Pompignan
Pompinhan (Occitan) | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 43°49′04″N 1°18′48″E / 43.8178°N 1.3133°E | |
Country | France |
Region | Occitania |
Department | Tarn-et-Garonne |
Arrondissement | Montauban |
Canton | Verdun-sur-Garonne |
Government | |
• Mayor (2020–2026) | Alain Belloc[1] |
Area 1 | 12.17 km2 (4.70 sq mi) |
Population (2021)[2] | 1,721 |
• Density | 140/km2 (370/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
INSEE/Postal code | 82142 /82170 |
Elevation | 102–216 m (335–709 ft) (avg. 108 m or 354 ft) |
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. |
Pompignan (French pronunciation: [pɔ̃piɲɑ̃]; Occitan: Pompinhan) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitania region in Southern France.
The Château de Pompignan, a mid-18th century neoclassical building, sits on a terrace above the village. Its builder, Jean-Jacques Lefranc de Pompignan is renowned as an Enlightenment figure, and he created on the hillside rising up behind the chateau an extensive landscape garden with follies, which has remained largely untouched since the early 19th century.
Today the chateau, in private hands, houses a very large collection of keyboard instruments, and serves as a venue for concerts and musical events. It is also available for rental as an event venue.
Lefranc also built the village a church, within the grounds of the chateau, but it fell into disrepair and was replaced in 1844 with the present church of St Gregory, the old church materials being reused. To adorn his then-new church, Lefranc acquired splendid church furniture from the Jesuits in 1762, when they were compelled to leave Paris, and these objects (marble altars, reliquaries, paintings, gilded monstrances, confessionals ...)[3] are now housed in St Gregory's, where many of the pieces have been listed as historic monuments.