Pompignan, Tarn-et-Garonne
Encyclopedia
Pompignan is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne
Tarn-et-Garonne is a French department in the southwest of France. It is traversed by the Rivers Tarn and Garonne, from which it takes its name.-History:...

 department in the Midi-Pyrénées
Midi-Pyrénées
Midi-Pyrénées is the largest region of metropolitan France by area, larger than the Netherlands or Denmark.Midi-Pyrénées has no historical or geographical unity...

 region
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

The Chateau de Pompignan
Château de Pompignan
The Chateau de Pompignan is a mid-18th century chateau standing on a terrace above the village of Pompignan, Tarn-et-Garonne, which lies on the old Paris road , about 25 km north-west of Toulouse, France....

, 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
Folly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...

, 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, reliqueries, paintings, gilded monstrances, confessionals ...) are now housed in St Gregory's, where many of the pieces have been listed as historic monuments
Monument historique
A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...

.

Proposed new rail route beside village

As of January 2011, a decision to route the proposed new TGV
TGV
The TGV is France's high-speed rail service, currently operated by SNCF Voyages, the long-distance rail branch of SNCF, the French national rail operator....

 line from Bordeaux to Toulouse at the edge of the village and through the grounds of the chateau is being publicly debated. While the building itself and its entrance lodge have been listed as a historic monument
Monument historique
A monument historique is a National Heritage Site of France. It also refers to a state procedure in France by which national heritage protection is extended to a building or a specific part of a building, a collection of buildings, or gardens, bridges, and other structures, because of their...

 since 1951, and classified as such since 1972, the protection does not extend directly to the remainder of the park or its contents.

Some of the villages along the proposed line have formed an association, Unions pour la Sauvegarde des Villages (USV in documents. ~ Associations for Saving the Villages) to promote an alternative route. This would leave the existing line near St Jory, about 10km south of the point it is now due to make the eastward turn and 100m climb from the valley floor to the plateau above, and rejoin the proposed route just after Pompignan, but above it and out of sight.

On 28 September 2010 a directive (in French) was issued by minister Jean-Louis Borloo, in political charge of the project. In relation to the sector containing Pompignan, and in response to representations made by local communities, three alternative routes were examined and compared with the route (through the chateau's park) originally proposed, which is still considered on balance the most favourable.

However, the proposals advocated by USV, essentially running the tracks close to the existing A62 motorway (which mounts the scarp at a shallower angle some 10km south of Pompignan), merit study in more depth before a decision can be made. These two options will therefore be studied and compared in detail, the results to be available by the beginning of next year (2011), and with a view to seeing whether the proposals of the communities can be accommodated.

See also

  • Communes of the Tarn-et-Garonne department

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