Country France Department Ardèche Population (2008) 1,805 Area 7.22 km² | Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Arrondissement Largentière Time zone CET (UTC+1) Local time Sunday 10:16 PM | |
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Weather 11°C, Wind NE at 2 km/h, 90% Humidity | ||
Largentière ([laʁ.ʒɑ̃.tjɛʁ] ; L'Argentièira in Occitan) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southern France.
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Map of 07110 Largenti%C3%A8re, France
It is located in the narrow valley of the Ligne River, approximately ten kilometres southwest of Aubenas.
It claims to be the smallest sub-prefecture in France.
Its name, adopted in the thirteenth century in place of its more ancient name Segualeriae (Ségualières), refers to the silver mines in the area between the tenth and fifteenth centuries, when the silver-bearing lead ores in intrusive veins in the Largentières sandstone were exploited under the authority of the Counts of Toulouse and the Bishops of Viviers, whose title barons de Largentière was linked to the bishopric.
Economy and transportation
A busy industrial town in the nineteenth century, when it housed silk mills its principal industry is now tourism. Its only railroad station was rased in 1982, leaving the town accessible only by road.
Sights
Besides its twelfth- to fifteenth-century château, the picturesque town conserves its thirteenth-century church, Nôtre-Dame-des-Pommiers, its Renaissance hôtel de ville, its palais de justice, and the Tour Argentière that collected the mines' produce for guarded transport.