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Courbefy

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Hamlet in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
Courbefy
Hamlet
The Chapel of CourbefyThe Chapel of Courbefy
Coordinates: 45°35′40″N 1°03′08″E / 45.5945°N 1.0521°E / 45.5945; 1.0521
CountryFrance
RegionNouvelle-Aquitaine
DepartmentHaute-Vienne
CommuneBussière-Galant
Elevation530 m (1,740 ft)
Population
 • Total0
Postal Code87230

Courbefy is a hamlet in the Bussière-Galant commune in the Haute-Vienne department of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France.

On an auction on 21 May 2012, the abandoned village was bought by Yoo Byung-eun for €520,000 (US$663,000). Yoo had seen it on CNN, and wanted to set up an "environmental, artistic and cultural" project in the village.

Geography

Courbefy is a small hamlet located at an altitude of c.530 metres (1,740 ft) in the Bussière-Galant commune in the department of Haute-Vienne. It is about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) south of the town of Bussière-Galant itself. The hamlet of La Gare is located 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the north-east and Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the southeast.

The village occupies a vaguely oval space and is totally surrounded by woods, with the exception of the southern part.

History

An abandoned house in Courbefy, May 2013.

The village of Courbefy initially had a medieval royal fortress, but it became a den of thieves, and the castle was destroyed in the sixteenth century by order of the consuls of Limoges.

During the French Revolution, Courbefy was a separate municipality. It merged in 1800 with Saint-Nicolas to form Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy. Bussière-Galant absorbed Saint-Nicolas-Courbefy in 1974.

In the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, the last resident of Courbefy bought one by one all the houses and lands of the village, after having built a hotel and restaurant in the 1990s. In 2008 he went bankrupt and left the village. In February 2012, a judicial procedure assigned his property to a creditor bank, which then put the whole hamlet up for auction. On 21 May 2012, the village was acquired by Yoo Byung-eun for €520,000 (US$663,000).

Monuments

One of three holy wells in Courbefy to the right and a cross of devotion left.

A small chapel of the seventeenth century lies a few dozen meters from the old dungeon.

Courbefy has three holy wells located a few hundred meters from the chapel. One of them is still used as evidenced by the numerous offerings of pieces of cloth, children's shoes or diapers. They seem to be dedicated to Saint Eutropius.

Image gallery

  • The abandoned village The abandoned village
  • Carved stone in front of a house Carved stone in front of a house
  • Entrance to the chapel Entrance to the chapel
  • Inside the chapel Inside the chapel
  • The holy well closest to the chapel The holy well closest to the chapel
  • Descent towards the second holy well Descent towards the second holy well
  • The second holy well The second holy well
  • The third holy well, visibly in use The third holy well, visibly in use

References

  1. "Courbefy : le village fantôme vendu à un artiste" (in French). Sudouest.fr. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  2. "Le hameau de Courbefy (Haute-Vienne) adjugé 520.000 euros à l'artiste Ahae". Le Parisien (in French). AFP. 21 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2015-06-14. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  3. "Courbefy: un hameau abandonné vendu 520 000 euros à un artiste sud-coréen, Ahae". L'EXPRESS (in French). 21 May 2012. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  4. La Montagne. "A la Une — LIMOGES (87000) - Des Américains achètent Courbefy" (in French). lamontagne.fr. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  5. Bouchez, Yann. "Le hameau de Courbefy vendu aux enchères pour 520 000 euros". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  6. de Mallevoüe, Delphine (23 July 2012). "Un projet "grandiose" pour le hameau vendu aux enchères". Le Figaro (in French). Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  7. Meltzer, Steve (23 May 2012). "American Landscape Photographer Buys An Entire French Village...Cheap". Imaging-resource.com. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  8. Morin, Violaine (19 June 2014). "Yoo Byung-eun dit Ahae, un bien encombrant mécène". Le Figaro (in French). Lefigaro.fr. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  9. Lee, Hyo-sik (16 June 2014). "Yoo affects French town's fate". Korea Times. Koreatimes.co.kr. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
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