Gurat

Gurat ( Occitan: Gurac ) is a municipality with 191 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011 ) in the south of the western French département Charente in the Poitou-Charentes region near the border of the Périgord.

Location

Gurat lies at an altitude of about 100 meters above sea level. inst about 32 km ( driving distance ) south-east of Angoulême in the ancient cultural landscape of the Angoumois in the area of the Charente.

Demographics

In the first half of the 19th century, the church had always between 600 and 700 inhabitants; due to the phylloxera crisis in the wine and the mechanization of agriculture, the population then dropped continuously to the current lows.

Economy

The residents of the community lived for centuries of agriculture; the bottoms of the community belong to the Bons Bois of the vineyard Cognac, but the paragraphs in expensive wine fires in recent decades tended to shrink, so that the wine industry plays any role. Revenue from tourism, especially the rental of apartments ( gîtes ), while since the 1960s play a not unimportant role in the revenue of the municipality.

History

The existence of the Romanesque parish church suggests a medieval existence of the place.

Attractions

• The opinions about the age of two naves, apse but loose rock church ( Chapelle Saint -Georges ) vary widely - some want to see medieval origins, others dated to the early modern period. The two inputs suggest that worked for a long time in the construction. In any case, it has been carved out without decorative effort and in quite rough stonemason technology of a pending limestone cliffs. Several major niches might indicate a former burial ground. The church is recognized as a monument historique since 1963.

• Originally built of rubble late Romanesque parish church of Notre -Dame seems to have been thoroughly revised in the 19th century; the slightly pointed central portal and the lateral portals Blend evoke the impression of being in the Charente so popular triumphal arch scheme. A drawn around the corners console frieze borders the portal zone and the unadorned pediment from each other. The built of hewn stones to measure central tower appears to be a work of the 19th century. The nave interior of the church was exposed in the exterior walls before the retrofitting of a round window in the west facade only sparsely by small high-altitude window.
• The two-wing, right in the place standing and built mainly of unsmoothed rubble castle (château ) is dominated by an octagonal stair tower.