of its more ancient name Segualeriae (Ségualières), refers to the silver mines in the area between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, when the silver-bearing lead ores in intrusive veins in the Largentières sandstone[2] were exploited under the authority of the Counts of Toulouse and the Bishops of Viviers, whose title barons de Largentière was linked to the bishopric.

Population

Historical population
YearPop.±%
17931,793—    
18001,706−4.9%
18061,952+14.4%
18212,250+15.3%
18312,919+29.7%
18362,879−1.4%
18413,088+7.3%
18463,214+4.1%
18513,160−1.7%
18563,281+3.8%
18612,992−8.8%
18663,144+5.1%
18723,135−0.3%
18762,962−5.5%
18812,783−6.0%
18862,697−3.1%
18912,820+4.6%
18962,472−12.3%
19012,354−4.8%
19062,283−3.0%
19112,165−5.2%
19211,887−12.8%
19262,043+8.3%
19311,855−9.2%
19362,021+8.9%
19461,777−12.1%
19541,673−5.9%
19621,819+8.7%
19682,888+58.8%
19752,782−3.7%
19822,520−9.4%
19901,990−21.0%
19991,942−2.4%
20081,805−7.1%

Economy and transportation

A busy industrial town in the nineteenth century, when it housed silk mills[3] its principal industry is now tourism. Its only railroad station was rased in 1982, leaving the town accessible only by road.

Sights

Besides its twelfth- to fifteenth-century château, the town conserves its thirteenth-century church, Nôtre-Dame-des-Pommiers,[4] its Renaissance hôtel de ville, its palais de justice, and the Tour Argentière that collected the mines' produce for guarded transport.

Personalities

See also

References

  1. ↑ (Ardeche.com)
  2. ↑ Guoxiang Chi, Pierre Rheaume, and Kees Schrijver, "The Largentière sandstone Pb-Zn-Ag deposit, Ardeche, France; fluid inclusion and geologic evidence for an epigenetic origin", Economic Geologyn92.1 (February 1997:108-113).
  3. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica 1911.
  4. ↑ "Our Lady of the apple orchards"; an inscription of 1490 records the gift of the stone pulpit in Occitan: hieu Pierre Guarnier de Colens ay donat aquesta chadiera al convent.


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