Lattes

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lattes
Coat of arms of Lattes
Lattes (France)
Lattes
region Occitania
Department Herault
Arrondissement Montpellier
Canton Lattes (main town)
Community association Montpellier Méditerranée Métropole
Coordinates 43 ° 34 ′  N , 3 ° 55 ′  E Coordinates: 43 ° 34 ′  N , 3 ° 55 ′  E
height 0-25 m
surface 27.83 km 2
Residents 16,564 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 595 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 34970
INSEE code
Website Lattes

Lattes - Port Ariane

Lattes is a town and a municipality with 16,564 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Hérault department in the Occitania region in southern France .

location

The city of Lattes is located on the Étang du Méjean about 10 km (driving distance) south of Montpellier on the Golfe du Lion . It is crossed by the river Lez , on which the navigation for pleasure boats to Lattes has been restored.

Population development

year 1800 1851 1901 1954 1975 1999 2012 2017
Residents 204 385 780 1297 3963 13,768 15,719 16,564

As a result of the relative proximity to Montpellier and the lower property prices in Lattes, there has been a significant increase in population over the past few decades.

economy

For centuries, the inhabitants of the community lived as a self-sufficient (grain, wine, vegetables) from agriculture and fishing ; the city of Montpellier was considered a market place for vegetables and fish because of its short distance . Viticulture and fishing were later displaced more and more by vegetable growing; Since the 1960s tourism has played an increasingly important role in the city's economic life.

history

Foundations of the ancient Latara

The history of the settlement goes back possibly to the Etruscan period (7th century BC); afterwards the Greeks used the former lagoon as another port in the western Mediterranean next to the approx. 150 km east located Massilia . Also Celtic and especially Roman traces were found; The name Latara , handed down in ancient written sources, goes back to this time .

In the Middle Ages the settlement acted as the seaport of Montpellier; Jacques Cœur , Charles VII's finance minister , had the gradually silting port excavated and expanded in the 15th century. In the 1960s, many returnees from Algeria settled here.

Attractions

Église Saint-Laurent
Detail of the console frieze
  • The Musée archéologique Henri Prades shows ancient finds from Latara and the surrounding area (e.g. from an excavation in the Dolmen du Lamalou ).
  • Further excavations have been carried out since 2002 in the district of La Céreirède , 1.5 km to the north (→ web link).
  • The former three-apse Romanesque church of Saint-Laurent indicates the importance of the place in the High Middle Ages; it is built using the masonry technique of opus monspelliensis from precisely hewn stone layers of different heights . The middle apse is divided by vertical pilaster strips , which in turn are connected to one another by a horizontal bead and are cranked above the windows ; Below the eaves there is a figurative console frieze . The north arm of the transept with the associated side apse was destroyed in the Huguenot Wars (1562–1598); the southern apse is still preserved. Both outer walls of the nave were renewed from rubble stones in the 17th century and vaulted. The undivided and generally extremely unadorned west facade was preserved and - like the apse - is built using the masonry technique of the opus monspelliensis ; Above a round window is a useless console frieze with two crowned heads. The gable ends with a simple bell gable ( clocher mur ). The nave is barrel vaulted , the crossing has a groin vault and the apse shows the usual dome vault , which is, however, perfectly crafted; the entire room is largely unadorned. The church was already classified as a monument historique in 1913 .
  • The town's modern parish church ( Église Saint-Bernard ) is a central building from the mid-20th century, spanned by an octagonal dome .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. Église Saint-Laurent, Lattes in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)