Montsalvy

Commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Coat of arms

Location of Montsalvy

(2020–2026) Isabelle Lemaire^[1]Area

20.29 km² (7.83 sq mi)Population

(2021)^[2]

822 • Density41/km² (100/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal code

15134 /15120

Elevation269–822 m (883–2,697 ft)
(avg. 780 m or 2,560 ft)¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Montsalvy (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃salvi]; Occitan: Montsauvi) is a commune in the Cantal department in south-central France.

History

Montsalvy was founded around 1070 as a monastery with a Sauveté, (a refuge zone around a church or a chapel by several boundary markers) by Bérenger de Millau, husband of Adèle de Carlat.

Formerly the "capital" of the Veinazès region, it was for a long time the chief town of the Canton de Montsalvy. Today it is part of the canton of Arpajon-sur-Cère and is the second largest commune in terms of population.

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1962	821	—
1968	947	+15.3%
1975	1,100	+16.2%
1982	927	−15.7%
1990	970	+4.6%
1999	896	−7.6%
2008	882	−1.6%

Culture

Literature

Montsalvy appears in the following works:

Juliette Benzoni, French author (Alexandre Dumas Prix 1973) who wrote and set her Catherine (Benzoni novel) series historical romance in Montsalvy.

Notable person

Marcellin Boule (1861–1942), palaeontologist, geologist, and anthropologist, was born and died in Montsalvy.

References

^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
^ "Populations légales 2021". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.