Judaísmo de reforma

Najac is a common French, located in the department of the Aveyron and the area the Midday-Pyrenees.

Its inhabitants is called the Najacois , Najacoises .

Geography

Situation

Najac is perched on left bank of a meander of the throats of the Aveyron on a geological fault. The village and the castle overhang on a rock, made up of schist, the river and the railway.

Najac is located on D39, in the west of the Département of Aveyron, five kilometers in the west of D922 which connects Villefranche-with-Rouergue to Cord-on-Sky.

Geology

Najac is at the Southern end of large the Faille of Villefranche-with-Rouergue (South-south-west, Nord-Nord-Est) which directs the course of the Aveyron.

The levelling rocks are divided into compartments delimited by the fault of Villefranche and a second less wide which is parallel for him. One finds perpendicular to the faults (Is towards the West) impermeable grounds:

  • of the metamorphic rocks and magmatic;

  • of the Schist S and sandstone of the Carboniferous . These rocks, taken on the spot, were used to build the base of the castle;
  • of the Conglomerate S, sandstone and mudstones (mixture of Clay and quartz) of the Sorted and of the Infra-Lias. Located out of Right Bank of the Aveyron, these rocks were conveyed on the other side of the river for the construction of the upper part of the castle.

Tourism

Najac is today gratifiée of the label of the more beautiful villages of France, decreed by an independent association aiming at promoting the tourist assets of small rich French communes of an inheritance of quality.

Najac is also classified like Pays of Art and of History, the village is one of the 5 Country houses of Rouergue, it belongs to the Association of the Remarkable Sites of the Taste and is classified like Green Station of Holidays. It counts more than 3.000 tourist beds, a camp-site, a swimming pool and many footpaths.

The festival of the village takes place at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (3rd weekend of August)

The culinary specialities are the Fouace and the Astet Najacois.

History

Construction of the castle

See also: Castle of Najac

Najac is dominated by impressive a castle, built in two very distinct periods:

  • XIIe century: there remains the base of the Square Tower, built by the counts of Toulouse;
  • XIIIe century (other parts of the castle), built by Alphonse of Poitiers, brother of Saint-Louis, then become count de Toulouse from his marriage with the single girl of the last count de Toulouse, White Jeanne of Toulouse, marriage arranged by of Castille, mother of Saint-Louis.

This castle was especially built to impress the inhabitants of Najac and the neighborhoods. During one rather unstable time, where the cathares are still persecuted, where the count of Toulouse has just fallen into the hands from the kingdom from France, a keep of more than 40 meters in height with archères of 6m80, impress the population largely. Thus during more than one century, no revolt is to be announced side of Najac and this, to the one hundred year old war, when Najac fell between the hands from English.

Wars of religion

During 10 years, English occupied Najac and his castle, but one evening, the najacois succeeded has to penetrate in the castle by trick, killed the English garrison and thus recovered the castle.

Until the wars of religion, Najac and its castle lived calmly, nothing to announce of private individual.

But for this period sinks where Protestant and catholic between-committed suicide, the castle of Najac was occupied by the lord of Morlhon, a Protestant but that hardly lasted, the catholics undertook the seat of the castle and at the end of a few months, with end of living and water, the seat taken end.

Ruin castle

Gradually after this period, the castle of Najac was used more, one let it decay, be dilapidated and it is only with the French revolution that it took again a rather important role, but disastrous for the French inheritance. Sold like national good, the castle was repurchased for a bread mouthful by a landlord of the area which made use of it like stone quarry to build the houses. According to certain testimonys, in the middle of the 19th century an accident where three workmen perished stopped work of demolition. It was then left with the abandonment.

Restoration

At the end of XIXe, it was renovated a little bit by the Brunis abbot who resold it with the family of Montalivet which entirely renovated it and made of it a tourist place impossible to circumvent of Aveyron.

Ultimately, this forever attacked castle, taken forever, it was an architectural jewel of the time.

Heraldic

Mouths, with the money tower, the bent chief of azure, three flowers of gold lily| Malta-Brown |illustrated France (1882)

Administration

August 1st

Demography

Absorb in 1965 Villevayre.

Places and monuments

  • royal Fortress, masterpiece of the military architecture of the 13th century
  • Church Midsummer's Day (XIIIe century)
  • Fountain monolith of XIVe century
  • Holy Bridge Blaise of XIIIe century
  • Bridge of Frégère
  • Fountain of XIVe century
  • House of the Governor (ruin)

Random links:Astrocam | Englefontaine | Sacral plexus | Theodore-Jules Cazot | Jean Ier de Mecklembourg-Stargard