Souillac

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Souillac
Coat of arms of Souillac
Souillac (France)
Souillac
region Occitania
Department Lot
Arrondissement Gourdon
Canton Souillac (main town)
Community association Causses et Vallée de la Dordogne (seat)
Coordinates 44 ° 54 '  N , 1 ° 28'  O coordinates: 44 ° 54 '  N , 1 ° 28'  O
height 80-314 m
surface 25.92 km 2
Residents 3,284 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 127 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 46200
INSEE code 46309
Website Souillac

Souillac - Choir head of the Sainte-Marie Abbey Church

Souillac [ sujak ] is a small town and capital of a municipality ( commune ) with 3,284 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the southern French department of Lot in the extreme northwest of the Occitania region . The community consists of the main town and the hamlet (hameau) Présignac adjoining to the west . The village of Bourzolles , around 5 kilometers northwest, is also part of the municipality.

Souillac is the capital of the canton of Souillac and of the community association Causses et Vallée de la Dordogne .

Toponym

The name Souillac is derived from the French term souille ( German 'Suhle', 'Sumpf') or the old French souilh and is reminiscent of the first settlement of the former swamp area by monks who drained the marshy terrain.

location

Souillac is located at an altitude of about 100  m in the Dordogne valley , which borders the town , which is part of the old cultural landscape of the Quercy, in the south. The city is about 63 km (driving distance) north of Cahors and 37 km south of Brive-la-Gaillarde . The climate is temperate; Rain (approx. 800 mm / year) falls over the year.

Population development

year 1800 1851 1901 1954 1999 2015
Residents 1,567 3,248 3,154 2,907 3,671 3,353

As a result of the phylloxera crisis in viticulture, the population fell in the first half of the 20th century to the lowest level of around 2,500 in the 1920s. The slight population growth of the small town in the second half of the 20th century is largely due to immigration from the rural areas in the area against the background of increasing mechanization of agriculture and the abandonment of small farms.

economy

The area around Souillac has always been characterized by agriculture; the small town itself, located on a branch route of the Way of St. James ( Via Podiensis ) , functioned as the region's craft, trade and service center. Over the Dordogne were in small boats ( gabarres ) goods of all kinds (eg. As wine, cheese, wood, charcoal) to the Gironde estuary shipped.

history

Allegedly the origin of Souillac goes back to the time of the Merovingians - St. Eligius ( Saint-Eloi ), Minister of King Dagobert I , is said to have founded a Benedictine monastery here, which - destroyed by the Saracens , rebuilt by Charlemagne and destroyed again during a Norman attack - is said to have somehow survived the times. Towards the end of his life, Gerald von Aurillac gave the monastery to monks of the Aurillac Abbey . Due to its location at an important transport hub, the abbey and the city developed rapidly; However, both were on the other hand exposed to attacks during the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) and in the course of the Huguenot Wars (1562-1598).

Attractions

Souillac Abbey

The Romanesque abbey church of Sainte-Marie has been recognized as a Monument historique (monument) since 1840 , the remaining monastery buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries followed in 1991.

Église Saint-Martin
Markthalle ( hall )
Viaduc de Bramefond .

Others

  • Four nave yokes of the Saint-Martin church date from the 15th century, the side aisles were later destroyed. The tower ( beffroi ) that dominates the building and is intended as a defensive entrance tower was built in the 16th century and shows clear influences from castle construction. But already in 1573 it was badly damaged by a demolition by the Protestants; however, a small Romanesque tympanum from a previous building was preserved. Since 1829 the building has housed the town hall; today the Office de Tourisme is housed here. The tower has been recognized as a monument historique since 1925 .
  • Narrow alleys - partly lined with half-timbered houses ( maisons à colombages ) - give the town center an almost medieval appearance.
  • The market hall ( hall ), built in the classicist style, was built between 1832 and 1836, for which four houses in the old town had to be demolished. The outer arcades of the approximately 10 × 20 meter building are made of stone; it is spanned by a large self-supporting roof structure . The building has been recognized as a monument historique since 1990 .
  • The Musée de l'Automate is located in the former abbey buildings and is one of the world's largest collections of wind-up play and music dolls.
Surroundings
  • The Neolithic Dolmen Laval or Tumulus Laval is a collective tomb with several chambers from the time of the megalithic cultures . It has been recognized as a Monument historique since 1984 . It stands about a kilometer outside of town on private property.
  • The 30-bogige and about 570 meters long railway bridge ( Viaduct la Borrèze ) ( 44 ° 54 '7 "  N , 1 ° 28' 29.5"  O ) was dissolved in the years 1881 to 1885 from brick built and Haust a disguised . It has been recognized as a monument historique since 1990 .

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Souillac - Map with altitude information
  2. ↑ Souillac - climate diagrams
  3. ↑ Souillac - History
  4. ↑ Église abbatiale Sainte-Marie, Souillac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  5. ↑ Anciens bâtiments conventuels de Sainte-Marie, Souillac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  6. ↑ Église Saint-Martin, Souillac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  7. ^ Halle, Souillac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  8. ↑ Dolmen Laval, Souillac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)
  9. ↑ Viaduc de la Borrèze, Souillac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)