• Source: Gaillac

Gaillac (French pronunciation: [ɡajak] ; Occitan: Galhac) is a commune in the Tarn department in southern France. It had in 2013 a population of 14,334 inhabitants.
Its inhabitants are called Gaillacois.




Geography


Gaillac is a town situated between Toulouse, Albi and Montauban. It has gained much recognition due to the wines that bear the town's name. The river Tarn runs along the border of the town by the south, east and west. It lies 50 km north-east of Toulouse. It is a market town and is the commercial centre of the north-west of Tarn.
The local wine of Gaillac, first made almost two thousand years ago, is of two official appellations (AOC). The terroir is made up of clay, limestone, sand and silex soils. Gaillac receives more sunshine than Bordeaux and is graced by a cool maritime climate. Duras is the name both of the grape that is native to this area and of an AOC and town just northwest of the two "Gaillac" designations.




History


The town was founded in the second century CE by the Gauls who created a river port where they exported their wine into Gallia Narbonensis. When Aquitania was conquered by Rome, Gaillac gained prosperity with its wine. However, the barbarian invasions annihilated the town and left nothing behind. It was only when the monks of Saint-Michel gained viticulture privileges from the Bishop of Albi, in 972, that the population stabilized and Gaillac started to become a town again. Their wines were at first sent to Bordeaux where they would be exported to England. The Abbey of Saint-Michel was constructed in the 10th century and rebuilt in 1271. In 1524 the abbey was secularized but the title of abbey retained.
During the religious wars, the "Gaillacois" refused to change their religion and remained Catholics and were chased out of the town by Protestants. They took refuge at Castelnau-de-Montmiral. After the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre on 24 August 1572, in Paris, the Gaillacois massacred 74 out of the 90 Huguenots in the town. The abbey was once again rebuilt between 1572 and 1620. In the seventeenth century the Château de Foucaud was erected.
It was from the town of Gaillac that Louis-Philippe I addressed the words:

Nous chercherons à nous tenir dans un juste milieu, également éloigné des excès du pouvoir populaire et des abus du pouvoir royal.

Which may be translated: "We seek to keep ourselves in proper state, aloof from both the excesses of popular power and the abuses of royal power." This sentence would define the July Monarchy.




Population






Administration


The mayors of the town have been:

Henri Yrissou 1956-1977
André Saux 1977-1983
Jacques Dary 1983-1995
Charles Pistre 1995-2005
Michèle Rieux 2005–present




Transport


Gaillac station has rail connections to Toulouse, Aurillac, Albi and Rodez. Tessonnières station is on the line to Albi.




Sport


UA Gaillac - Local rugby team.




Notable people


Joseph Castagné - Ethnographer and expert on Central Asia.
Fernande Decruck - composer




See also


Gaillac AOC
Communes of the Tarn department
Tourism in Tarn




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Komune di departemen Tarn
• Komune di departemen Haute-Garonne
• Komune di departemen Aveyron
• Kebun anggur Sud-Ouest
• Daftar stasiun SNCF di Midi-Pyrénées
• Arondisemen Saint-Gaudens
• Arondisemen Toulouse
• Arondisemen Millau
• Toulouse
• Haute-Garonne
• Gaillac
• Gaillac AOC
• Gaillac station
• Canton of Gaillac
• Gaillac-Toulza
• UA Gaillac
• Tarn (department)
• Mauzac (grape)
• Gaillac-d'Aveyron
• Vin jaune