Millau

General view of Millau

Coat of arms

Millau

Location within Occitanie region

Millau

Coordinates: 44°05′55″N 3°04′42″E / 44.0986°N 3.0783°ECoordinates: 44°05′55″N 3°04′42″E / 44.0986°N 3.0783°E

Country

Millau-Est and Millau-Ouest

Government

• Mayor

Christophe St Pierre

Area¹

168.23 km² (64.95 sq mi)

Population (2012)²

22,013

• Density

130/km² (340/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

12145 / 12100

Elevation

340–888 m (1,115–2,913 ft)
(avg. 379 m or 1,243 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.

Millau (French pronunciation: [mijo]; Occitan: Milhau pronounced [miˈʎaw]) is a commune in the Aveyron department in the French Midi-Pyrenees region in southern France. It is 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the Aveyron prefecture headquarters in Rodez. It is located at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie rivers. It is surrounded by the landscapes of Gorges du Tarn, Causse du Larzac and Causse Noir. It is part of the former province of Rouergue where they also communicate through a form of Occitan language: the Rouergat dialect. Its inhabitants are called Millavois and Millavoises. The territory of the municipality is part of the Regional Natural Park of Grands Causses.

The town dates back nearly 3000 years when it was situated on the hills above the Granède, before situating on the left bank of the Tarn on the alluvial plain in the second or first century B.C. The plain gave the town its Gallic name of Condatomagus (Contado meaning confluence and magus for the market). The site of Condatomagus was identified in the 19th century by Dieudonne du Rey and was close to the major earthenware centre in the Roman Empire, La Graufesenque. This is where luxury ceramics such as red terra sigillata were made. Despite major new development in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the centre of the old Roman and medieval town on the opposite (left) bank of the Tarn remains poorly excavated, and the newly renovated Maison du Peuple, almost on the site of the old Roman forum, saw no archaeology before major mechanical excavation for recent new very deep foundations. The local museum sits almost adjacent to this site.

...
Wikipedia