Petite Cité de Caractère is a label awarded to towns or villages that meet a set of criteria as set by the Petites Cités de Caractère de France. As of 2021 there are more than 200 communes listed as a Petite Cité de Caractère.
History
The label was created in
Brittany
Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
in 1976 by Jean-Bernard Vighetti, a Breton geography professor, worried about the decline of France's heritage, particularly the heritage of small towns in the country, which were in decline during the 1960s, as people and industry moved to larger cities.
In 1979 the label then spread to other neighbouring areas, with the label being used in the
Lot-et-Garonne
Lot-et-Garonne (, ) is a department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of Southwestern France. Named after the rivers Lot and Garonne, it had a population of 331,271 in 2019.Landes.
In 2009 a national Charte de Qualité, which formalised the criteria and objectives, was established.
Criteria
To be classified as a Petite Cité de Caractère the commune must
*be subject to protection as a
Historic Monument
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...
, or a Remarkable Heritage Site.
* have a population of less than 6,000 inhabitants.
* must have a sufficiently dense building to give it the appearance of a city, have a quality and homogeneous architectural heritage witness to its history, have exercised and/or exercise central urban functions.
*must have a multi-year program for the restoration and rehabilitation of built heritage and the enhancement of tangible and intangible heritage.
*must be part of the tourism development strategy of its territory.