Privas
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A view of Privas from Le Montoulon
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 Privas
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Location within Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region
Privas
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| Coordinates: 44°44′09″N 4°35′49″E / 44.7358°N 4.597°ECoordinates: 44°44′09″N 4°35′49″E / 44.7358°N 4.597°E | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | |
| Department | Ardèche | |
| Arrondissement | Privas | |
| Canton | Privas | |
| Intercommunality | Privas Rhône et Vallées | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2014–2020) | Michel Valla | |
| Area1 | 12.14 km2 (4.69 sq mi) | |
| Population (2008)2 | 8,552 | |
| • Density | 700/km2 (1,800/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 07186 / 07000 | |
| Elevation | 200–750 m (660–2,460 ft) (avg. 294 m or 965 ft) |
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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. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Privas (French: [pʁi.va]) is a commune of France, capital of the Ardèche department. It is the smallest administrative centre of any department in France. It is the fifth-largest commune in the Ardèche, behind Annonay, Aubenas, Guilherand-Granges, and Tournon-sur-Rhône. It was the location of the 1629 Siege of Privas. Today Privas is known for the purée made from the local chestnuts, and for its sweetened marron glacé.
The earliest traces of the commune are attested in the hamlet of Lac where recent archaeological excavations have revealed a Roman villa dating to the beginning of the Empire, as well as a medieval burying-ground. Moulds for counterfeiting coinage found in the 19th century on the slopes of Mont-Toulon had not been interpretable as signifying a local centre of population.
Privas possibly comes from the old Gallic word briva meaning thoroughfare, or more specifically a wooden causeway over a ravine or water. This may refer to a river crossing now spanned by the Pont Louis XIII, just to the south of the town centre. Privas inhabitants are called Privadois.
The earliest bourg of Privas developed around the church of Saint-Thomas (place de la République), a dependency of the Cluniac priory of Rompon. The château (castri) of Privas on the site of the present collège-couvent des Récollets is not attested prior to the 13th century, when the town was walled. Laid waste in 1621 and again following the siege of 1629, nothing of it remains.
In the twelfth century Privas belonged to the seigneurie of the Poitiers-Valentinois, comtes de Valence, whose liege lords were the counts of Toulouse. Aymar de Poitiers, in 1281, and his son in 1309, granted charters to the town, guaranteeing its traditional liberties, and its fiscal, economic and military rights.
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