Moncé-en-Belin is a commune in the Sarthe

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

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 ...

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

in north-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 ...

, with a municipal population of 3,703 in January 2019, with a further 62 counted separately. The commune is historically in the Haut-Maine part of the province of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

Toponymy

The suffix Belin expresses the belonging of the commune to the territory of Belinois. 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 ...

, the town bore the name of ''Moncé-lès-Le Mans'', in reference to the nearby city of

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

Geography

Moncé-en-Belin is located 12 km south of

, 10 km north-west of

Écommoy Écommoy () is a commune in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region in north-western France. The municipality covers . It has 4,744 inhabitants (2019). See also *Communes of the Sarthe department The following is a list of the ...

, and about 8 km from the 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit. This city is a part of the community of communes of , in Sud-Sarthe. * Latitude: 47° 53' 38.616'' N * Longitude: 0° 12' 16.992'' E * Altitude: 58 m

Local culture and heritage

The area around the town has several sites of notable historical value, including the following: * Church of Saint-Étienne from the 11th century, containing a

retable A retable is a structure or element placed either on or immediately behind and above the altar or communion table of a church. At the minimum it may be a simple shelf for candles behind an altar, but it can also be a large and elaborate structur ...

set, a mural of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

, a painting, and two statues, which have been given the designation of ''

Monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' * Chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Bois from 1828 * War memorial * Monument to the eight airmen (six Canadians, one English, and one Australian) who died on 23 May 1944, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

* Castle mound of Vaux * Roman camp * Château de la Gourdinière * Château de la Beaussonière * Hattonnieres Castle File:Moncé-en-Belin - La Croix de Pierre.jpg, A Latin

wayside cross Wayside may refer to: * Wayobjects, trackside objects *Wayside (band), an early version of As Friends Rust * ''Wayside'' (TV series), a television show based on the children's book ''Sideways Stories from Wayside School'' *A rest area Places ; ...

in Roussard sandstone. File:Moncé en Belin - Croix de pèlerinage.JPG, A cross from the Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage. File:Moncé-en-Belin - Motte castrale de Vaux.JPG, The castle mound in the hamlet of Vaux. File:Moncé-en-Belin - Chapelle Notre-Dame-des-Bois (5).JPG, The Notre-Dame-des-Bois chapel.

References

Communes of Sarthe {{Sarthe-geo-stub