Limousin
occupying the north western part of the Massif Central, is one of the
smallest regions in France, and the one with the smallest population.
The name derives from the regional capital, Limoges, and in one form or
another has been taken worldwide to describe a type of motor car, and a
famous breed of beef cattle. The cattle originate from this region, the
cars do not.
The Limousin region is made up of just three
departments, the
Haute Vienne (87), capital Limoges, the
Creuse (23), capital
Guéret, and the
Corrèze (19), capital Tulle. Lying
between altitudes of 200 metres and 1000 metres, the Limousin is mostly
a region of hills and valleys and low mountains. The highest point in
Limousin is the Mont Bessou, 977 metres, near Ussel, in the
Corrèze department; it is the highest point of a large upland
area known as the Plateau de Millevaches, which borders on the higher
areas of the neighbouring
Auvergne region.
The only town of any size in the Limousin region is the city of
Limoges;
with about 140,000 inhabitants, and an urban area of almost 300,000
inhabitants, greater Limoges provides about half of all the jobs in the
region - which gives a good idea of how depopulated the rest of the
region is. Until the turn of the millennium, the Limousin, part of the
"
empty France" area, was a region that had been losing population for a
century or so; that decline has now been halted, thanks largely to an
influx of people from outside the region, in from Britain and Holland,
seeking a quiet location in which to settle. The region's second city,
Brive la Gaillarde,
has just under fifty thousand inhabitants; it is the biggest town,
though not the departmental capital, of the Corrèze
department, the southernmost of the region's three departments. Apart
from Limoges and Brive, no town in the Limousin has more than 20,000
inhabitants; towns such as
Tulle,
Aubusson and
Guéret are small market towns that have grown little in the last century.
Once a Roman city, Limoges, lying on the river
Vienne and on a main route between Paris and Toulouse, has always been
a major centre, in this relatively sparsely populated region. In the
Middle Ages, it was renowned as a centre of arts and culture. In the
nineteenth century, it became famed throughout Europe, and beyond, for
its porcelaine; indeed the city became rich with its porcelaine
industry, and much of the city centre dates from this period.
Brive-la-Gaillarde, on the river Corrèze is
an attractive small city, with a historic centre built in the pale
honey coloured local stone. Brive is also a communications hub, being
the point where the east west route between Lyon and Bordeaux crosses
the north-south route between Paris and Toulouse. Tulle, a few miles up
the Corrèze, is a small manufacturing town that has given its
name to a type of fine loose meshed lacy fabric, used in the clothing
industry. The town rises up the steep sides of the narrow river valley.
Aubusson, in the Creuse department, is another textile town, famed
worldwide for its tapestries; Aubusson tapestries were famous from
the15th century onwards, but the industry declined in the early
twentieth century, until it was relaunched in the late 1930's by Jean
Lurçat, reputedly the greatest tapestry designer of the 20th
century.
Rural Limousin is an land of deciduous woods and
fields in the west and northwest, of sheep grazing land in the north,
and an upland area of spruce forests and grazing land on the Plateau de
Millevaches (the thousand cows plateau) in the east. In the south west,
the region borders the Dordogne; the
river Dordogne itself cuts through
the south west of the region, after several kilometres where it, in its
steep wooded valley, it forms the border with the neighbouring region
of Auvergne. Forming the north-western edge of the Massif Central, it
is a region that is relatively well watered, particularly in the east.
The south-western part of the region, including the area round
Brive, can be hot in summer.
Access:by
TGV from Paris Gare Montparnasse, train from many cities,
motorway from Paris, Toulouse or Clermont Ferrand. Regional airport:
Limoges, served by several low cost airlines from the UK and Belgium.
Main
tourist attractions in the Limousin region
Oradour-sur-Glane - frozen in time since 1944
Photo Jon's Pics
The village of Turenne
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- Limoges
(87) Regional capital, city of art and history; old city centre, with
parts dating from medieval times, cathedral, old bridges on the Vienne.
Porcelaine museum.
- Oradour sur Glane (87); the martyred village. In 1944, the Waffen
SS torched the village and massacred a large number of inhabitants in a
mistaken act of reprisal. The village has been left as it was, fixed in
time, as a memory to the brutality and horror of war.
- Rochechouart:
(87) the impressive castle, dating partly from the 13th century, houses
administrative offices and an contemporary art gallery, as well as
historic rooms and artefacts.
- St Junien (87): famous and large romanesque basilica.
- Ahun: (23) old village with remains of a medieval monastery.
- Aubusson (23) : capital of the tapestry industry, tapestry museums, tapestry workshops, old town.
- Bourganeuf (23) Attractive old town, founded in mediaeval times by the Knights Hospitaller (Order of St John of Jerusalem).
- Argentat: (19) Delightful small town on the Dordogne. Water sports.
- Beaulieu sur Dordogne:(19) Fine romanesque church, with remarkable carved tympanum
- Brive la Gaillarde.(19) Attractive old city centre.
- Collonges la Rouge, Curemonte and Turenne (19);
reputedly three of the prettiest villages in France. Collonges la Rouge
is so known on account of the red sandstone used in the buildings.
- The Dordogne valley;(19)
the upper Dordogne valley is a place for water sports (sailing on the
artificial lakes, kayaking where the river flows freely).
- Parc Naturel Régional de Millevaches: (19, 23) upland area - outdoor activities, hiking, riding, nature.
- Treignac-sur-Vézère: (19)
attactive village in the upper valley of the Vézère, north of Tulle.
Granite built houses with slate roofs. The Vézère offers good
opportunities for kayaking.
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