A postcard from the geographical center of continental France
This summer, the vacation route passed right through the middle of the country. It was too good an opportunity not to make a detour to the hamlet of La Coucière, in Vesdun, Cher: in 1993, the IGN located the geographical center of continental France, also known as the Hexagon, i.e. metropolitan France excluding Corsica.
This 1993 calculation is just the latest answer to a very old question. It has the advantage of including the Earth’s curvature in the calculation parameters for the first time.
So, early in the morning of July 31, 2023, we found ourselves in the center of gravity of the country 1. The weather was warm, the sun was already shining and a few cows were grazing peacefully in the sleepy calm of a summer’s day.d
