Batz-sur-Mer (, literally ''Batz on Sea''; Gallo: ''Borg-de-Baz'', ) is a commune in the

Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Louére-Atantique''; ; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', ) is a departments of France, department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. ...

department in western

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The commune is situated on a former island, which until around the 9th century was separate from the mainland at Guérande and the neighbouring island of Le Croisic. The territory of the commune is now part of the wild coast of the Guérande Peninsula with rocky cliffs, sandy beaches along the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

and extensive

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

es to the northeast and east. The town lies between the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay ( ) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. It lies along the western coast of France from Point Penmarc'h to the Spanish border, and along the northern coast of Spain, extending westward ...

and its salt marshes and is a very Breton town of

whitewash Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

houses.Arthur Eperon, ''The Loire Valley'' (1989), p. 195

History

In 945 Alan II, Duke of Brittany, founded a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

in Batz-sur-Mer, dedicated to St Winwaloe. Its Benedictine monks developed the local economy and apart from religion they devoted themselves to agriculture and to the maintenance of salt ponds. The historic church of Saint- Guénolé, or Winwaloe, largely dating from the 15th century, stands in the town centre. The church contains a 16th-century sculpture of the Madonna and Child, and its 17th-century belfry provides a significant local landmark. Climbing to the top of the tower gives a good view over the

es and the Le Croisic

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

.Philippe Barbour, ''Brittany, 3rd'' (2005), p. 426 Batz was historically part of the

Duchy of Brittany The Duchy of Brittany (, ; ) was a medieval feudal state that existed between approximately 939 and 1547. Its territory covered the northwestern peninsula of France, bordered by the Bay of Biscay to the west, and the English Channel to the north. ...

and is very near the south-eastern limit of the area in which there is evidence of Breton settlement in the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. The town remained part of Brittany until 1957 and the

Breton language Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic languages, Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albei ...

was still being spoken there as late as the early 20th century. In 1834 Balzac stayed in the commune, with Laure de Berny, at the ''Calme Logis'' of Madame de La Valette. He wrote there '' Un drame au bord de la mer'', which is set in nearby Le Croisic. The mathematician

Pavel Samuilovich Urysohn Pavel Samuilovich Urysohn (in Russian: ; 3 February, 1898 – 17 August, 1924) was a Soviet mathematician who is best known for his contributions in dimension theory, and for developing Urysohn's metrization theorem and Urysohn's lemma, both ...

drowned while swimming there with his colleague

Pavel Alexandrov Pavel Sergeyevich Alexandrov (), sometimes romanized ''Paul Alexandroff'' (7 May 1896 – 16 November 1982), was a Soviet mathematician. He wrote roughly three hundred papers, making important contributions to set theory and topology. In topol ...

, who was greatly distressed by his failure to save his friend. Urysohn is buried in Batz-sur-Mer.Loren R. Graham, Jean-Michel Kantor, ''Naming infinity: a true story of religious mysticism and mathematical creativity'', p. 177 The ''Musée des marais salants'' (or salt ponds

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

) was founded in 1887 by Adèle Pichon, a local

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

, after she realized that tourism would put an end to the local way of life, and this is now one of the oldest traditional local museums in France. See The works of Jean Fréour Sculptor of woman carrying salt outside this museum.

Population

Notable people

* Francine Caron (born 1945), writer and poet

References

External links

mairie-batzsurmer.fr
- web site of the mayor of Batz-sur-Mer {{DEFAULTSORT:Batzsurmer Communes of Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Populated coastal places in France

History

Population

Notable people

See also

References

External links