Aubigné-Racan
Encyclopedia
Aubigné-Racan is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Sarthe
Sarthe
Sarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...

 department in the region of Pays-de-la-Loire in north-western France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Sights

The town has a Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...

 church from the 11th century.

Aubigné-Racan is the site of the archeological excavation of Cherré, a Gallo-Roman complex of 20 hectares from the 1st to the 3rd centuries. The site was likely a rural centre of commercial and religious activity before the Roman conquest. Excavations in 1977 by C. Lambert and J. Rioufreyt discovered an ancient theatre, two temples, Roman thermae
Thermae
In ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...

, a forum
Forum (Roman)
A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...

 and an aqueduct
Aqueduct
An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

.

In the surrounding countryside, one can also find prehistoric standing stones, or dolmen
Dolmen
A dolmen—also known as a portal tomb, portal grave, dolmain , cromlech , anta , Hünengrab/Hünenbett , Adamra , Ispun , Hunebed , dös , goindol or quoit—is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of...

 ("dolmen de la Pierre" and "dolmen du Colombier")

People

Aubigné-Racan is the birthplace of the 17th century poet and dramatist Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan
Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan
Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan was a French aristocrat, soldier, poet, dramatist and member of the Académie française....

. His birthplace, the Manoir de Champmarin, is still standing.
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