Prunières (Lozère)

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Prunières
Prunièiras
Coat of arms of Prunières
Prunières (France)
Prunières
region Occitania
Department Lozère
Arrondissement Mende
Canton Saint-Chély-d'Apcher
Community association Terres d'Apcher-Margeride-Aubrac
Coordinates 44 ° 50 ′  N , 3 ° 21 ′  E Coordinates: 44 ° 50 ′  N , 3 ° 21 ′  E
height 868-1,121 m
surface 13.09 km 2
Residents 256 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 20 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 48200
INSEE code 48121

Prunières - the village with the church of Saint-Caprais

Prunières ( Occitan : Prunièiras ) is a southern French municipality with 256 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Lozère department in the Occitania region .

location

Prunières is about 1000 meters above sea level. d. M. in the area of ​​the Causse de Sauveterre in the southern Massif Central in the Cevennes in the historic landscape of Gevaudan . The closest larger city is Mende, about 48 kilometers (driving distance) southeast .

Population development

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006
Residents 247 214 163 172 169 175 239

The population rose in the 19th century from 320 to 440 people. As a result of the increasing loss of jobs due to the mechanization of agriculture , the population fell continuously in the 20th century to the lows of the last decades.

economy

Agriculture has traditionally played the most important role in the economic life of the municipality, and here primarily sheep breeding. Since the 1960s and 1970s, tourism has been added as a source of income in the form of the rental of holiday homes ( gîtes ).

history

The place arose around a former priory of La Chaise-Dieu Abbey . The Hundred Years War (1337–1453) and the Huguenot Wars (1562–1598) left no traces in the place.

Attractions

Église Saint-Caprais
Château d'Apcher
  • The former priory church of Saint-Caprais , built from very carefully hewn natural stone, was built in the 12th century - despite its unusual, almost baroque facade in the upper part. The ground floor with its two side blind portals imitates a triumphal arch scheme with simple means . In the area of ​​the window above, this scheme is repeated in a greatly reduced form. The facade ends at the top with a console frieze and a three-part bell gable rising above it , in which three simple Romanesque columns can be seen. The polygonal broken apse closes at the top with a round arch frieze . The interior of the church has only one nave and is barrel vaulted ; During restoration work, baroque frescoes from the 17th century were uncovered, in which the local coat of arms, carried by angels on the side, appears. The church building was recognized as a monument historique as early as 1920 .

  • Portal of the Church

  • Frescoes

  • Angel with coat of arms

  • About two kilometers southwest of the village is the hamlet of Apcher ( 44 ° 48 ′ 59 ″  N , 3 ° 19 ′ 20 ″  E ). The slender, but monumental-looking donjon of the Château d'Apcher rises on a rock, which has been destroyed except for the castle chapel of Saint Jean-Baptiste . The tower was only accessible via an entrance about three meters high, which could only be reached with the help of ladders that could be pulled in during an attack. The chapel is a simple Romanesque building with a two-part bell gable and a polygonal broken apse, which shows several blind arches in the upper part. The remains of the castle, dating from the 11th to 14th centuries, have been classified as a Monument historique since 1983 .

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Prunières  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Église Saint-Caprais, Prunières in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  2. ↑ Château d'Apcher, Prunières in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)