Thézac (Charente-Maritime)

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Thézac
Thézac (France)
Thézac
region Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department Charente-Maritime
Arrondissement Saintes
Canton Thénac
Community association Gémozac et la Saintonge Viticole
Coordinates 45 ° 40 ′  N , 0 ° 47 ′  W Coordinates: 45 ° 40 ′  N , 0 ° 47 ′  W
height 22-49 m
surface 12.42 km 2
Residents 321 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 26 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 17600
INSEE code 17445

Thézac - View of town with Notre-Dame church

Thézac is a West commune with 321 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the Charente-Maritime in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine .

location

The place is located in the Saintonge about 19 kilometers (driving distance) southwest of Saintes or about 26 kilometers east of the Gironde estuary at Royan . The capital of the canton, Saujon , is only about 14 kilometers to the west; the neighboring municipality of Saint-Romain-de-Benet is about 5 kilometers to the north-west.

Population development

year 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2016
Residents 350 321 295 302 304 333 326

economy

Agriculture and viticulture have determined the economic life of the place for centuries. Since the 1980s, tourism (rental of holiday apartments) has been added as a source of income.

history

Almost nothing is known or published about the history of Thézac. Sometimes, however, it is claimed that the formerly elaborately designed church belonged to a priory of the Abbey of La Chaise-Dieu ( Auvergne ), which is more than 300 kilometers away , which is rather unlikely due to the great distance. Be that as it may, the priory formed the nucleus for the further development of the place.

Attractions

Notre-Dame church

See also: List of Monuments historiques in Thézac (Charente-Maritime)

  • The Notre-Dame church with its imposing Romanesque crossing tower is the main attraction of Thézac and can be seen from afar. The tower is not converted into an octagon, but retains its square floor plan in the two slightly recessed upper floors, of which the lower one shows five blind arcades in all directions, while the upper floor has three equally high acoustic arcades. The outer apse , built with precisely hewn stones, is barely structured and has no architectural decoration, as can be found in abundance in other churches in the region ( Saint-Trojan (Rétaud) and Notre-Dame (Rioux) ). This fact points to an early construction period (around 1100), while the tower was probably built around 1150. Large parts of the church have been destroyed in the turmoil of the past centuries and so the - completely unadorned - entrance portal from around 1500 leads directly into the basement of the tower with its unusual eight-part ribbed dome , whose corner gussets are underpinned by supporting trumpets . Choir bay and the much more elaborate interior of the apse were formerly vaulted, but have been covered with a wooden roof structure for centuries; the capitals show perfectly crafted vegetable motifs. The building has been recognized as a monument historique since 1903 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Église Notre-Dame, Thézac in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture (French)

literature

  • Le Patrimoine des Communes de la Charente-Maritime. Flohic Editions, Volume 2, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-84234-129-5 , pp. 1064-1065.
  • Thorsten Droste: Poitou. Western France between Poitiers and Angoulême - the Atlantic coast from the Loire to the Gironde. DuMont-Verlag, Cologne 1999, ISBN 3-7701-4456-2 , p. 219.

Web links

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