Bourganeuf (;

Limousin Limousin (; oc, Lemosin ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. On 1 January 2016, it became part of the new administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienn ...

: ''Borgon Nuòu'') is a

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

Creuse Creuse (; oc, Cruesa or ) is a department in central France named after the river Creuse. After Lozère, it is the second least populated department in France. It is bordered by Indre and Cher to the north, Allier and Puy-de-Dôme to the eas ...

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 the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by t ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

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 ...

Geography

An area of

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

and

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

, comprising the village and several hamlets situated in the valley of the

Taurion The Taurion (; oc, Taurion), as it is known in Haute-Vienne, or Thaurion, as it is known in Creuse, is a 107.5 km long river in western France, tributary of the Vienne river. Its source is at an altitude of 785 m on the Plateau de Millevac ...

river, some south of Guéret, at the junction of the D8, D912, D940 and the D941.

History

The year 1103 saw the village become home to the

Knights of St John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, who built a castle here.
Prince

Cem Sultan Cem Sultan (also spelled Djem or Jem) or Sultan Cem or Şehzade Cem (December 22, 1459 – February 25, 1495, ; ota, جم سلطان, Cem sulṭān; tr, Cem Sultan; french: Zizim), was a claimant to the Ottoman throne in the 15th century. Ce ...

, pretender to the throne of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, was kept prisoner here in the fifteenth century.
In 1886, the commune was the third place in all of France to be supplied with power using

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...

. Thanks to French engineer,

Marcel Deprez Marcel Deprez (12 December 1843 – 13 October 1918) was a French electrical engineer. He was born in Aillant-sur-Milleron. He died in Vincennes. Biography Deprez was born in Aillant-sur-Milleron in rural France and attended the School of Mines in ...

, the

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s of the river were harnessed to light up the streets,

mairie In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, shops and cafes.

Population

Sights

* The church of St.Pierre, dating from the twelfth century. * The church of St.Jean, dating from the fifteenth century. * The remains of a 12th-century castle. * Four chapels. * A

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

. * The archaeological museum in the Zizim(Cem) tower. Turkey.Bodrum.Cem03.jpg, Engraving of Prince Cem Pile billes2.jpg, Timber production

Personalities

Martin Nadaud Martin Nadaud (17 November 1815, Soubrebost, Creuse – 28 December 1898) rose from being a peasant boy to becoming a revolutionary and Member of Parliament. His first language was Langue d'oc and he learned French while working in Paris as a Stonem ...

, politician was born in the hamlet of La Martinèche in 1815. *

Thierry Ardisson Thierry Ardisson (; born 6 January 1949, Bourganeuf, Creuse), is a French television producer and host and a movie producer. Many of his shows have some of the longest run times on French television, such as ''Paris Dernière'', ''Tout le mon ...

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...

and animator, was born here in 1949. *

René Viviani Jean Raphaël Adrien René Viviani (; 8 November 18637 September 1925) was a French politician of the Third Republic, who served as Prime Minister for the first year of World War I. He was born in Sidi Bel Abbès, in French Algeria. In France ...

, politician, was born here in 1863. * Michel Riffaterre, French literary critic and theorist born 1924.

International relations

Bourganeuf is twinned with:

Zirndorf Zirndorf () is a town, which is part of the district of Fürth. It is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia. Neighbouring municipalities The following towns and municipalities share borders with Zirn ...