Figeac

Figeac
Subprefecture and commune
A general view of Figeac
Coat of arms
Location of Figeac
Figeac Show map of France Figeac Show map of Occitanie
Coordinates: 44°36′31″N 2°01′54″E
Country	France
Region	Occitania
Department	Lot
Arrondissement	Figeac
Canton	Figeac-1 and 2
Intercommunality	Grand-Figeac
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	André Mellinger[1]
Area ^1	35.16 km^2 (13.58 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	9,770
• Density	280/km^2 (720/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	46102 /46100
Elevation	170–451 m (558–1,480 ft) (avg. 225 m or 738 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Figeac (French pronunciation: [fiʒak]; Occitan: Fijac) is a commune in the southwestern French department of Lot. Figeac is a sub-prefecture of the department.

Geography

Figeac is on the via Podiensis, a major medieval pilgrimage trail that is part of the Camino de Santiago network. Today, as a part of France's system of long-distance footpaths, it is known as the GR 65. Figeac station is a railway junction with connections to Brive-la-Gaillarde, Toulouse, Aurillac and Rodez.^{[citation needed]}

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1968	9,593	—
1975	10,077	+0.71%
1982	9,667	−0.59%
1990	9,549	−0.15%
1999	9,606	+0.07%
2007	9,994	+0.50%
2012	9,783	−0.43%
2017	9,792	+0.02%
Source: INSEE[3]

Local culture and heritage

Places and monuments

Figeac is classified as a city of art and history and has been recognized by the Midi-Pyrénées Regional Council as one of the eighteen Great Sites of Occitania. The old town has kept its layout and winding streets of the Middle Ages with many old sandstone houses.^{[citation needed]}

Religious heritage

• Chapel Notre-Dame-de-Pitié de Figeac - a 13th-century building, integrated into the Église Saint-Sauveur, was classified as a historical monument in 1840.^[4]
• Chapelle de l'hôpital de Figeac.
• Église Saint-Dau de Ceint-d'Eau.

L’église Saint-Sauveur

Saint-Sauveur Church.

The building was classified as a historical monument in 1840.^[5] Several religious objects are referenced in the Base Palissy database. This church, the only remains of a Cluny abbey, was consecrated in 1092. Saint Hugh was its abbot. Although modified over the centuries, either because of embellishments or because of the damage caused by the Hundred Years' War or the French Wars of Religion, it nevertheless has survived.^{[citation needed]}

It was a pilgrimage church, similar in size to Saint-Sernin de Toulouse or Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, with a triple nave, a vast transept, an ambulatory and an apse with radiating chapels. The old chapter house is decorated with polychrome wood of the 17th century.^{[citation needed]}

A capital from this church, the top part of a column, was re-cut into a font and is exhibited in New York at The Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum of Art)).^[6]

L'église des Carmes

The building was listed as a historical monument in 1993.^[7] Twelve paintings of the apostles are referenced in the Base Palissy database. Formerly Church of Saint-Thomas-Becket, it is the most modest church in size in the city. Located near the hospital, at the entrance of Figeac, it is the last witness of the former Carmelites convent that was once established there.

L’église Notre-Dame-du-Puy

The building was classified as a historical monument in 1916.^[8] Several religious objects are referenced in the Base Palissy database. The aptly named, since it dominates all Figeac, on the Place du Foirail. This church of Romanesque origin was remodelled several times, especially in the 14th and 17th centuries, when the three central bays were united into one; The choir contains beautiful carved Romanesque capitals and a large carved walnut altarpiece, dated 1696. Yet it is the oldest parish of Figeac, born, according to tradition, from a miracle: The Virgin would have made a hawthorn bloom there in winter. It was the seat of a brotherhood of St. James.

• 
  Saint-Thomas' Church.
• 
  Notre-Dame-du-Puy.

Museums

Musée Champollion

The city is home to the Champollion Museum les écritures du monde (the writings of the world).^[9] There are more than 40,000 visitors a year.^{[citation needed][when?]} Visitors can discover through the collections how writing has appeared in the world for 5,000 years.^[10]

The Champollion Museum is a major museum of the city, but there are other museums in Figeac: the Musée Paulin-Ratier, the musée de la Résistance and finally the Musée d'histoire de Figeac. The latter was redesigned in 2012 in the spirit of cabinets of curiosities, in rooms belonging to the former seminary, behind the Notre-Dame-du-Puy church.^[11]

La place des Écritures

Embedded in a medieval architectural ensemble, its floor is covered with a monumental reproduction of the Rosetta Stone (14 × 7 m), carved in black granite from Zimbabwe by the American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth. Inaugurated in April 1991, this important contemporary work can also be contemplated from the museum's hanging garden overlooking the square. In an adjoining courtyard, the French translation of the inscriptions is engraved on a glass plate.^[12]

L'obélisque de Champollion

On 11 March 1832, the municipal council decided to erect an obelisk in memory of Champollion. A subscription raised 4,000 francs and two years later a granite needle 7.8 meters high was extracted from the rock of Golinhac. It includes inscriptions in hieroglyphics meaning A Toujours! and two bronze plaques on the pedestal hosting Egyptian bas-reliefs.^[13]

Place Carnot

Formerly the Place de la Halle, it is surrounded by imposing houses, some made of cob, with wrought iron balconies, and under the roofs, open covered galleries, the soleilhos, which were once used to dry clothes or skins, or as a refuge to get some fresh air during a hot summer evening.^[14]

Les Aiguilles

The two "needles" around Figeac are large octagonal stone obelisks each resting on a pedestal of four steps. They are made of cemented dimension stone. The Aiguille du Cingle, standing south of the city, measures 14.50 meters.^[15] The L'aiguille de Lissac or Nayrac, standing to the west, measures 10.50 meters.^[16]

• 
  Champollion Museum
• 
  Place des ecritures
• 
  Obelisque Figeac
• 
  L'aiguille de Lissac
• 
  L'aiguille du Cingle

Notable people

Jean-François Champollion, the first translator of Egyptian hieroglyphics, was born in Figeac, where there is a Champollion Museum. His father had married a woman from Figeac and opened a bookshop in the village.^[17] On the Place des écritures (writings square) is a giant copy of the Rosetta Stone, by Joseph Kosuth. French explorer and archeologist Théodore Ber was born in Figeac, although he spent most of his adult life in Peru.^[18] German film historian Lotte H. Eisner hid from the Nazis in Figeac during World War II.

The actor Charles Boyer and the football player Vincent Beduer were born in Figeac.^[19]

Economy

This city hosts the headquarters of Figeac Aero.^[20]

Media

Louis Malle's 1974 film, Lacombe Lucien, was filmed in Figeac.

See also

• Communes of the Lot department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
4. "Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Pitié". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
5. "Eglise Saint-Sauveur". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
6. "Font | French". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
7. "Eglise des Carmes ou église Saint-Thomas-Becket". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
8. "Eglise Notre-Dame-du-Puy". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
9. "Figeac, musée Champollion, « Et c'est parti… Le 3 octobre 2005". La Semaine du Lot (478): 11. 6–12 October 2005.
10. "Musée Champollion - Les Écritures du monde". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2023.
11. "Musée d'Histoire de Figeac". Musées Occitanie (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2023.
12. "Plaque commémorative (installation) : Ex-libris, J.-F. Champollion". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
13. Aimé, Nöel (May 1984). Figeac d'hier et d'aujourd'hui de l'an 750 à 1980 (in French). Aurillac. pp. 155–157.
14. "Places du centre-ville". Lonely Planet (in French). 5 June 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
15. "Monument dit Aiguille du Cingle, ou Aiguille du Pressoir". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
16. "Monument dit Aiguille de Lissac, ou Aiguille des Pellissiers". www.pop.culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
17. Champollion, cultiver son génie: France Culture https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/grandes-traversees-champollion/1-champollion-cultiver-son-genie-4785021
18. Riviale, Pascal (2018). "Un Communard parmi les américanistes : biographie de Théodore Ber". Bérose-Encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l'anthropologie. Bérose. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
19. "Vincent BEDUER". www.footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
20. Mingzi. "Figeac Aéro : l'histoire d'une réussite tricolore" (in French). Retrieved 17 May 2023.

External links

• Figeac website
• Tourist office
• Picture of the Place des Ecritures
• Explore the local area

Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Figeac" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.