Largentière

Largentière (French: [laʁʒɑ̃tjɛʁ] ; L'Argentièira in Occitan) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southern France.

Largentière
Subprefecture and commune
The castle in Largentière
Coat of arms
Location of Largentière
Largentière Largentière
Coordinates: 44°32′37″N 4°17′39″E
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Ardèche
Arrondissement	Largentière
Canton	Vallon-Pont-d'Arc
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Jean-Roger Durand
Area ^1	7.22 km^2 (2.79 sq mi)
Population  (2017-01-01)[1]	1,629
• Density	230/km^2 (580/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	07132 /07710
Elevation	147–420 m (482–1,378 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

It is located in the narrow valley of the Ligne River, approximately ten kilometres southwest of Aubenas.

Largentiere is the smallest sub-prefecture in France.

Its name, adopted in the thirteenth century in place of its more ancient name Segualeriae (Ségualières), refers to the silver mines in the area between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, when the silver-bearing lead ores in intrusive veins in the Largentières sandstone[2] were exploited under the authority of the Counts of Toulouse and the Bishops of Viviers, whose title barons de Largentière was linked to the bishopric.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% 1793 1,793 —     1800 1,706 −4.9% 1806 1,952 +14.4% 1821 2,250 +15.3% 1831 2,919 +29.7% 1836 2,879 −1.4% 1841 3,088 +7.3% 1846 3,214 +4.1% 1851 3,160 −1.7% 1856 3,281 +3.8% 1861 2,992 −8.8% 1866 3,144 +5.1% 1872 3,135 −0.3% 1876 2,962 −5.5% 1881 2,783 −6.0% 1886 2,697 −3.1% 1891 2,820 +4.6%

Year Pop. ±% 1896 2,472 −12.3% 1901 2,354 −4.8% 1906 2,283 −3.0% 1911 2,165 −5.2% 1921 1,887 −12.8% 1926 2,043 +8.3% 1931 1,855 −9.2% 1936 2,021 +8.9% 1946 1,777 −12.1% 1954 1,673 −5.9% 1962 1,819 +8.7% 1968 2,888 +58.8% 1975 2,782 −3.7% 1982 2,520 −9.4% 1990 1,990 −21.0% 1999 1,942 −2.4% 2008 1,805 −7.1%

Economy and transportation

A busy industrial town in the nineteenth century, when it housed silk mills[3] its principal industry is now tourism. Its only railroad station was rased in 1982, leaving the town accessible only by road.

Sights

Besides its twelfth- to fifteenth-century château, the town conserves its thirteenth-century church, Nôtre-Dame-des-Pommiers,[4] its Renaissance hôtel de ville, its palais de justice, and the Tour Argentière that collected the mines' produce for guarded transport.

Personalities

• Joseph ben Abba Mari ben Joseph ben Jacob Caspi (1279—1340), a prominent Jewish medieval philosopher.

See also

• Communes of the Ardèche department

References

1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
2. Guoxiang Chi, Pierre Rheaume, and Kees Schrijver, "The Largentière sandstone Pb-Zn-Ag deposit, Ardeche, France; fluid inclusion and geologic evidence for an epigenetic origin", Economic Geologyn92.1 (February 1997:108-113).
3. Encyclopædia Britannica 1911.
4. "Our Lady of the apple orchards"; an inscription of 1490 records the gift of the stone pulpit in Occitan: hieu Pierre Guarnier de Colens ay donat aquesta chadiera al convent.

External links

• Tourism site
• Largentière on the departmental site