Archail (; oc, Archalh) 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

Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or sometimes abbreviated as AHP (; oc, Aups d'Auta Provença; ) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the south, Vaucluse to the w ...

department in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pre ...

region of south-eastern

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 14 inhabitants (as of 2019), it is the third least populated commune in the department, after

Majastres Majastres () is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative ...

and

Saint-Martin-lès-Seyne Saint-Martin-lès-Seyne (, literally ''Saint-Martin near Seyne''; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Sant Martin de Sèina'') is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. With 13 inhabitants (as of 2019), it is the second least ...

. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Archailois'' or ''Archailoises''.

Geography

Archail is located some 8 km north-east of

Digne Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte ...

and some 5 km south of

Le Brusquet Le Brusquet (; oc, Lo Brusquet) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. Geography The Bléone flows southwest through the middle of the commune and forms part of its southwestern border. Population ...

. By road from Digne it is 14 km by a winding mountain road. The village is located in a wooded basin at an altitude of 920m. Access to the commune is by the D22 road which runs east from Marcoux to Draix and which passes through the northern tip of the commune. A local road runs off the D22 in the northern tip of the commune and continues south through the commune to the village. The commune is mountainous and heavily forested but there is a small area of farmland south-west of the village.Google Maps
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Geology

Much of the commune consists of rounded hills of eroded black

marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, clays, and silt. When hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. Marl makes up the lower part ...

. The Pic de Couar (1,988m) is spectacular as is the Pas d'Archail (1,667m). The Ravine and Torrent of l'Areste is in the south in the hills.

Hydrology

A vast number of streams rise in the commune including: The Bouinenc (14 kilometres long), the Sauzeries Ravine (9 km long), the Mouiroués Ravine (8 km long), and its tributary, the Escure Stream (5.7 km long). These all flow north to join the Bouinenc which continues west to join the

Bléone The Bléone (; oc, Blèuna) is a long river in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence ''département'', southeastern France. Its drainage basin is . The commune of Archail is also exposed to two other natural hazards: forest fire and landslide.

Neighbouring communes and villages

Toponymy

The area appears for the first time in texts around 1200 in the form ''Archallo''. The origin of the name is Celtic-Ligurian and means ''in front of the rocks''. The Historical Atlas of Provence also indicates a spelling of ''Arcalhum''.

History

Antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

the ''Bodiontiques'' (''Bodiontici'') inhabited the Bléone valley and so were the

Gallic people The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They spok ...

who lived in what is now the commune of Archail. The Bodiontiques were defeated by Augustus at the same time as the other people present on the

Tropaeum Alpium The Tropaeum Alpium (Latin 'Trophy of the Alps', French: ''Trophée des Alpes''), is a Roman trophy (''tropaeum'') celebrating the emperor Augustus's decisive victory over the tribes who populated the Alps. The monument's ruins are in La Turbi ...

(before 14 BC) and were attached to the province of

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, ...

during its creation. According to Daniel Thiery, the community was reported in the

Polyptych A polyptych ( ; Greek: ''poly-'' "many" and ''ptychē'' "fold") is a painting (usually panel painting) which is divided into sections, or panels. Specifically, a "diptych" is a two-part work of art; a " triptych" is a three-part work; a tetrapt ...

of Wadalde (Bishop of Marseille) in 814 under the name ''Argario''. The community of Archail was under the

Viguerie In Southern France, a ''viguerie'' (; la, vicaria) was a mediaeval administrative court. A ''viguerie'' is named for the place it serves or is found in, that is, the main town of the borough, which need not be its (administrative capital). Appear ...

. In 1193 the lordship of Archail (''Argal'') was given by the two lords of Saint-Julien to the Chapter of Digne. The lordship was divided between the Bishops of Digne and the Chapter of Digne before 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 conside ...

. These new lords strengthened their new possession and collected the population in a central location. As with many of the communes in the department, Archail had a school well before the

Jules Ferry laws The Jules Ferry Laws are a set of French laws which established free education in 1881, then mandatory and ''laic'' (secular) education in 1882. Jules Ferry, a lawyer holding the office of Minister of Public Instruction in the 1880s, is widely c ...

: in 1863 it already had a school that provided primary education for boys in the main town. No instruction was given to girls: neither the

Falloux Laws The Falloux Laws promoted Catholic schools in France in the 1850s, 1860s and 1870s. They were voted in during the French Second Republic and promulgated on 15 March 1850 and in 1851, following the presidential election of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte ...

(1851), which required the opening of a girls' school in communes with more than 800 inhabitants, nor the first ''Duruy Law'' (1867), which lowered the threshold to 500 inhabitants, related to Archail and it was only through the Ferry laws that Archail girls were able to regularly study. Between 1973 and 1979 the commune was merged with Draix under the name Archail-Draix.

Administration

List of successive mayors:

Population

Economy

In 2017, the active population was 6 people with no unemployed. All of these workers were employees and worked outside the commune.Dossier complet: Commune d'Archail (04009)
/ref> At the end of 2015 the commune had eight active establishments: three in the industry and construction sector, four in the trade and services sector, and one in the public sector. In total there were 4 salaried jobs in the commune: three in the public sector and one in industry. According to the Departmental Observatory of Tourism, tourism is very important for the community, with more than five tourists welcomed per resident. Most of the accommodation capacity is non-market and is composed solely of secondary homes: 17 secondary homes are 64% of the commune housing.

Sites and monuments

*The Parish Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and Saint George was built in 1828. Its origin can be traced back to the 13th century. The church contains many items that are registered as historical objects: **A Processional Banner (19th century) **A Painting: Saint Charles Borromée (1842) **A Statue: Saint Charles Borromée (19th century) **A Painting: Donation of the Rosary (19th century) **A

Thurible A thurible (via Old French from Medieval Latin ) is a metal censer suspended from chains, in which incense is burned during worship services. It is used in Christian churches including the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Assyrian Church of th ...

(18th century) **A

Monstrance A monstrance, also known as an ostensorium (or an ostensory), is a vessel used in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, High Church Lutheran and Anglican churches for the display on an altar of some object of piety, such as the consecrated Eucharistic ...

(19th century) **A Statue: Saint Joseph (19th century) **A Statue: The

Coronation of the Virgin The Coronation of the Virgin or Coronation of Mary is a subject in Christian art, especially popular in Italy in the 13th to 15th centuries, but continuing in popularity until the 18th century and beyond. Christ, sometimes accompanied by God th ...

(19th century) *The Notre Dame Chapel, situated on a hill in the middle of the cemetery, is the oldest parish church in the community: its foundation is older than the current village church. Residents participated in the rebuilding of the chapel in 1994. Until the Revolution and the Empire, this chapel was the focus of a pilgrimage in August, which attracted people in surrounding communities, and which ended with games and a

ball A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but can sometimes be ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used f ...

Cultural life

The association ''Les Ateliers du Couar'' hosts May Art every year in May with many artists-exhibitors (ceramics, paintings, sculptors, photographers) and various other events related to images in all their forms and in association with many artistic expressions (literature, poetry, cinema, theatre, etc.). The theme is rural and historical heritage and messages are conveyed through various modes such as the creation of an

artist's book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a ...

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower val ...

. This association publishes ''Les Cahiers du Couar'' with four numbers: *''"Banaste of words and images for a summer pasture. Transhumance 2005 at the foot of White Horse"'' *the Robines *In September 2008: the Couar Workbook No. 3 on "Water" *In October 2009: the Couar Workbook No. 4 on honey and lavender

Notable people linked to the commune

* Jean-Pierre Alexandre Dieudé (1743-1819), born in Archail, general of the armies of the Republic and the Empire.