Our Association has established itself!

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Since February 2018 and its unveiling to the Clairacais, our young association has made a tremendous start! In the beginning of 2019 well over 220 people have joined us with friendship and enthusiasm. People convinced that the time has come to mobilize interest around Clairac and its rich heritage. We thank them for that! This enthusiasm was evident on Saturday, June 2 2018, when the colloquium Clairac and the Reformation, 16th - 17th centuries, was held. That event, which we coordinated at the request of the city of Clairac and the Société académique d'Agen, has been a tremendous success. After the successful conference Clairac and its abbey, in May 2016, this event once again has proven that Clairac and its history is of interest to a large number of people. Enthusiasm and warm sympathy also at a summer General Assembly under the old trees of Sinange.

Let us consider the age of our village, its history, its abbey, its rich cultivations. This small town in Lot-&-Garonne, whose creation cannot be exactly dated back in the past, has over the centuries been housing numerous peasants, winegrowers, craftsmen, merchants and boatmen. It has a famous abbey, thanks to which the kings of France became canons of St-Jean-de-Latran in Rome. It is surrounded by fertile land, which has enabled the emergence of a rationalized plum cultivation. The beautiful prunes harvested there have led to the famous “pruneaux d’Agen”. On the well exposed hills around Clairac the vines allowed the production of famous wines, including sweet white wines or “vins pourris” (rotten wines) which were nothing inferior to the Sauternes of Bordeaux. Another important regional crop is tobacco, which has been grown there since the 1530s. And then there is the generous river Lot - though sometimes impetuous - which allowed a very early development of businesses as far as Bordeaux, then Holland and “les îles”, the Caribbean isles where in the sixteenth and seventeenth century numerous French merchants from around Clairac moved to, in order to set up their business. This and much more we want to share with all those interested.

We offer thematic exhibitions, presented on a regular basis, in the Tiers Lieu - Halle de Clairac: The children of Clairac, Shops of Clairac…

In the second half of the 20th century Claude Martin - a persistent local scholar, who died in February 2018 - started to attract people's attention to the exciting history of Clairac. His example inspires us to revive interest in and knowledge of Clairac's past, to collect memories and traditions. And above all, to make people aware of all this wealth to protect as much as can be protected to retain the historic character of Clairac. The town's motto “City without a king, soldiers without fear” makes one wonder about the reasons that led to choose these formidable words; history has some beautiful surprises in store for us!

Today, our website offers many pages which members can visit in order to find images, texts, references and stories that allow them to learn more about Clairac. About the history of its rich Benedictine abbey as well as about the businesses which, under III^rd Republic, were so important for the development of wealth; abundant farms, thanks to the generous floods of the Lot, industries which were famous: hat-making, barging, canning; scholarly books were written during the 19th and 20th centuries and postcards were produced which, when put together, offer a living chronicle; names that had their moment of glory, sometimes forgotten, such as Théophile de Viau, the chevalier de Vivens, Sophie Cottin, Étienne-Augustin Serres, Commander Reilhac, but also “ordinary” Clairacais who allowed our small town to have more than 5,000 inhabitants two centuries ago.

So for the curious, the lovers of Clairac, the enthusiasts: join us ! We rely on your energy and ideas. The more of us there are, the more weight we will have. And thanks to our recognition of general interest by the tax services, benefactor members can now deduct their membership from their tax return, through the tax code we send them.

Our Association has established itself! ×

Our Association has established itself!

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