Montignac, Dordogne

Montignac

Chateau of Coulonges

Coat of arms

Montignac

Location within Nouvelle-Aquitaine region

Montignac

Coordinates: 45°04′03″N 1°09′44″E / 45.0675°N 1.1622°ECoordinates: 45°04′03″N 1°09′44″E / 45.0675°N 1.1622°E

Country

Montignac

Vallée de la Vézère

Government

• Mayor (2008–2014)

Laurent Mathieu

Area¹

37.15 km² (14.34 sq mi)

Population (2008)²

2,852

• Density

77/km² (200/sq mi)

Time zone

CET (UTC+1)

• Summer (DST)

CEST (UTC+2)

INSEE/Postal code

24291 / 24290

Elevation

73–273 m (240–896 ft)
(avg. 77 m or 253 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.

Montignac (Occitan: Montinhac), also called Montignac sur Vézère or Montignac-Lascaux, is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is a small town situated on the Vézère river and has been the capital of the canton of Montignac since 1790. In 2015 it became the capital of the newly created Canton de la Vallée de l'Homme. The poet Pierre Lachambeaudie (1806–1872) was born in the village.

Montignac is a commune and small town in the department of Dordogne. It is situated in the historic region of Périgord noir, just below the confluence of the River Vézère and the Laurence, a small river which rises near the town of Thenon. Montignac is 11 km (7 mi) southeast of Thenon, 13 km (8 mi) southwest of Terrasson-Lavilledieu, and 19 km (12 mi) north of Sarlat-la-Canéda. The D704 district road from Brive-la-Gaillarde passes through the town where it intersects with the D65, D704e and D706. The area of the commune is 3,715 hectares. The highest point is in the northwest and the lowest point in the southwest where the Vézère leaves the commune.

Montignac is situated at a strategic site with a fine bridge over the Vézère and from the eleventh to the fourteenth century was one of the seats of the Counts of Périgord. Their Château de Montignac now lies in ruins, though some wall bases, terraces and a single tower remain.

Montignac was the home of the nineteenth-century French writer Eugène Le Roy, who was a district tax collector and wrote two celebrated novels about rural life in eighteenth-century Périgord. There is a small museum in the town dedicated to him.

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Wikipedia