LE FOUR BANAL DE MONTBLANC

It has existed since medieval times. And for centuries, all the Montblanais, in return for a fee to the lord, baked their bread in this common oven, located in the centre of the village

The "banalities" were abolished during the Revolution, but in 1814, several Montblanais reopened the oven: they were 977 co-owners, i.e. almost all the households in the village
Raymond Jani, a court clerk living in Montblanc, drew up the statutes for the administration of the oven. It lasted until 1924. Then the bakers abandoned the common oven.

It has just been restored, and has been freed from the surrounding buildings, built in 1843 and 1896
It is the primitive aspect of the common oven and the last kneading machine used, which are visible today, witnesses of a past where the notion of village community was forged simply by baking bread.