Illiers-Combray

Illiers-Combray
Commune
The church and surroundings in Illiers-Combray
Coat of arms
Location of Illiers-Combray
Illiers-Combray Show map of France Illiers-Combray Show map of Centre-Val de Loire
Coordinates: 48°18′04″N 1°14′54″E
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Department	Eure-et-Loir
Arrondissement	Chartres
Canton	Illiers-Combray
Intercommunality	Entre Beauce et Perche
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Bernard Puyenchet[1]
Area ^1	33.60 km^2 (12.97 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	3,224
• Density	96/km^2 (250/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	28196 /28120
Elevation	144–204 m (472–669 ft) (avg. 162 m or 531 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Illiers-Combray (French pronunciation: [ilje kɔ̃bʁɛ]) is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in north central France.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 3,170 —     1800 2,617 −2.70% 1806 2,829 +1.31% 1821 2,473 −0.89% 1831 2,937 +1.73% 1836 3,069 +0.88% 1841 2,916 −1.02% 1846 3,159 +1.61% 1851 3,136 −0.15% 1856 3,100 −0.23% 1861 3,003 −0.63% 1866 3,005 +0.01% 1872 2,993 −0.07% 1876 2,997 +0.03% 1881 2,795 −1.39% 1886 2,831 +0.26% 1891 2,860 +0.20% 1896 2,795 −0.46%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 2,812 +0.12% 1906 3,035 +1.54% 1911 2,985 −0.33% 1921 2,790 −0.67% 1926 2,963 +1.21% 1931 2,734 −1.60% 1936 2,875 +1.01% 1946 3,017 +0.48% 1954 2,937 −0.34% 1962 3,089 +0.63% 1968 2,971 −0.65% 1975 3,407 +1.98% 1982 3,333 −0.31% 1990 3,329 −0.02% 1999 3,226 −0.35% 2007 3,197 −0.11% 2012 3,427 +1.40% 2017 3,324 −0.61%
Source: EHESS[3] and INSEE (1968–2017)[4]

Literature

Combray was the writer Marcel Proust's name for the village of Illiers (near the Cathedral town of Chartres), vividly depicted by him in the opening chapters of his vast semi-autobiographical novel In Search of Lost Time.

The home of Proust's "Aunt Léonie" in the heart of the village, where he spent much of his childhood, has been transformed into a museum to the writer's memory. It provides visitors with a delightful view of 19th-century provincial life as well as of the many Proustian mementos on display.

It should be added that Proust scholars have recently claimed his descriptions of "Combray" owe as much to the author's stays in his uncle's home in Auteuil, near Paris, as to Illiers-Combray.

As a tribute to Proust's literary masterpiece, the people of Illiers decided, in 1971, to change the town's name to Illiers-Combray, on the occasion of the centenary of the author's birth.^[5]

Twinning

The village is twinned with Coniston, Cumbria, the home of John Ruskin.^[6] Ruskin's work was a source of inspiration to Proust.

See also

• Communes of the Eure-et-Loir department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
2. "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
3. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Illiers-Combray, EHESS (in French).
4. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
5. "Illiers-Combray à la recherche d'un tourisme proustien". La Croix. 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2020. Voilà 47 ans que la ville, qui s'appelait simplement Illiers, a adopté le nom fictif de «Combray» pour célébrer le centenaire de la naissance de l'auteur.
6. Addison, Mike (2014). "Coniston toasts its twin towns". Westmorland Gazette. Retrieved 5 June 2017.