Tarnac

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Tarnac
Commune
The church of Saint-Georges, in Tarnac
Coat of arms
Location of Tarnac
Tarnac Location within France Show map of France Tarnac Location within Nouvelle-Aquitaine Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 45°40′52″N 1°56′52″E / 45.6811°N 1.9478°E / 45.6811; 1.9478
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Corrèze
Arrondissement	Tulle
Canton	Plateau de Millevaches
Government
• Mayor (2026–2032)	Christophe Bayle
Area 1	67.46 km2 (26.05 sq mi)
Highest elevation	878 m (2,881 ft)
Lowest elevation	533 m (1,749 ft)
Population  (2023)	333
• Density	4.94/km2 (12.8/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	19265 /19170
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Tarnac (French pronunciation: [taʁnak]) is a commune in the Corrèze department in central France.

Toponymy

The toponym is of Gallo-Roman origin, or even Celtic. Marcel Villoutreix wrote that, Tarnac comes from a Gallic or Latin man's name, Tarinus; Jean-Paul Savignac said it was based on the theonym Taranus, better known in the form of Taranis, the Gallic god of thunder. But a third author, Xavier Delamarre, connects both Tarinus and Taranus to a root taro meaning "who crosses". It is true that near Tarnac, the Vienne river valley is very steep and gives the impression of crossing the mountain.

Geography

Population

Places and monuments

Several buildings are listed as historical monuments:

• l'église Saint-Georges - a romanesque style church built in the 12th and 13th-centuries, listed in 1919. It was restored in 1960. The aspe has canted corners, the chancel ispolygon-shaped with flat buttresses, while the nave is in the romanesque style. The altarpiece dates from the 17th-century and the is a polychrome wood statue featuring Saint George. The portal is a gothic from 14th-century with archivolts and two sculpted medallions of Saint George and Saint Giles.
• a 17th-century castle owned by Yves de Kerdrel, the façade and roof have been listed since 1989,
• Village of Puy-Murat - remains of a medieval complex listed in 1993,
• la Fontaine Saint-George - fountain feeds an 18th-century washhouse.
• Two monumental oak trees - planted on the Place de l'Eglise. The younger tree was planted in 1848, commemorating the creation of the French Second Republic and is therefore known as the "liberty tree".

Personalities linked to the commune

• Yves de Kerdrel, journalist, director of Valeurs Actuelles and owner of the village castle,
• Julien Coupat, implicated and then acquitted in the case of sabotage of the TGV lines in 2008,
• Armand Gatti, poet, playwright, director and filmmaker, joined the maquis and was arrested in 1943 in Tarnac,
• Jean-Marie Gleize, writer, 1946-2026.

See also

• Communes of the Corrèze department
• Tarnac Nine

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tarnac.