Villeneuve-sur-Lot

Villeneuve-sur-Lot
Villeneuve-sur-Lot
	Bridge over the Lot River Bridge over the Lot River
	Coat of arms of Villeneuve-sur-Lot; Coat of arms
	Coat of arms of Villeneuve-sur-Lot; Coat of arms
	Villeneuve-sur-Lot
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Country	France
Region	Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charentes
Department	Lot-et-Garonne
Arrondissement	Villeneuve-sur-Lot
Intercommunality	Villeneuvois
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Jérôme Cahuzac
Area1	81.32 km2 (31.40 sq mi)
Population (1999)2	22,782
• Density	280/km2 (730/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	47323 / 47300
Elevation	42–209 m (138–686 ft); (avg. 55 m or 180 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.

Villeneuve-sur-Lot (French pronunciation: [vilnœvsyrˈlɔt]; in the Gascon dialect of Occitan language: Vilanuèva d'Olt) is a town and commune in the southwestern French department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly named Villeneuve-d'Agen.

Villeneuve-sur-Lot is located 22 km northeast of Agen and straddles the river Lot.

History

Villeneuve was founded in 1254 by Alphonse, count of Poitiers, brother of Louis IX, on the site of the town of Gajac, which had been deserted during the Albigensian Crusade.

Pop. (1906) town, 6978; commune, 13,540.

Sights

The chief quarter of the town stands on the right bank of the Lot River and is united to the quarter on the left bank by a bridge of the 13th century, the principal arch of which, constructed in the reign of Louis XIII in place of two older arches, has a span of 36 m. and a height of 18 m. On the left bank, portions of the 13th century ramparts, altered and surmounted by machicolations of the 1st^{[clarification needed]} century, remain, and high square towers rise above the gates to the north-east and southwest, known respectively as the Porte de Paris and Porte de Pujols.

On the right bank, boulevards have for the most part taken the place of the ramparts. Arcades of the 13th century surround the Place La Fayette, and old houses of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries are to be seen in various parts of the town. The church of St Etienne is late Gothic style. On the left bank of the Lot, 3 km. S.S.W. of Villeneuve, are the 13th-century walls of Pujols.

The buildings of the ancient abbey of Eysses, about 2 km to the N.E., are mainly of the 17th century, serve as a departmental prison and penitentiary settlement. The principal hospital, the hospice St Cyr, is a handsome building standing in beautiful gardens.

The Pont De La Liberation which spans the Lot river is a 96.2 m (315 ft) arch bridge built between 1910 and 1919. When it was completed it was the largest single span concrete arch in the world. It was designed by Eugène Freyssinet one of the pioneers of reinfoced concrete.

Economy

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911):

Villeneuve-sur-Lot is an important agricultural centre and has a very large trade in plums (prunes d'ente) and in the produce of the market gardens which surround it, as well as in cattle, horses and wine. The preparation of preserved plums and the tinning of peas and beans occupy many hands; there are also manufactures of boots and shoes and tin boxes. The important mill of Gajac stands on the bank of the Lot a little above the town.