Montans

Montans
Commune
Coat of arms
Location of Montans
Montans Show map of France Montans Show map of Occitanie
Coordinates: 43°52′02″N 1°53′10″E
Country	France
Region	Occitania
Department	Tarn
Arrondissement	Albi
Canton	Les Deux Rives
Intercommunality	CA Gaillac-Graulhet
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Gilles Crouzet[1]
Area ^1	32.43 km^2 (12.52 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	1,544
• Density	48/km^2 (120/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	81171 /81600
Elevation	95–209 m (312–686 ft) (avg. 106 m or 348 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Montans (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃tɑ̃s]) is a commune in the Tarn department and Occitanie region of southern France.

Geography

Situated between Lisle-sur-Tarn and Gaillac, near the A68 autoroute, the village stands at the end of a terrace overlooking the River Tarn. The locality produces wine with the appellation Gaillac AOC.

Name

The name of the settlement is derived from the Occitan word montant, meaning "steep".

History

The site of Montans was occupied by a Gallic oppidum. Already, the Gauls were producing pottery on the site since the environment was favorable with the alluvium covering the terrace containing pockets of clay. Following the Roman occupation, the site became in the beginning of AD one of the most important centers of pottery production in the Gallo-Roman world. The pottery was exported, mostly by water down the Tarn and Garonne rivers all the way to places like Brittany and Great Britain.

Tourism

L'Archéosite is a museum and documentation center, with an exhibition of pottery from Antiquity and a reconstitution of a Gallo-Roman street and shops leading to the potter's house.

On the bank of the Tarn river, Guest houses offer bedrooms and dinners, such as at the Aigue Verte for example.

Roman Samian ware (terra sigillata) bowl, manufactured at Montans, and photographed in the Montans 'Archeosite' museum

Roman pottery kiln, as reconstructed in the Montans archeosite museum in France

Roman fast-food shop, Pompeii style, as reconstructed in the Montans archeosite museum, in France.

See also

• Communes of the Tarn department
• Tourism in Tarn

References

• Archéosite de Montans
• l'Aigue Verte
• Montans samian ware in Britain

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.