Figeac

Figeac is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France. Figeac is a sub-prefecture of the department.
Geography
Figeac is on the via Podiensis, a major hiking medieval pilgrimage trail which is part of the Way of St. James. Today, as a part of France's system of trails it is labelled the GR 65. Figeac station is a railway junction with connections to Brive-la-Gaillarde, Toulouse, Aurillac and Rodez.
Population
Local culture and heritage
Places and monuments
Figeac is classified as a city of art and history and has been recognized by the Midi-Pyrénées Regional Council as one of the eighteen Great Sites of Occitania. The old town has kept its layout and winding streets of the Middle Ages with many old sandstone houses.
Religious heritage
Chapel Notre-Dame-de-Pitié de Figeac - a 13th century building, integrated into the Église Saint-Sauveur, was classified as a historical monument in 1840.
Chapelle de l'hôpital de Figeac.
Église Saint-Dau de Ceint-d'Eau.
L’église Saint-Sauveur
The building was classified as a historical monument in 1840. Several religious objects are referenced in the Base Palissy database. This church, the only remains of a Cluny abbey, was consecrated in 1092. Saint Hugh was its abbot. Although modified over the centuries, either because of embellishments or because of the damage caused by the Hundred Years' War or the French Wars of Religion, it nevertheless has survived.
It was a pilgrimage church, similar in size to Saint-Sernin de Toulouse or Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, with a triple nave, a vast transept, an ambulatory and an apse with radiating chapels. The old chapter house is decorated with polychrome wood of the 17th century.
A capital from this church, the top part of a column, was recut into a font and is exhibited in New York at The Cloisters (Metropolitan Museum of Art)).
L'église des Carmes
The building was listed as a historical monument in 1993. Twelve paintings of the apostles are referenced in the Base Palissy database. Formerly Church of Saint-Thomas-Becket, it is the most modest church in size in the city. Located near the hospital, at the entrance of Figeac, it is the last witness of the former Carmelites convent that was once established there.
L’église Notre-Dame-du-Puy
The building was classified as a historical monument in 1916. Several religious objects are referenced in the Base Palissy database. The aptly named, since it dominates all Figeac, on the Place du Foirail. This church of Romanesque origin was remodelled several times, especially in the 14th and 17th centuries, when the three central bays were united into one; The choir contains beautiful carved Romanesque capitals and a large carved walnut altarpiece, dated 1696. Yet it is the oldest parish of Figeac, born, according to tradition, from a miracle: The Virgin would have made a hawthorn bloom there in winter. It was the seat of a brotherhood of St. James.
Museums
Musée Champollion
The city is home to the Champollion Museum les écritures du monde (the writings of the world). There are more than 40,000 visitors a year. Vistors can discover through the collections how writing has appeared in the world for 5,000 years.
The Champollion Museum is a major museum of the city, but there are other museums in Figeac: the Musée Paulin-Ratier, the musée de la Résistance and finally the Musée d'histoire de Figeac. The latter was redesigned in 2012 in the spirit of cabinets of curiosities, in rooms belonging to the former seminary, behind the Notre-Dame-du-Puy church.
La place des Écritures
Embedded in a medieval architectural ensemble, its floor is covered with a monumental reproduction of the Rosetta Stone (14 × 7 m), carved in black granite from Zimbabwe by the American conceptual artist Joseph Kosuth. Inaugurated in April 1991, this important contemporary work can also be contemplated from the museum's hanging garden overlooking the square. In an adjoining courtyard, the French translation of the inscriptions is engraved on a glass plate.
L'obélisque de Champollion
On 11 March 1832, the municipal council decided to erect an obelisk in memory of Champollion. A subscription raised 4,000 francs and two years later a granite needle 7.8 meters high was extracted from the rock of Golinhac. It includes inscriptions in hieroglyphics meaning A Toujours! and two bronze plaques on the pedestal hosting Egyptian bas-reliefs.
Place Carnot
Formerly the Place de la Halle, it is surrounded by imposing houses, some made of cob, with wrought iron balconies, and under the roofs, open covered galleries, the soleilhos, which were once used to dry clothes or skins, or as a refuge to get some fresh air during a hot summer evening.
Les Aiguilles
The two "needles" around Figeac are large octagonal stone obelisks each resting on a pedestal of four steps. They are made of cemented dimension stone. The Aiguille du Cingle, standing south of the city, measures 14.50 meters. The L'aiguille de Lissac or Nayrac, standing to the west, measures 10.50 meters.
Notable people
Jean-François Champollion, the first translator of Egyptian hieroglyphics, was born in Figeac, where there is a Champollion Museum. His father had married a woman from Figeac and opened a bookshop in the village. On the Place des écritures (writings square) is a giant copy of the Rosetta stone, by Joseph Kosuth. French explorer and archeologist Théodore Ber was born in Figeac, although he spent most of his adult life in Peru. German film historian Lotte H. Eisner hid from the Nazis in Figeac during World War II.
The actor Charles Boyer and the football player Vincent Beduer were born in Figeac.
Economy
This city hosts the headquarters of Figeac Aero.
Media
Louis Malle's 1974 film, Lacombe Lucien, was filmed in Figeac.
See also
Communes of the Lot department
References
External links
Figeac website
Tourist office
Picture of the Place des Ecritures
Explore the local area
Communes of Lot (department)
Subprefectures in France
World Heritage Sites in France
Quercy