Gurat
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Gurat Gurac |
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| region | Nouvelle-Aquitaine | |
| Department | Charente | |
| Arrondissement | Angoulême | |
| Canton | Tude-et-Lavalette | |
| Community association | Lavalette Tude Dronne | |
| Coordinates | 45 ° 26 ' N , 0 ° 16' E | |
| height | 72-197 m | |
| surface | 16.03 km 2 | |
| Residents | 180 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 11 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 16320 | |
| INSEE code | 16162 | |
 Gurat - Church of Notre-Dame |
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Gurat ( Occitan : Gurac ) is a municipality with 180 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the south of the western French department of Charente in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine , close to the Perigord .
location
Gurat is about 100 meters above sea level. d. M. about 32 kilometers (driving distance) southeast of Angoulême in the old cultural landscape of the Angoumois in the Charente area .
Population development
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2016 |
| Residents | 324 | 261 | 216 | 234 | 210 | 184 | 187 | 181 |
In the first half of the 19th century the community always had between 600 and 700 inhabitants; As a result of the phylloxera crisis in viticulture and the mechanization of agriculture , the number of inhabitants then fell continuously to the current lows.
economy
For centuries, the inhabitants of the community lived from agriculture; the soils of the municipality belong to the Bons Bois of the Cognac wine-growing region , but sales of expensive brandies have tended to decline in recent decades, so that viticulture no longer plays an important role. Income from tourism, especially the rental of holiday homes ( gîtes ), has played a not insignificant role for the municipality's income since the 1960s.
history
The existence of the Romanesque parish church suggests a medieval existence of the place.
Attractions
- Opinions on the age of the two-aisled but apse-free rock church ( Chapelle Saint-Georges ) differ widely - some want to see medieval origins, others date it to the early modern period. The two entrances suggest that work on the building took place over a long period of time. In any case, it was carved out of a limestone cliff without any decorative effort and using a rather rough stonemasonry technique . Several larger wall niches could indicate a former burial site. The church has been recognized as a monument historique since 1963 .
- The late Romanesque parish church of Notre-Dame , originally built from rubble stones, appears to have been thoroughly revised in the 19th century; the slightly pointed central portal and the side blind portals evoke the impression of the triumphal arch scheme so popular in the Charente . A console frieze drawn around the corners delimits the portal zone and the unadorned gable field . The crossing tower , built from cut-to-measure stones, seems to be a work of the 19th century. The single-nave interior of the church was only sparsely lit through small high-lying windows in the outer walls before a round window was subsequently installed in the west facade.
- The two-winged castle ( château ) , which stands in the middle of the village and is mainly made of unsmoothed quarry stones , is dominated by an octagonal stair tower .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eglise souterraine monolith dite chapelle Saint-Georges, Gurat in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)