Locronan
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox French commune
|name = Locronan
|native name = Lokorn
|commune status = Commune
|image = Bretagne Finistere Locronan1 tango7174.jpg
|caption = The church square
|image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Locronan (Finistère).svg
|coordinates = {{coord|48.1000|-4.2067|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
|arrondissement = Quimper
|canton = Quimper-1
|INSEE = 29134
|postal code = 29180
|term = 2020–2026
|intercommunality = Quimper Bretagne Occidentale
|elevation m = 145
|elevation min m = 38
|elevation max m = 280
|area km2 = 8.08
|population = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}}
|population date = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}}
|population footnotes = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}}
}}
Locronan ({{IPA|fr|lɔkʁɔnɑ̃}}; {{langx|br|Lokorn}}) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France.
Locronan is a member of the {{Lang|fr|Les Plus Beaux Villages de France}} ("The most beautiful villages of France") association.{{cite web |url=https://www.les-plus-beaux-villages-de-france.org/fr/nos-villages/locronan/ |title=Locronan (Département du Finistère): Cité de granit en pays de Quimper|publisher=Les Plus Beaux Villages de France |access-date=25 February 2023}}
Toponymy
The village's name means the "hermitage of Ronan", from the Breton lok ("hermitage") of Saint Ronan. It was previously known as Saint-René-du-Bois.
Saint Ronan, greatly venerated in Brittany, was a 6th-century Irish Christian missionary who came to the region to teach the people. As his association with Locronan is close, some of his relics are kept in the parish church.
History
File:Eglise Saint-Ronan à Locronan.JPG
Locronan is a small town built at the foot of a hill. It was granted town status in 1505 by Anne of Brittany, who went there on a pilgrimage.
Since the 15th century, hemp has naturally grown in the area (see Hemp in France). It was cultivated and processed in a hemp industry in the town at the time, and it was widely used. The town was quite prosperous. Its hemp was exported internationally, as it was used for rigging the ships, both commercial and military, that operated from Brittany's many ports. The Saint Ronan church was built in this period, as well as the small chapel of Penity.
{{Clear|left}}
Population
{{Historical populations
|source = INSEE[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/7633058?geo=COM-29134#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE
|percentages = pagr
|align = left
|1968 |672
|1975 |686
|1982 |704
|1990 |796
|1999 |799
|2009 |798
|2014 |819
|2020 |790
}}
Inhabitants of Locronan are called in French Locronanais.
{{clear left}}
Breton language
The municipality launched a plan through Ya d'ar brezhoneg on 23 November 2007 to revive the Breton language.
Events
Troménie is a pilgrimage festival that includes a large procession, whose participants carry the banners of participating parishes.
Held every six years between the second and third Sundays in July, the Grande Troménie is a pilgrimage of about 12 km, traversing the wider sacred area around Locronan. In the intervening five years, the Petite Troménie is held on the second Sunday in July. It is based in the town and church of Locronan. These are among the major pardons or ceremonies of the traditional Breton festal calendar.
Popular culture
Locronan has been used as a setting in films:
- Tess (1979), directed by Roman Polanski
- A Very Long Engagement, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
- Chouans!, directed by Philippe de Broca
Locronan is the hometown of the character Ted's mother in Catriona Ward's novel, The Last House on Needless Street.Ward, Catriona. The Last House on Needless Street. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2021
Gallery
Image:Locronan Deposition.JPG|A notable image of the Deposition of Christ in the church at Locronan.
Image:St Ronan Banner.JPG|The banner of St Ronan.
Image:St Ronan Relics.JPG|Reliquary holding relics of St Ronan at Locronan.
File:Bretagne Finistere Locronan2 tango7174.jpg|Tomb of St Ronan.
Image:Locronan Pulpit1.JPG|Scenes from the life of St Ronan on the polychrome pulpit at Locronan parish church.
Image:Locronan Pulpit2.JPG|More scenes from the life of St Ronan on the pulpit.
Image:St Corentin Banner.jpg| The banner of St Corentin of Quimper at Locronan.
File:Bretagne Finistere Locronan3 tango7174.jpg|Altar of the Rosary.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category|Locronan}}
- {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.villedelocronan.fr/ Official site]
- {{in lang|fr}} [http://www.locronan.org/ Official site of the Office de Tourisme]
- [http://en.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/France/West/Bretagne/Locronan/ Gallery of Images on Treakearth]
- {{Search Mérimée|29134}}
{{Finistère communes}}
{{Les Plus Beaux Villages de France}}
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