Balaruc-le-Vieux
Balaruc-le-Vieux Balaruc Vièlh |
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region | Occitania | |
Department | Herault | |
Arrondissement | Montpellier | |
Canton | Frontignan | |
Community association | Bassin de Thau | |
Coordinates | 43 ° 28 ′ N , 3 ° 41 ′ E | |
height | 0-196 m | |
surface | 5.92 km 2 | |
Residents | 2,628 (January 1, 2017) | |
Population density | 444 inhabitants / km 2 | |
Post Code | 34540 | |
INSEE code | 34024 | |
Website | http://www.ville-balaruclevieux.fr/ | |
Balaruc-le-Vieux - View of the town |
Balaruc-le-Vieux ( Occitan : Balaruc Vièlh ) is a place and a municipality in the south of France with 2,628 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Hérault department in the Occitanie region .
location
The circular village ( Circulade ) Balaruc-le-Vieux is located on a hill on the lagoon lake Étang de Thau at a height of about 25 meters above sea level. d. M. about 29 kilometers (driving distance) southwest of Montpellier or almost 50 kilometers northeast of Béziers . The port city of Sète is only about eight kilometers south.
Population development
year | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2017 |
Residents | 533 | 521 | 701 | 1065 | 1802 | 2024 | 2628 |
By the end of the 19th century, the population of the municipality doubled from around 400 in 1800 to just under 1,000 in 1881. Five years later, the municipality of Balaruc-le-Vieux was divided and the independent municipality of Balaruc-les-Bains was created . Balaruc-le-Vieux then had only about 500 inhabitants - a number that fell to below 400 in the 1930s and 1940s. Due to the growing importance of the municipality as a holiday home and the relative proximity to the major cities of Montpellier and Béziers and the significantly lower property prices in the countryside, there has been a significant increase in population over the past few decades.
economy
In earlier times, the residents of the village lived largely on self-sufficiency from agriculture, with both grain and wine being grown. In addition, they ran a little cattle (pigs, chickens, etc.). As in many places in Languedoc , viticulture dominated in the 19th century; the local winegrowers' cooperative markets the wine produced here through the Pays d'Herault and Pays d'Oc appellations . Because of the sales crisis for French wine, however, only about half of the agricultural land is still viniculture; on the other half, grain ( wheat , maize ) and sunflowers are grown again. In the last few decades, tourism in Balaruc-le-Vieux has become very important.
history
The remains of a largely underground Roman aqueduct ( Aqueduc antique de Balaruc ) as well as ancient coin finds etc. indicate the presence of an ancient settlement at the present-day location or in the immediate vicinity. Already in the 10th century the church and place belonged to the diocese of Agde ; in a document from 1083 the church is referred to as the priory church belonging to the diocese of Maguelone . In the 17th century and in the Napoleonic period, the strategically important place was surrounded by a modern fortress wall ( remparts ).
Attractions
- The old town center of Balaruc-le-Vieux belongs to the type of Circulades - round villages that were built around a core consisting of a castle and / or church for defense reasons and whose outer house front served as a replacement for an expensive city wall.
- Only sparse wall remains of the medieval castle ( château ) have been preserved, which were integrated into the surrounding houses.
- The local parish church ( Église Saint-Maurice ) dates from the 14th century. As construction material mainly only roughly hewn were broken stones used but in layers and in the dressing were walled; the corner stones , however, are precisely carved. A small late Gothic rose window is located above the west portal with its unadorned tympanum . The single nave interior of the church is spanned by groin vaults from the 19th century; only in the flat apse is a ribbed vault .
- The scant remains of an underground running in parts of the Roman aqueduct ( aqueduct ) are in 2008 as a monument historique been recognized.
Web links
- Balaruc-le-Vieux, Wine information (French)
Individual evidence
- ^ Aqueduc antique de Balaruc, Balaruc-le-Vieux in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)