place

Pompignan, Tarn-et-Garonne

Communes of Tarn-et-GaronnePages with French IPA
Pompignan (Tarn et Garonne) La Mairie
Pompignan (Tarn et Garonne) La Mairie

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 ...) are now housed in St Gregory's, where many of the pieces have been listed as historic monuments.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Pompignan, Tarn-et-Garonne (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Pompignan, Tarn-et-Garonne
Rue Jean Jacques Lefranc de Pompignan, Montauban

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: Pompignan, Tarn-et-GaronneContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 43.8178 ° E 1.3133 °
placeShow on map

Address

Rue Jean Jacques Lefranc de Pompignan
82170 Montauban
Occitania, France
mapOpen on Google Maps

Pompignan (Tarn et Garonne) La Mairie
Pompignan (Tarn et Garonne) La Mairie
Share experience

Nearby Places

Château de Pompignan
Château de Pompignan

The Château de Pompignan is a mid-18th-century château standing on a terrace above the village of Pompignan, Tarn-et-Garonne, which lies on the old Paris road (now the D820), about 25 km north-west of Toulouse, France. Of some literary and historical interest because of the association with its builder, Jean-Jacques Lefranc, the first Marquis de Pompignan, the château is noteworthy today for containing in its grounds a good example, though in neglected and dilapidated condition, of a parc à fabriques - a landscape garden with architectural constructions and hydraulic systems (together known in English as follies). Acquired by its present owner in 1990, the chateau itself is in good repair, though sparsely furnished, as it serves to house the owner's collection of keyboard instruments. This may be the largest private collection in France of keyboard instruments from around the world. Refurbishment work on the château is in progress with the object of creating a permanent museum to display this collection to the general public. Within the grounds, a deconsecrated church provides a 200-seat concert hall, and in recent years international piano competitions have been held there. In May 2011, a decision was taken to route the proposed new TGV line from Bordeaux to Toulouse through the grounds of the château. While the building itself and its entrance lodge have been listed as a historic monument since 1951, and classified as such since 1972, the protection does not extend directly to the remainder of the park or its contents.