Montrichard

Montrichard (French pronunciation: ​[mɔ̃tʁiʃaʁ]) is a town and former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montrichard Val de Cher.[2]

Montrichard
Part of Montrichard-Val-de-Cher
The Cher River at Montrichard
Coat of arms
Location of Montrichard
Montrichard Montrichard
Coordinates: 47°20′37″N 1°11′03″E
Country	France
Region	Centre-Val de Loire
Department	Loir-et-Cher
Arrondissement	Blois
Canton	Montrichard
Commune	Montrichard-Val-de-Cher
Area ^1	14.36 km^2 (5.54 sq mi)
Population  (2017)[1]	3,156
• Density	220/km^2 (570/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
Postal code	41400
Elevation	59–134 m (194–440 ft) (avg. 68 m or 223 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

During the French Revolution, the commune was known as Montégalité.[3]

Geography

The town lies on the north bank of the river Cher. 32 kilometres (20 mi) south of Blois, 73 kilometres (45 mi) west of Vierzon and 42 kilometres (26 mi) east of Tours. The countryside is mainly constituted of vineyard, woods, cattle and cereals.

Sites and monuments

• Château de Montrichard, a mediaeval castle.
• Nanteuil Church (12th, 13th, 15th centuries), whose statue of the Virgin Mary is the object of a very ancient pilgrimage on Whit Monday.
• Church of the Holy Cross (Église Ste-Croix) has a fine Romanesque doorway and was the site of Joan of France's marriage to the future king.
• Château de Pont-Cher, a 15th-century home built into the cliff, containing the René Galloux collection of prehistoric and Gallo-Roman artefacts from excavations in the Cher valley.[4]

Pronunciation

The right pronunciation should be « MON-TRICHARD » [mɔ̃tʀiʃɑʀ], with a t. One of the explanations that may justify the pronunciation of "t" is the following: Montrichard was supposed to come from the French words "mont" (mountain, hill), "tri" (for three) and "chard" (square) because the town is situated on a hill surrounded on three sides by square towers.[5]

Notable people

• Joan of France, Duchess of Berry, married the future king of France Louis XII in Montrichard, though the marriage was later annulled.
• André Alerme, a French actor who appeared in more than 70 films, died here in 1960.
• Paulette Abagnale, mother of Frank Abagnale, confidence trickster
• Eugénie Luce, French educator who lived and worked in Algiers, died in Montrichard in 1882.[6]

Popular culture

The town is mentioned in the 2002 feature film Catch Me If You Can, as the town from which the mother of Frank Abagnale came. Later in the film, Abagnale has set up a high-end printing facility for printing corporate cheques in Montrichard when he is tracked down and arrested by the FBI. The exterior shots of the town, however, were filmed in the Place Royale in the lower town of Quebec City, which is easily identifiable by the Notre Dame des Victoires church.

References

1. Téléchargement du fichier d'ensemble des populations légales en 2017, INSEE
2. Arrêté préfectoral 2 December 2015
3. "Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui". École des hautes études en sciences sociales (in French). Retrieved 6 December 2020.
4. Châteaux of the Loire p76 Michelin Tyre Co Ltd 1977 ISBN 2-06-013210-X
5. Webpage Archived 2016-09-12 at the Wayback Machine (in French) explaining the city name "Montrichard".
6. "Luce Ben Aben School of Arab Embroidery I, Algiers, Algeria". World Digital Library. 1899. Retrieved 26 September 2013.

• INSEE commune file