Largentière (; Occitan: L'Argentièira) is a subprefecture and commune of the Ardèche department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southern France.
It is located in the narrow valley of the Ligne, approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) southwest of Aubenas. With a population of 1,450 as of 2023, Largentière is the least populated subprefecture in France.
Its name, adopted in the 13th century in place of its more ancient name Segualeriae (Ségualières), refers to the silver mines in the area between the 10th and 15th centuries, when the silver-bearing lead ores in intrusive veins in the Largentières sandstoneGuoxiang Chi, Pierre Rheaume, and Kees Schrijver, "The Largentière sandstone Pb-Zn-Ag deposit, Ardeche, France; fluid inclusion and geologic evidence for an epigenetic origin", Economic Geologyn92.1 (February 1997:108-113). were exploited under the authority of the Counts of Toulouse and the Bishops of Viviers, whose title Barons de Largentière was linked to the bishopric.
Demographics
Economy and transportation A busy industrial town in the nineteenth century, when it housed silk mills, its principal industry is now tourism. Its only railroad station was demolished in 1982, leaving the town accessible only by road.
Sights Besides its twelfth- to fifteenth-century château, the town conserves its thirteenth-century church, Nôtre-Dame-des-Pommiers,"Our Lady of the apple orchards"; an inscription of 1490 records the gift of the stone pulpit in Occitan: hieu Pierre Guarnier de Colens ay donat aquesta chadiera al convent. its Renaissance hôtel de ville, its palais de justice, and the Tour Argentière that collected the mines' produce for guarded transport.
Personalities Joseph ben Abba Mari ben Joseph ben Jacob Caspi (1279—1340), a prominent Jewish medieval philosopher.
See also Communes of the Ardèche department
References
External links Tourism site Largentière on the departmental site