Fontgombault

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Fontgombault
Fontgombault (France)
Fontgombault
region Center-Val de Loire
Department Indre
Arrondissement Le Blanc
Canton Le Blanc
Community association Brenne-Val de Creuse
Coordinates 46 ° 41 ′  N , 0 ° 59 ′  E Coordinates: 46 ° 41 ′  N , 0 ° 59 ′  E
height 67-136 m
surface 10.58 km 2
Residents 249 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 24 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 36220
INSEE code 36076

Fontgombault - Saint-Jacques Church

Fontgombault is a small western French community with 249 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Indre in the Region Center-Val de Loire .

location

Fontgombault is approx. 94 meters above sea level. d. M. on the right, d. H. north-eastern side of the river Creuse and about 58 kilometers (driving distance) in an easterly direction from Poitiers in the wooded and hilly landscape of the Haut- Poitou . The places worth seeing Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe and Chauvigny as well as Touffou Castle are only a few kilometers away.

Population development

year 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2007 2012
Residents 324 310 267 310 283 269 252

At the first census in France in 1793, the place had 495 inhabitants; in 1876 there were as many as 813 inhabitants.

economy

The area around the village has been shaped by agriculture and forestry for centuries. Because of the nearby abbey and the charming surroundings, tourism in the form of cafés or restaurants and the rental of holiday apartments ( gîtes ) has played a certain role in the economic life of the place since the 1970s .

history

The area was already inhabited in prehistoric times - at least temporarily - because a large number of stone tools were found in the vicinity of the place . A number of coins and other finds from the site of the later abbey date from Gallo-Roman times, which makes it likely that a manor house ( villa rustica ) used to stand here. Since the Middle Ages, the history of the place has been closely linked to the Benedictine abbey founded in 1091 , which always had a need for workers (day laborers and craftsmen).

Attractions

Notre-Dame Abbey

The Fontgombault Abbey , founded in the 11th century and occupied by Benedictines again since 1945, stands on the banks of the Creuse . The founder was the monk and first abbot of the monastery, Pierre de l'Étoile.
The floor plan is a basilica in a cross shape with transept and large, five chapels containing chancel . Over the centuries the structure was repeatedly damaged and restored in the 19th century. The richly decorated portal and the mighty choir have been preserved. Of the monastery buildings there is still a cloister and a refectory (both from the 15th century).

  • Notre-Dame Abbey, overview

  • Portal of the Church

  • Church interior

Others

Saint-Jacques church - apse
  • The single-nave Romanesque village church of Saint-Jacques was probably built by the same workers who were involved in the construction of the abbey church in the 12th, perhaps also in the early 13th century; the construction convinces with a simple but extremely solid construction. The west portal, with no capital or decoration, was - together with the quatrefoil window above - probably renewed in the Gothic style in the 14th century; The corner buttresses added for stabilization are further indications for a revision of the western part . The exterior of the apse shows a mixture of precisely hewn and largely unworked stones. The windows are cut into the masonry and have no framing decoration (columns, decorative friezes, etc.). The first floor of the tower forms a kind of narthex . The nave is spanned by a Gothic ribbed vault; the apse still has its original Romanesque barrel vault .
  • In the vicinity of the abbey, in the limestone slopes near the river bank, there are several rock overhangs ( abris ), which probably already served as shelter for prehistoric hunters and gatherers, and later also for Christian hermits. Later on, some of these ledges were converted into cave dwellings ( maisons troglodytes ).
  • From a hiking trail on the south bank of the Creuse there are delightful views of an old water mill and the monastery buildings.

literature

Web links

Commons : Fontgombault  - collection of images, videos and audio files