Polignac, Haute-Loire

Commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

(2020–2026) Jean-Paul Vigouroux^[1]Area33.05 km² (12.76 sq mi)Population2,831 • Density86/km² (220/sq mi)Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET) • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)INSEE/Postal codeElevation562–892 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.

Polignac (French pronunciation: [pɔliɲak]; Occitan: Panhac) is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France,

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]