Saint-Bernard (Ain)

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Saint-Bernard
Saint-Bernard (France)
Saint-Bernard
region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department Ain
Arrondissement Bourg-en-Bresse
Canton Trévoux
Community association Dombes Saône Vallée
Coordinates 45 ° 57 '  N , 4 ° 44'  E Coordinates: 45 ° 57 '  N , 4 ° 44'  E
height 167-198 m
surface 3.15 km 2
Residents 1,433 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 455 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 01600
INSEE code
Website www.mairie-saint-bernard.fr

Château de Saint-Bernard

Saint-Bernard is a French commune with 1,433 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Ain in the region Auvergne Rhône-Alpes . It belongs to the canton of Trévoux in the arrondissement of Bourg-en-Bresse and is a member of the Dombes Saône Vallée municipal association .

geography

location

Saint-Bernard is the westernmost municipality in the Ain department. It is located at 185  m , about 48 km southwest of the prefecture of Bourg-en-Bresse , 22 km north-northwest of Lyon and 41 km south of the city of Mâcon (as the crow flies). The village lies in a bend in the river Saône in the south-west corner of the Ain department. Neighboring municipalities of Saint-Bernard are Jassans-Riottier in the north, Saint-Didier-de-Formans and Trévoux in the east, Ambérieux in the south and Anse in the west and north-west.

topography

Aerial view of Saint-Bernard and the surrounding area, looking east

The area of ​​the 3.15 km 2 municipal area comprises a section of the left and east banks of the Saône on the inside of a river bend. The Saône flows around the municipality in the northwest, west and south, and its center line defines the municipality and department border. In the east, the Formans brook delimits the municipality and forms a small valley cut. In between there is a river terrace , the plateau of which gradually rises at 170  m at the bend in the river towards the northeast and thus reaches the highest point of Saint-Bernard at 198  m . Originally the village was divided into two parts, the center with the village church and castle near the bridge over the Saône and in the north La Bruyère on the river terrace. Today, the settlement area is mainly characterized by the development of single-family houses, which was promoted in the second half of the 20th century, and makes up the largest share of land use (46%), followed by fields (15%) and other areas with agricultural use (25%) . The river bank of the broad, navigable Saône belonging to Saint-Bernard accounts for a further 12% of the municipal area.

history

Numerous individual finds scattered over the municipality indicate a continuous settlement since the late Bronze Age. In the plain northeast of La Bruyere, excavations in 1862 also uncovered a total of 41 tumuli from different epochs, the grave goods of which come mainly from the Hallstatt period.

The place name venerates St. Barnard of Vienne and appears for the first time in documents in 1243 as Sanctus Bernardus . The high medieval origins, however, are older, so the women's priory in La Bruyère was founded in the 9th century, probably by a member of the Barnard von Vienne family. The place surrounding it was first mentioned in 1176 as Bruieria . The priory was subordinate to the Abbey of Ambronay founded by Barnard of Vienne and also took over the Benedictine Rule and the patronage of Mary from her . The parish of Saint-Bernard was founded in 994 by monks from Romans , a parish church was built in the 11th century, parts of which have been preserved in the current building.

At that time, Saint-Bernard was a fortified mansion under the Palatins de Riottiers . They bequeathed the property to the Lords of Beaujeu in 1250 , who a few years later placed it under the suzerainty of the Archdiocese of Lyon . As a result, Saint-Bernard, together with the other ecclesiastical properties on the left bank of the Saône, later became part of the Franc-Lyonnais , a province endowed with exceptional tax privileges and immunity from the French king. The priory in La Bruyère changed mother abbey twice in the 17th and 18th centuries and was dissolved in 1752.

Attractions

The medieval village church in Saint-Bernard

The village church in Saint-Bernard is inscribed as a monument historique and dates back to the 11th and 12th centuries, from which some wall fragments of the west portal have been preserved. In the 17th century there was a fundamental renovation with enlargement of the windows, the addition of a bell tower and the installation of a Gothic portal, which was brought from the Abbey of Romans. After the French Revolution , the roof had to be replaced and the bell tower reconstructed. At the end of the 19th century the choir was enlarged, two sacristies were added and the cemetery was relocated. The single-nave church building is divided into a nave with three bays and a choir separated by a buttress arch . This has a yoke covered with a ribbed vault and an apse with a round choir closure. The masonry consists of rubble stones, corners and buttresses made of hewn stone.

Main gate of the Church of Saint-Bernard

The priory in La Bruyere today consists of one building, the wings of which are grouped on a U-shaped floor plan around a central courtyard. It is surrounded by a garden and an open terrace facing the Saône. The oldest preserved parts are a gallery of the former cloister from the first half of the 12th century and the porch of the Saint Roch chapel from the 13th century, which was reserved for the villagers. The main buildings date from the 16th and 17th centuries. After the priory was dissolved in 1752, the building complex was sold, partially restored and converted into a farmstead in the 19th century by adding stables, haylofts and other sheds.

Defense tower of the castle of Saint-Bernard

The castle of Saint-Bernard, classified as a monument historique, in the Au Bourguignon district, dates back to the period between the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century. At the end of the 14th century, during the fighting between the Counts of Savoy and the French troops, the castle was besieged and captured several times. From 1599 to 1801 it was owned by the Covet family who had the buildings remodeled in the early 17th century. During the French Revolution, the castle was first administered, then set on fire and part of the towers demolished. It changed hands several times in the 19th and 20th centuries and belonged to Suzanne Valadon's family from 1923 to 1948 . The castle, built of quarry stone walls, still has its main fortification elements: a five-storey donjon , a square defense tower above the main gate and the circular wall with two round corner towers.

population

Population development
year Residents
1962 253
1968 362
1975 488
1982 705
1990 872
1999 1,282
2006 1,358
2011 1,386

With 1,433 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017), Saint-Bernard is one of the smaller communities in the Ain department. After the population was around 300 in the 19th century and showed only minor fluctuations, there was initially a slight decrease at the beginning of the 20th century. The last third of the 20th century saw a massive increase in population that has continued to this day. The local residents of Saint-Bernard are called Spinosien (ne) s in French .

Economy and Infrastructure

Until well into the 20th century, Saint-Bernard was a predominantly agricultural village, and even today agricultural areas are scattered over the municipality, which together make up about 40%. There are also various local small businesses. In the meantime the village has also developed into a residential community. Many workers are commuters who go to work in the larger towns in the area, especially in the greater Lyon area.

The village is located off the main thoroughfares on a departmental road that leads from Trévoux over a Saône bridge to Anse. Another road connection is with Saint-Didier-de-Formans. The next motorway connection to the A6 is around 7 km away near the town of Villefranche-sur-Saône , where the nearest train station is also located. The airport in the region is Lyon-St-Exupéry (46 km).

education

There is a state école primaire (elementary school with an integrated preschool ) in Saint-Bernard .

Web links

Commons : Saint-Bernard  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. 2006 data from CORINE Land Cover , available e.g. B. at www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr ( Memento of the original from March 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr
  2. ^ André Buisson: Carte Archéologique de la Gaule - Ain 01 . Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres , 1990, ISBN 2-87754-010-3 , pp. 147–149 (French, limited preview in Google Book search).
  3. a b c d É. Philipon: Dictionnaire Topographique du Département de l'Ain . Imprimerie Nationale, 1911, p. 70, 371 (French, online [PDF; accessed January 4, 2014]).
  4. a b IA01000048 Info in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French).
  5. a b Info in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French).
  6. Château au Bourguignon (mh) in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French), Château au Bourguignon (inventaire général du patrimoine culturel) in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French).
  7. French Statistics Institute ( www.insee.fr )
  8. Saint-Bernard - notice communale. In: cassini.ehess.fr. Retrieved November 26, 2015 (French, INSEE population from 1968 ).
  9. Commune de Saint-Bernard - Dossier complet. In: INSEE . Retrieved November 26, 2015 (French).