Saint-Amand-Montrond (Municipality, Cher, France)

Last modified: 2005-03-05 by ivan sache
Keywords: cher | saint-amand-montrond | war cross |
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by Arnaud Leroy

• Presentation of Saint-Amand-Montrond
• Municipal flag of Saint-Amand-Montrond

See also:

• France
• Cher (Department, France)

Presentation of Saint-Amand-Montrond

The city of Saint-Amand-Montrond (12,000 inhabitants; 2,000 ha) is located in the south of the department of Cher, in the center of France; it is the capital city of a small region called Boischaut. The municipality of Bruères-Allichamps, located a few kilometers north-west of Saint-Amand, claims to be the geographical center of France.

The early city of Saint-Amand was developed near a monastery said to have been found around year 620 by the monk Theodulf, probably on the site of an earlier Gallo-Roman settlement located on the way between Bourges and Clermont-Ferrand. The first church was dedicated to Saint Amand, an hermit bishop who evangelized France and Flanders. Saint Amand is portrayed on the municipal flag of Sint-Amands, in Belgian Flanders. Nothing has remained from this church but the name of the city. The current church was built in the XIIth century and is a typical example of the Romanic churches in Berry.

In the XIIth century, the fortified city of Saint-Amand-le-Chastel was founded by the family of Déols. In the same period, the castle of Montrond was built on a hill dominating the river Cher. The two settlements merged in the XVth century to form the city of Villeneuve-Saint-Amand, later renamed Saint-Amand-sous-Montrond and eventually Saint-Amand-Montrond. There is still in Saint-Amand a street named rue