commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Loir-et-Cher
Loir-et-Cher (, ) is a department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. Its name is originated from two rivers which cross it, the Loir in its northern part and the Cher in its southern part. Its prefecture is Blois. The INSEE and La P ...
department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
in central
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
.
Population
History
The name derives from the Gallo-Roman ''Artinis''.
The historic Romanesque church, dedicated to Saint Julien (of Le Mans), at a ford in the Loir river, fell into ruins when development occurred nearer a departmental route at a site known as Le Plat d'Etain. It has since been restored by local initiative for cultural purposes.
Popular tradition would have it that Artins is older than Le Mans (the ecclesiastical centre of the diocese to which Artins formerly belonged) and that St. Julien evinced a dragon who had taken up residence in a temple (which was replaced by the former church). A pilgrimage celebrating this feat survived into the mid-twentieth century.
The hillside is marked by a former ''Commanderie'' and the manor of Rocheturpin (which lost its Romanesque chapel in the late nineteenth century). Just below these and above the Plat d'Etain is the present neo-gothic church. The lower hillside is marked by a series of caves often used as wine-cellars.