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{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{more citations needed|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name               = Figeac
|commune status     = [[Subprefectures in France|Subprefecture]] and [[Communes of France|commune]]
|image              = Figeac - Vue du parvis de Notre-Dame du Puy.jpg
|caption            = A view of Figeac from the parvise of Notre-Dame-du-Puy church.
|image coat of arms = Blason Figeac.svg
|arrondissement     = Figeac
|canton             = [[Canton of Figeac-1|Figeac-1]] and [[Canton of Figeac-2|2]]
|INSEE              = 46102
|postal code        = 46100
|mayor              = André Mellinger<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|website=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=2 December 2020|language=fr}}</ref>
|term               = 2020&ndash;2026
|intercommunality   = Grand-Figeac
|coordinates        = {{coord|44.6086|2.0317|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|elevation m        = 225
|elevation min m    = 170
|elevation max m    = 451
|area km2           = 35.16
|population         = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date    = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes   = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}
'''Figeac''' ({{IPA|fr|fiʒak}}; {{langx|oc|Fijac}}) is a [[Communes of France|commune]] in the southwestern French [[Departments of France|department]] of [[Lot (department)|Lot]].  Figeac is a [[Subprefectures in France|sub-prefecture]] of the department.

==Geography==
Figeac is on the [[via Podiensis]], a major medieval pilgrimage trail that is part of the [[Camino de Santiago]] network. Today, as a part of France's system of long-distance footpaths, it is known as the [[GR 65]]. [[Figeac station]] is a railway junction with connections to Brive-la-Gaillarde, Toulouse, Aurillac and Rodez.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

==Population==
{{Historical populations
|source = INSEE<ref name=pophist>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-46102#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE</ref>
|percentages = pagr
|align = none
|1968 |9593
|1975 |10077
|1982 |9667
|1990 |9549
|1999 |9606
|2007 |9994
|2012 |9783
|2017 |9792
}}

==Local culture and heritage==
===Places and monuments===
Figeac is classified as a [[French Towns and Lands of Art and History|city of art and history]] and has been recognized by the Midi-Pyrénées Regional Council as one of the eighteen Great Sites of Occitania. The old town has kept its layout and winding streets of the Middle Ages with many old sandstone houses.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

====Religious heritage====
* Chapel Notre-Dame-de-Pitié de Figeac - a 13th-century building, integrated into the Église Saint-Sauveur, was classified as a historical monument in 1840.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Pitié |url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA00095071 |access-date=2023-05-07 |website=www.pop.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref>
* Chapelle de l'hôpital de Figeac.
* Église Saint-Dau de Ceint-d'Eau.

=====L’église Saint-Sauveur=====
[[File:Saint Saviour church of Figeac 16.jpg|thumb|left|Saint-Sauveur Church.]] The building was classified as a historical monument in 1840.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eglise Saint-Sauveur |url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA00095075 |access-date=2023-05-07 |website=www.pop.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref> Several religious objects are referenced in the [[Base Palissy]] database. This church, the only remains of a [[Cluniac Reforms|Cluny]] abbey, was consecrated in 1092. [[Cluniac Reforms|Saint Hugh]] was its abbot. Although modified over the centuries, either because of embellishments or because of the damage caused by the [[Hundred Years' War]] or the [[French Wars of Religion]], it nevertheless has survived.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

It was a [[pilgrimage]] church, similar in size to [[Basilica of Saint-Sernin, Toulouse|Saint-Sernin de Toulouse]] or [[Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy]], with a triple nave, a vast transept, an ambulatory and an apse with radiating chapels. The old chapter house is decorated with [[polychrome wood]] of the 17th century.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}

A [[Capital (architecture)|capital]] from this church, the top part of a column, was re-cut into a font and is exhibited in New York at [[The Cloisters]] ([[Metropolitan Museum of Art]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Font {{!}} French |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/473882 |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=The Metropolitan Museum of Art |language=en}}</ref>

=====L'église des Carmes=====
The building was listed as a historical monument in 1993.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eglise des Carmes ou église Saint-Thomas-Becket |url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA00125597 |access-date=2023-05-07 |website=www.pop.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref> Twelve paintings of the apostles are referenced in the Base Palissy database. Formerly Church of Saint-Thomas-Becket, it is the most modest church in size in the city. Located near the hospital, at the entrance of Figeac, it is the last witness of the former [[Carmelites]] convent that was once established there.

=====L’église Notre-Dame-du-Puy=====
[[File:Notre-Dame-du-Puy church of Figeac 18.jpg|thumb|Notre-Dame du Puy church.]]
The building was classified as a historical monument in 1916.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eglise Notre-Dame-du-Puy |url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/PA00095074 |access-date=2023-05-07 |website=www.pop.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref> Several religious objects are referenced in the Base Palissy database. The aptly named, since it dominates all Figeac, on the Place du Foirail. This church of [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] origin was remodelled several times, especially in the 14th and 17th centuries, when the three central bays were united into one; The choir contains beautiful carved Romanesque capitals and a large carved walnut altarpiece, dated 1696. Yet it is the oldest parish of Figeac, born, according to tradition, from a miracle: The Virgin would have made a [[Crataegus|hawthorn]] bloom there in winter. It was the seat of a [[James the Great|brotherhood of St. James]].

=====Museums=====
=====Musée Champollion=====
The city is home to the [[Champollion Museum]] ''les écritures du monde'' (the writings of the world).<ref>{{Cite journal |date=6-12 October 2005 |title=Figeac, musée Champollion, « Et c'est parti… Le 3 octobre 2005 |journal=La Semaine du Lot |issue=478 |pages=11}}</ref> There are more than 40,000 visitors a year.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}}{{when|date=May 2023}} Visitors can discover through the collections how writing has appeared in the world for 5,000 years.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Musée Champollion - Les Écritures du monde |url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/museo/M0578 |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=www.pop.culture.gouv.fr |language=fr}}</ref>

The Champollion Museum is a major museum of the city, but there are other museums in Figeac: the Musée Paulin-Ratier, the musée de la Résistance and finally the Musée d'histoire de Figeac. The latter was redesigned in 2012 in the spirit of cabinets of curiosities, in rooms belonging to the former seminary, behind the Notre-Dame-du-Puy church.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Musée d'Histoire de Figeac |url=https://musees-occitanie.fr/musee/musee-dhistoire-de-figeac/ |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Musées Occitanie |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

=====La place des Écritures=====
Embedded in a medieval architectural ensemble, its floor is covered with a monumental reproduction of the [[Rosetta Stone]] (14 × 7 m), carved in black granite from [[Zimbabwe]] by the American conceptual artist [[Joseph Kosuth]]. Inaugurated in April 1991, this important contemporary work can also be contemplated from the museum's hanging garden overlooking the square. In an adjoining courtyard, the French translation of the inscriptions is engraved on a glass plate.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Plaque commémorative (installation) : Ex-libris, J.-F. Champollion |url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/palissy/IM46000584 |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=www.pop.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref>

=====L'obélisque de Champollion=====
On 11 March 1832, the municipal council decided to erect an obelisk in memory of Champollion. A subscription raised 4,000 francs and two years later a granite needle 7.8 meters high was extracted from the rock of [[Golinhac]]. It includes inscriptions in hieroglyphics meaning ''A Toujours!'' and two bronze plaques on the pedestal hosting Egyptian bas-reliefs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aimé |first=Nöel |title=Figeac d'hier et d'aujourd'hui de l'an 750 à 1980 |date=May 1984 |location=Aurillac |pages=155–157 |language=fr}}</ref>

=====Place Carnot=====
Formerly the [[Market hall|Place de la Halle]], it is surrounded by imposing houses, some made of cob, with wrought iron balconies, and under the roofs, open covered galleries, the ''soleilhos'', which were once used to dry clothes or skins, or as a refuge to get some fresh air during a hot summer evening.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-05 |title=Places du centre-ville |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.fr/poi/dordogne-et-lot-figeacetlehautquercydordogneexp-places-du-centre-ville |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Lonely Planet |language=fr}}</ref>

=====Les Aiguilles=====
The two "needles" around Figeac are large octagonal stone obelisks each resting on a pedestal of four steps. They are made of cemented [[dimension stone]]. The Aiguille du Cingle, standing south of the city, measures 14.50 meters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monument dit Aiguille du Cingle, ou Aiguille du Pressoir |url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/IA46101100?mainSearch=%22Les%20Aiguilles%20figeac%22&last_view=%22list%22&idQuery=%22bb200b-5812-0e4-87ce-dbf47fe3fa7%22 |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=www.pop.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref> The  L'aiguille de Lissac or Nayrac, standing to the west, measures 10.50 meters.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Monument dit Aiguille de Lissac, ou Aiguille des Pellissiers |url=https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/IA46101099?mainSearch=%22Les%20Aiguilles%20figeac%22&last_view=%22list%22&idQuery=%2261e1a4-d7c-2bf-da4-16ae322e56a%22 |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=www.pop.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Museum Champollion in Figeac 01.jpg|Champollion Museum
File:Place des ecritures Figeac.jpg|Place des ecritures
File:Obelisque figeac.jpg|Obelisque Figeac
File:Aiguille Lissac Figeac.jpg|L'aiguille de Lissac
File:Aiguille cingle Figeac.jpg|L'aiguille du Cingle
</gallery>

==Notable people==
[[Jean-François Champollion]], the first translator of [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian hieroglyphics]], was born in Figeac, where there is a Champollion Museum. His father had married a woman from Figeac and opened a bookshop in the village.<ref>Champollion, cultiver son génie: France Culture https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/grandes-traversees-champollion/1-champollion-cultiver-son-genie-4785021</ref> On the ''Place des écritures'' (writings square) is a giant copy of the [[Rosetta Stone]], by [[Joseph Kosuth]]. French explorer and archeologist [[Théodore Ber]] was born in Figeac, although he spent most of his adult life in [[Peru]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Riviale|first=Pascal|title=Un Communard parmi les américanistes : biographie de Théodore Ber|encyclopedia=Bérose-Encyclopédie internationale des histoires de l'anthropologie|url=http://www.berose.fr/article1413.html?lang=fr|access-date=18 January 2020|year=2018|publisher=Bérose}}</ref> German film historian [[Lotte H. Eisner]] hid from the Nazis in Figeac during World War II.

The actor [[Charles Boyer]] and the football player [[Vincent Beduer]] were born in Figeac.<ref>{{Cite web |title=France - V. Beduer - Profile with news, career statistics and history |url=https://int.soccerway.com/players/vincent-beduer/87333/ |access-date=2025-04-12 |website=Soccerway}}</ref>

==Economy==
This city hosts the headquarters of [[Figeac Aero]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mingzi |title=Figeac Aéro : l'histoire d'une réussite tricolore |url=https://www.mingzi.fr/mingzi-actualites/figeac-aero/ |access-date=2023-05-17 |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

==Media==
[[Louis Malle]]'s 1974 film, ''[[Lacombe Lucien]]'', was filmed in Figeac.

==See also==
*[[Communes of the Lot department]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[https://www.ville-figeac.fr/ Figeac website]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040101180012/http://www.quercy-tourisme.com/figeac/ Tourist office]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20030314060126/http://www.quercy.net/postcard/images/9.jpg Picture of the ''Place des Ecritures'']
*[http://www.le-murier.com/en/local-area.htm Explore the local area]
{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Figeac}}

{{Lot communes}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Communes of Lot (department)]]
[[Category:Subprefectures in France]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in France]]
[[Category:Quercy]]