commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
, in the eastern part of Touraine. It is a 20-minute drive from the chateaux of
Amboise
Amboise (; ) is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Today a small market town, it was once home of the French royal court.
Geography
Amboise lies on the banks of the river Loire, east of Tours. It is also about away ...
,
Cheverny
Cheverny () is a commune in the French department of Loir-et-Cher, administrative region of Centre-Val de Loire.
It lies in the Loire Valley, about southeast of Blois.
Population
Sights
The commune is the site of the Château de Cheverny.
...
Azay-le-Rideau
Azay-le-Rideau () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France.
Château
The château of Azay-le-Rideau was built from 1515 to 1527, one of the earliest French Renaissance châteaux. Built on an island in the river Indre, it ...
,
Loches
Loches () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department, central France.
It is situated southeast of Tours by road, on the left bank of the river Indre.
History
Loches (the Roman ''Leucae'') grew up around a monastery founded about 500 by St ...
or
Chambord Chambord can refer to:
* Chambord (liqueur), a brand of raspberry-flavored liqueur
* Château de Chambord, a French ''château'' built in the 16th century
* Chambord, Loir-et-Cher, the French commune where the ''château'' is located
* Chambord, ...
. The summer is their tourist season. The French spoken in Touraine is said to be the purest in the country. The medieval
battle of Pontlevoy The Battle of Pontlevoy was fought on 6 July 1016 between the forces of Fulk III of Anjou and Herbert I of Maine on one side and Odo II of Blois on the other. It was one of the largest battles of early medieval France and was determining of the b ...
took place in its neighbourhood.
History
Pontlevoy's main street, the Rue du Colonel Filloux, named after the colonel who is identified on the sign as a ''Humaniste et Technicien (1869-1957)''. Colonel Filloux perfected the 155-millimeter howitzer for the French army.
Most of the shops and houses were built between the 15th and 19th centuries. The architectural detail makes Pontlevoy charming: a crouching monkey carved in limestone on the cornice of a building on the Rue des Singes (Monkey Street), a sun over the doorway of the 17th-century Maison du Dauphin. According to legend, Louis XIV's grandson stayed there overnight.
The Rue de la Juiverie is the only remnant of the ancient Jewish community of Pontlevoy.
Touraine
Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vien ...
was settled by Jews and Romans until their persecution and eventual expulsion from the region in 1306 caused by antisemitism.Pontlevoy's abbey made the town an important commercial and cultural center, founded in 1034 by Gelduin de Chaumont and re-established in 1644 by cardinal Richelieu.
Between 1902 and 1963, Louis Clergeau, a local watchmaker, and his daughter took more than 10,000 photographs of life in Pontlevoy. The museum also highlighted their work. The Clergeau collection is as remarkable a picture of French life as the work of the photographer Jacques H. Lartigue.
Pontlevoy is about five miles from the river Cher, which up to November 1942 was the dividing line between occupied and unoccupied France. Pontlevoy was occupied, many refugees were hidden there.
Population
Sights
Pontlevoy's memorial to all its dead from
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and II is behind a green iron fence on the Route de
Montrichard
Montrichard () is a town and former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montrichard Val de Cher.
During the French Revolution, the commune was known as '' ...
, On the four sides of the monument are the names of 81 men, listed year by year, who were killed in 1914-18 and 10 others, who died in 1939-45. In World War I Pontlevoy lost about 10 percent of its population.
On the corner of the Avenue Malingie and the Route de Montrichard, Pontlevoy has erected a small concrete cenotaph commemorating its martyrs and victims of Nazism from 1939 to 45.
Personalities
The French composer
Pierre-Louis Hus-Desforges
Pierre-Louis Hus-Desforges (24 March 1773 – 20 January 1838) was a French cellist, conductor and composer. He is sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Pierre-Louis Hus-Desforges Jarnowick"."Pierre-Louis Hus-Desforges Jarnowick". ''The New Gro ...
died in the city 20 January 1838.
Antoine le Picard de Philippeaux was born in this village. He died in Saint Jean d'Acre ('Saint John of Acre',the city Acre, Israel) (1767-1799).
Gignod
Gignod ( Valdôtain: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Aosta Valley region of north-western Italy.
Twin towns — sister cities
Gignod is twinned with:
* Pontlevoy
Pontlevoy () is a commune in the Loir-et-Cher department of central France.
...