Last modified: 2024-12-07 by olivier touzeau
Keywords: tarn-et-garonne | moissac |
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![[Flag]](../images/f/fr-82-ms.gif)
Flag of Moissac - Image by Olivier Touzeau, 15 June 2023
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Moissac (13,748 inhabitants in 2021; 8,595 ha) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department.
The town is situated at the confluence of the rivers Garonne and Tarn at the Canal de Garonne. Moissac was heavily damaged in March 1930 by flooding of the Tarn, which devastated much of the region. 120 people were reported to have died in Moissac.
Moissac is known for the artistic heritage preserved in the medieval town. Saint-Pierre de Moissac Abbey's portal (1130) is one of the masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture. All that remains of the 11th century building is the massive bell tower-porch, a kind of keep with a walkway, built for defensive purposes but whose top floor only dates from the end of the Gothic period. The Cloister (late 11th century) is one of the best preserved in the Christian West. The Saint-Pierre abbey and its cloister were among the first buildings classified and restored as historical monuments by the commission chaired by Mérimée in the 1840s. They were listed in 1998 as a World Heritage Site by the Unesco under the title of the Chemins de Compostelle en France. The town is known as the "ville du Chasselas", named after the table grape originating from the village of Chasselas (Saône-et-Loire); the production in AOC "chasselas de Moissac", is practiced by the farmers of the region.
Olivier Touzeau, 15 June 2023
The arms of Moissac are blazoned:
Gules a cross voided clech Or pommety Argent of 12, the chief Azure
three fleurs-de-lis Or.
The flag of Moissac, observed in 2010, is yellow with the coat of arms: photo (taken in 2007, when the Fiji Islands were hosted in Moissac for the Rugby World Cup), photo (2010).
Olivier Touzeau, 15 June 2023