Montrichard
Template:For Template:Infobox French commune Montrichard (Template:IPA) is a town and former commune in the Loir-et-Cher department, Centre-Val de Loire, France.<ref name=ehess>Template:Cassini-Ehess</ref> On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Montrichard Val de Cher.<ref>Arrêté préfectoral 2 December 2015</ref>
During the French Revolution, the commune was known as Template:Lang.<ref name="ehess"/>
Geography
[edit]The town lies on the north bank of the river Cher. Template:Convert south of Blois, Template:Convert west of Vierzon and Template:Convert east of Tours. The countryside is mainly constituted of vineyard, woods, cattle and cereals.
Sites and monuments
[edit]- Château de Montrichard, a mediaeval castle.
- Nanteuil Church (12th, 13th, 15th centuries), whose statue of the Virgin Mary is the object of a very ancient pilgrimage on Whit Monday.
- Church of the Holy Cross (Église Ste-Croix) has a fine Romanesque doorway and was the site of Joan of France's marriage to the future king.
- Château de Pont-Cher, a 15th-century home built into the cliff, containing the René Galloux collection of prehistoric and Gallo-Roman artefacts from excavations in the Cher valley.<ref>Châteaux of the Loire p76 Michelin Tyre Co Ltd 1977 Template:ISBN</ref>
Pronunciation
[edit]Template:Lang is pronounced Template:IPA, with a T sound, despite its silence in the word Template:Lang and similar place names such as Template:Lang. One of the explanations that may justify the pronunciation of the T is that Template:Lang is derived from the words Template:Lang (mountain, hill), Template:Lang (for three) and Template:Lang (square), because the town is situated on a hill surrounded on three sides by square towers.<ref>Webpage Template:Webarchive (in French) explaining the city name "Montrichard".</ref>
Notable people
[edit]- Joan of France, Duchess of Berry, married the future king of France Louis XII in Montrichard, though the marriage was later annulled.
- André Alerme, a French actor who appeared in more than 70 films, died here in 1960.
- Paulette Abagnale,Template:Citation needed mother of Frank Abagnale, confidence trickster
- Gaétan Cathelineau, painter of portraits and of historical and genre subjects.<ref>Template:Bryan (3rd edition)</ref>
- Eugénie Luce, French educator who lived and worked in Algiers, died in Montrichard in 1882.<ref name="WDL">Template:Cite web</ref>
Popular culture
[edit]The town is mentioned in the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, as the town from which the mother of Frank Abagnale came. Later in the film, Abagnale has set up a high-end printing facility for printing corporate cheques in Montrichard when he is tracked down and arrested by the FBI. The exterior shots of the town, however, were filmed in the Place Royale in the lower town of Quebec City, Canada, which is identifiable by the presence of the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Church.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>