Polignac, Haute-Loire

Polignac (French pronunciation: [pɔliɲak]; Occitan: Panhac) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association.

Polignac
Commune
Flag Coat of arms
Location of Polignac
Polignac Show map of France Polignac Show map of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Coordinates: 45°04′14″N 3°51′37″E
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Haute-Loire
Arrondissement	Le Puy-en-Velay
Canton	Le Puy-en-Velay-2
Intercommunality	CA du Puy-en-Velay
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean-Paul Vigouroux[1]
Area 1	33.05 km2 (12.76 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[2]	2,827
• Density	86/km2 (220/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	43152 /43000
Elevation	562–892 m (1,844–2,927 ft) (avg. 740 m or 2,430 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 1,954 —     1821 2,131 +0.31% 1846 2,094 −0.07% 1872 2,274 +0.32% 1901 2,574 +0.43% 1926 2,092 −0.83% 1946 1,569 −1.43% 1962 1,257 −1.38%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1968 1,407 +1.90% 1975 1,709 +2.82% 1982 2,003 +2.29% 1990 2,384 +2.20% 1999 2,602 +0.98% 2007 2,785 +0.85% 2012 2,817 +0.23% 2017 2,814 −0.02%
Source: EHESS[3] and INSEE (1968-2017)[4]

Sights

The town is dominated by the Forteresse de Polignac with its square donjon tower, 32 m tall. The Chateau de Lavoute Polignac is a few miles away, close to the village of Lavoute.

Art and literature

The poetical illustration "The Church at Polignac" by Letitia Elizabeth Landon to a painting by James Duffield Harding was written during the imprisonment of Prince Polignac and his colleagues, after the French Revolution of 1830 (in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1837).^[5]

See also

• Communes of the Haute-Loire department