Illiers-Combray

Illiers-Combray
Coat of arms
Illiers-Combray
Location within Centre region Illiers-Combray
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Department	Eure-et-Loir
Arrondissement	Chartres
Canton	Illiers-Combray
Intercommunality	Pays de Combray
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Jean-Claude Sédillot
Area1	33.60 km2 (12.97 sq mi)
Population (2008)2	3,249
• Density	97/km2 (250/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	28196 / 28120
Elevation	144–204 m (472–669 ft) (avg. 162 m or 531 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Illiers-Combray is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in north central France.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1793	3,170	—
1800	2,617	−17.4%
1806	2,829	+8.1%
1821	2,473	−12.6%
1831	2,937	+18.8%
1836	3,069	+4.5%
1841	2,916	−5.0%
1846	3,159	+8.3%
1851	3,136	−0.7%
1856	3,100	−1.1%
1861	3,003	−3.1%
1866	3,005	+0.1%
1872	2,993	−0.4%
1876	2,997	+0.1%
1881	2,795	−6.7%
1886	2,831	+1.3%
1891	2,860	+1.0%
1896	2,795	−2.3%
1901	2,812	+0.6%
1906	3,035	+7.9%
1911	2,985	−1.6%
1921	2,790	−6.5%
1926	2,963	+6.2%
1931	2,734	−7.7%
1936	2,875	+5.2%
1946	3,017	+4.9%
1954	2,937	−2.7%
1962	3,089	+5.2%
1968	2,971	−3.8%
1975	3,407	+14.7%
1982	3,333	−2.2%
1990	3,329	−0.1%
1999	3,225	−3.1%
2008	3,249	+0.7%

Literature

Combray was the writer Marcel Proust's name for the village of Illiers (near the Cathedral town of Chartres), vividly depicted by him in the opening chapters of his vast semi-autobiographical novel In Search of Lost Time.

The home of Proust's "Aunt Léonie" in the heart of the village, where he spent much of his childhood, has been transformed into a museum to the writer's memory. It provides visitors with a delightful view of 19th century provincial life as well as of the many Proustian mementos on display.

It should be added that Proust scholars have recently claimed his descriptions of "Combray" owe as much to the author's stays in his uncle's home in Auteuil, near Paris, as to Illiers-Combray.

As a tribute to Proust's literary masterpiece, the people of Illiers decided, in 1971, to change the town's name to Illiers-Combray, on the occasion of the first centenary of the author's birth.

See also

• Communes of the Eure-et-Loir department

References

• INSEE