Bassac (Charente)
| Bassac | ||
|---|---|---|
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| region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente | |
| Arrondissement | cognac | |
| Canton | Jarnac | |
| Community association | Grand Cognac | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 40 ′ N , 0 ° 6 ′ W | |
| height | 12-38 m | |
| surface | 7.62 km 2 | |
| Residents | 524 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 69 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 16120 | |
| INSEE code | 16032 | |
 Bassac - Abbaye Saint-Etienne |
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Bassac is a place and a community with 524 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the western French department of Charente in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine .
location
The place Bassac is on the north bank of the Charente in the old cultural landscape of the Angoumois at an altitude of about 25 m above sea level. d. M. and is about 24 km (driving distance) to the west from the city of Angoulême and about 25 km to the east from the city of Cognac . The community consists of several hamlets ( hameaux ) and individual farmsteads .
Population development
| year | 1800 | 1851 | 1901 | 1954 | 1999 | 2017 |
| Residents | 862 | 808 | 705 | 489 | 464 | 524 |
The population decline in the first half of the 20th century is mainly due to the loss of jobs as a result of the phylloxera crisis and the mechanization of agriculture .
economy
While the inhabitants of the place lived for centuries on the yields of their fields and gardens, viticulture and export have been promoted since the end of the Middle Ages and in the early modern period , which - after the interruption due to the phylloxera crisis in the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century - is still the most important source of income for the community today. Tourism in the form of renting holiday apartments ( gîtes ) also plays a not insignificant role in the economic life of the municipality.
history
No archaeological evidence is known from ancient times in the municipality. In the Middle Ages, Bassac was on a branch line of the pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela ( Via Turonensis ). The prosperous Benedictine abbey was established at the beginning of the 11th century and repeatedly attracted various warring parties in the following centuries. In the 19th century, the cloister ( cloître ) was demolished.
Attractions
- In 1002 the then landlord ( seigneur ) of Jarnac decided to found an abbey here - the foundation stone for this was laid by the Bishop Islo of Saintes ; the consecration took place in 1015. Under the leadership of the Abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély in the years 1094 to 1246, the monastery flourished and so after regaining independence in the 13th century, a new church and new enclosure were built. In the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) the abbey was badly damaged by Anglo-Gascognischen troops, but then rebuilt with the help of the prior of Jarnac and surrounded with a wall. During the Huguenot Wars (1562–1598) it was alternately besieged and destroyed by Protestants and Catholics; the reconstruction takes almost 100 years. The portal zone shows a triumphal arch scheme with lateral blind portals , which is widespread in the Romanesque churches of the Charente ; the archivolt portal ends at the top with a multi-pass arch . On the front of the central archivolt there are remains of the inscription applied during the revolutionary years : LE PEUPLE FRANÇAIS RECONNAIT L'ÊTRE SUPRÈME ET L'IMMORTALITÉ DE L'ÂME (“The French people recognize the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul”). The bell tower on the north side is still original in its lower part; the pointed helmet , on the other hand, is a work of the 19th century. The lower part of the nave still shows late Romanesque and early Gothic elements; the vaults, however, were renewed in the 17th century. The flat closing apse shows a large window with a late Gothic Flamboyant - tracery . The church and monastery building were recognized as a monument historique as early as 1880 .
- In the monastery garden, which once belonged to the abbey, there is still a house ( Manoir des Plantes ) from the first half of the 18th century. It has also been a listed building since 1985.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bassac - Viticulture
- ↑ Ancienne abbaye Saint-Étienne, Bassac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
- ↑ Manoir des Plantes, Bassac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)