Le Vigan (Gard)
| Le Vigan | ||
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| region | Occitania | |
| Department | Gard | |
| Arrondissement | Le Vigan | |
| Canton | Le Vigan (main town) | |
| Community association | Pays Viganais | |
| Coordinates | 44 ° 0 ′ N , 3 ° 36 ′ E | |
| height | 184-640 m | |
| surface | 17.24 km 2 | |
| Residents | 3,820 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 222 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 30120 | |
| INSEE code | 30350 | |
 View from the mountains to Le Vigan |
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Le Vigan is a municipality with 3820 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the French department of Gard . It is a sub-prefecture of the Arrondissement of Le Vigan .
geography
The city of Le Vigan is located in a valley within the Cevennes . The surrounding area, which is characterized by the mountains, is rather sparsely populated and the nearest large cities are Montpellier, 69 kilometers south, and the city of Nîmes , 81 kilometers south-east. A few kilometers north of the village, the climb to Mont Aigoual begins , which at 1567 meters is the second highest peak in the Cevennes. In the south of Le Vigan, however, the landscape merges into the Causse de Blandas plateau . The core town lies in the valley of the Arre river , into which the Coudoulous flows in the neighboring town of Avèze . Behind the eastern edge of the municipality lies the Hérault valley . Given its location in a larger valley, Le Vigan, with around 4,000 inhabitants, is one of the largest towns in the surrounding area, along with Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort and Ganges .
The neighboring municipalities of Le Vigan are Mandagout in the north, Saint-André-de-Majencoules in the northeast, Roquedur in the southeast, Saint-Bresson and Pommiers in the south and Avèze and Aulas in the west. Along the Arre valley, the settlement area of Le Vigan changes directly into that of the villages of Avèze and Molières-Cavaillac further to the west .
Infrastructure
The regional road D999 runs through the Arre valley and connects to Ganges via the Hérault valley and then to Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort. In a westerly direction it leads via Avèze and a few small villages to the village of L'Hospitalet-du-Larzac , around 45 kilometers away , where there is a connection to the A75 autoroute . In addition, the D48 runs through Le Vigan, heading north to Mont Aigoual and south over the villages of the Causse de Blandas plateau.
Culture and sights
The center of the village is the Place du Quai , which is an extensive shopping street with a two-sided carriageway and a space in the middle, which is intended for restaurants and bars. The town hall and post office are on its north side. To the west, on the other hand, is the historic old town, whose medieval settlement structures have been partially preserved.
A well-known building is the hôtel de Faventines , built in 1759 , which bears the alternative name Château d'Assas . It originally belonged to a wealthy family who were expropriated during the French Revolution . In the following time it served, among other things, as a building for the city administration and as a prison, before it returned to the family's possession in 1850. As a regionally important place, Le Vigan is home to the Musée cevenol (Cevennes Museum ), which shows the culture of the surrounding mountainous region. Also worth seeing is the old bridge over the Arre, which was built in the 14th century and has been preserved since then. As early as 1938 it was included in the list of Monuments historiques . This list also includes the former hospice, built in 1809 in neoclassical style. It also includes the Saint-Alexis chapel .
Population development
| year | 1962 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2006 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residents | 4111 | 4207 | 4293 | 4517 | 4523 | 4423 | 4059 | 3820 |
In 1793, Le Vigan was inhabited by 3852 people. With certain fluctuations this number grew to more than 4500 inhabitants in the course of the 19th century and in 1860 the municipality was expanded by the incorporation of the previously independent village Paroisse-du-Vigan (641 inhabitants). In 1876, with 5,389 inhabitants, a historic high was reached, but the number fell significantly in the first half of the following century and was less than 4,000 people after the Second World War . This was followed by an upward trend in the decades that followed, but the number of residents has been falling again since the 1990s.
Personalities
- Louis Alexandre d'Albignac, Baron d'Albignac d'Arre (1739–1825), French general, Mayor of Le Vigan March – November 1790, † January 17, 1825 in Le Vigan
- Emmanuel d'Alzon (1810–1880), founder of the order and father of the Assumptionists
- Caroline Proust (* 1967), actress
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ville du Vigan , annuaire-mairie.fr
- ↑ Découvrir la ville ( Memento of the original dated November 5, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , levigan.fr
- ↑ Patrimoine classé et inscrit ( Memento of the original from November 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , levigan.fr
- ↑ Le Vigan - Notice communale , cassini.ehess.fr
