Courbefy is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

in the Bussière-Galant commune in the

Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; , ; Upper Vienne) is a département in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve départements that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The prefecture an ...

department of the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

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 ...

. On an auction on 21 May 2012, the

abandoned village An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, ...

was bought by

Yoo Byung-eun Yoo Byung-eun (; 11 February 1941 – 12 June 2014), also known by the art name Ahae, was a South Korean clergy, clergyman, businessman and photographer. Yoo became the focus of Park Geun-hye's administration shortly after the Sinking of MV Se ...

for (). Yoo had seen it on

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

, and wanted to set up an "environmental, artistic and cultural" project in the village.

Geography

Courbefy is a small hamlet located at an altitude of in the Bussière-Galant commune in the department of

. It is about south of the town of Bussière-Galant itself. The hamlet of La Gare is located to the north-east and Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy to the southeast. The village occupies a vaguely oval space and is totally surrounded by woods, with the exception of the southern part.

History

The village of Courbefy initially had a medieval royal fortress, but it became a den of thieves, and the castle was destroyed in the sixteenth century by order of the consuls of

Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...

. During the French Revolution, Courbefy was a separate municipality. It merged in 1800 with Saint-Nicolas to form Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy. Bussière-Galant absorbed Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy in 1974. In the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, the last resident of Courbefy bought one by one all the houses and lands of the village, after having built a hotel and restaurant in the 1990s. In 2008 he went bankrupt and left the village. In February 2012, a judicial procedure assigned his property to a creditor bank, which then put the whole hamlet up for auction. On 21 May 2012, the village was acquired by

for ().

Monuments

A small chapel of the seventeenth century lies a few dozen meters from the old dungeon. Courbefy has three

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, Spring (hydrosphere), spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christianity, Christian or Paganism, pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualitie ...

s located a few hundred meters from the chapel. One of them is still used as evidenced by the numerous offerings of pieces of cloth, children's shoes or diapers. They seem to be dedicated to Saint Eutropius.

Image gallery

File:Village abandonné de Courbefy (2).JPG, File:Courbefy-pierre-sculpte 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-chapel 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-chapel 03.JPG, File:Courbefy-fontaine 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-pays 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-2e-fontaine 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-3e-fontaine 01.JPG,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courvefy Geography of Haute-Vienne Villages in Nouvelle-Aquitaine