Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei

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Administration
Commune of Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei Watermill by the Sarthe River in Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei
Location
Longitude	00° 03' 05" W
Latitude	48° 22' 51" N
Country	France
Region	Basse-Normandie
Department	Orne
Arrondissement	Alençon
Canton	Alençon 1er Canton
Statistics
Altitude	115 m–193 m (avg. 120 m)
Land area¹	3.86 km²
Population² (1999)	122
- Density (1999)	31/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	61372/ 61250
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 mi² or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei is a village and commune in the Orne (61) département, Normandy, France, located 15 km away from Alençon, the préfecture of the département, and 105 miles west of Paris.

1 History
2 Economy
3 Transportation
4 External link

[edit] History

Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei was first established in 1044. Its founder, William Giroie, built a castle of which only parts of the walls remain nowadays. The castle of Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei went under siege of William the Conqueror in 1060 before being taken by Robert Courteheuse in 1088. During the Hundred Years' War, Ambroise de Loré managed to defend the stronghold until 1434.

Serenicus (or Genericus), Italian ermite, lived in Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei during the 8th Century ; when he died, a monastery was built, later destroyed by the Normands, in 903. The church was a dependency of the Saint-Evroult-en-Ouche abbaye.

The inspirational beauty of the location attracted many artists since the 19th century. The village even has its own festival which celebrates each year the painters who came to, or lived in Saint-Céneri-le-Gérei. As one the "Most Beautiful Villages of France", it now attracts many tourists.