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Cucugnan

Cucugnan
085 Pays cathare Cucugnan (Aude).JPG
Coat of arms of Cucugnan
Coat of arms
Cucugnan is located in France
Cucugnan
Cucugnan
Coordinates: 42°51′07″N 2°36′11″E / 42.8519°N 2.6031°E / 42.8519; 2.6031Coordinates: 42°51′07″N 2°36′11″E / 42.8519°N 2.6031°E / 42.8519; 2.6031
Country France
Region Occitanie
Department Aude
Arrondissement Narbonne
Canton Tuchan
Intercommunality Hautes Corbières
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2014) Joël Gauch
Area1 15.33 km2 (5.92 sq mi)
Population (2008)2 135
 • Density 8.8/km2 (23/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 11113 / 11350
Elevation 218–822 m (715–2,697 ft)
(avg. 360 m or 1,180 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Cucugnan (Cucunhan in Occitan) is a commune in the Aude department in southern France, approximately 29.5 kilometres (18.3 mi) north-west of Perpignan. The small village lies in a valley in the Corbières mountains, overlooked by the ruined Château de Quéribus, which stands at the top of a 728-metre (2,388 ft) hill to the south of Cucugnan.

The first documented mention of a settlement called Cucuniano is a record of a gift of land from Roger I, Count of Carcassonne to the Abbey of Lagrasse in the year 951. In the 13th century, during the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars, the Lord of Cucugnan participated in the Cathar resistance before he was forced to submit to King Louis IX. In 1495, Cucugnan was destroyed by the Spanish invaders and a new village grew up around the ruined medieval village.

The village is clustered around a small hill, at the top of which stands its main landmark, a 17th-century windmill, the Moulin d'Omer. The windmill was owned by the Lords of Cucugnan until the French Revolution and was mentioned in historical archives dating from 1692. By the 1830s, it had fallen into ruin, but it was rebuilt and brought back into working order in a restoration project in 2003. Today the windmill is used for milling wheat and other grains for local culinary use.

The remains of a castrum are still visible above the windmill. Adjacent to the windmill is the 14th-century church of Saint Julien and Saint Basilissa. The church houses an unusual wooden statue of a pregnant Virgin Mary, a depiction considered controversial in traditional Catholic iconography.


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