Courbefy is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the Bussière-Galant commune in the

Haute-Vienne Haute-Vienne (; oc, Nauta Vinhana, ; English: Upper Vienne) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in southwest-central France. Named after the Vienne River, it is one of the twelve departments that together constitute Nouvelle-Aquitai ...

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, ...

of 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 western

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 ...

. On an auction on 21 May 2012, the

abandoned village An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, f ...

was bought by

Yoo Byung-eun Yoo Byung-eun (Korean: 유병언; Hanja: 兪炳彥) was a South Korean businessman and inventor, who as a photographer was known under the art name Ahae. Yoo became the focus of Park Geun-hye’s administration shortly after the Sinking of MV Sew ...

for (). Yoo had seen it on

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, and wanted to set up an "environmental, artistic and cultural" project in the village.

Geography

Courbefy is a small hamlet located at an altitude of in the Bussière-Galant commune in the department of

. It is about south of the town of Bussière-Galant itself. The hamlet of La Gare is located to the north-east and Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy to the southeast. The village occupies a vaguely oval space and is totally surrounded by woods, with the exception of the southern part.

History

The village of Courbefy initially had a medieval royal fortress, but it became a den of thieves, and the castle was destroyed in the sixteenth century by order of the consuls of

Limoges Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...

. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, Courbefy was a separate municipality. It merged in 1800 with Saint-Nicolas to form Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy. Bussière-Galant absorbed Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy in 1974. In the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, the last resident of Courbefy bought one by one all the houses and lands of the village, after having built a hotel and restaurant in the 1990s. In 2008 he went bankrupt and left the village. In February 2012, a judicial procedure assigned his property to a creditor bank, which then put the whole hamlet up for auction. On 21 May 2012, the village was acquired by

for ().

Monuments

A small chapel of the seventeenth century lies a few dozen meters from the old dungeon. Courbefy has three holy wells located a few hundred meters from the chapel. One of them is still used as evidenced by the numerous offerings of pieces of cloth, children's shoes or diapers. They seem to be dedicated to Saint Eutropius.

Image gallery

File:Village abandonné de Courbefy (2).JPG, File:Courbefy-pierre-sculpte 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-chapel 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-chapel 03.JPG, File:Courbefy-fontaine 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-pays 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-2e-fontaine 01.JPG, File:Courbefy-3e-fontaine 01.JPG,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Courvefy Geography of Haute-Vienne Villages in Nouvelle-Aquitaine