Montans

Montans

Coat of arms
Montans

Coordinates: 43°52′02″N 1°53′10″E / 43.8672°N 1.8861°E / 43.8672; 1.8861Coordinates: 43°52′02″N 1°53′10″E / 43.8672°N 1.8861°E / 43.8672; 1.8861
Country France
Region Occitanie
Department Tarn
Arrondissement Albi
Canton Gaillac
Intercommunality Tarn and Dadou
Government
 • Mayor (2014–20) Gilles Crouzet
Area1 32.43 km2 (12.52 sq mi)
Population (2013)2 1,376
 • Density 42/km2 (110/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 81171 / 81600
Elevation 95–209 m (312–686 ft)
(avg. 106 m or 348 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.

Montans is a commune in the Tarn department and Occitanie region of southern France.

Geography

Situated between Lisle-sur-Tarn and Gaillac, near the A68 autoroute, the village stands at the end of a terrace overlooking the River Tarn. The locality produces wine with the appellation Gaillac AOC.

Name

The name of the settlement is derived from the Occitan word montant, meaning "steep".

History

The site of Montans was occupied by a Gallic oppidum. Already, the Gauls were producing pottery on the site since the environment was favorable with the alluvium covering the terrace containing pockets of clay. Following the Roman occupation, the site became in the beginning of AD one of the most important centers of pottery production in the Gallo-Roman world. The pottery was exported, mostly by water down the Tarn and Garonne rivers all the way to places like Brittany and Great Britain.

Tourism

L'Archéosite is a museum and documentation center, with an exhibition of pottery from Antiquity and a reconstitution of a Gallo-Roman street and shops leading to the potter's house.

On the bank of the Tarn river, Guest houses offer bedrooms and dinners, such as at the Aigue Verte for example.

Roman Samian ware (terra sigillata) bowl, manufactured at Montans, and photographed in the Montans 'Archeosite' museum
Roman pottery kiln, as reconstructed in the Montans archeosite museum in France
Roman fast-food shop, Pompeii style, as reconstructed in the Montans archeosite museum, in France.

See also

References

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