Alès

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Alès
Coat of arms of Alès
Alès (France)
Alès
region Occitania
Department Gard
Arrondissement Alès ( sub-prefecture )
Canton Alès-1 , Alès-2 , Alès-3
Community association Alès agglomeration
Coordinates 44 ° 8 '  N , 4 ° 5'  E Coordinates: 44 ° 8 '  N , 4 ° 5'  E
height 116-356 m
surface 23.16 km 2
Residents 40,219 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 1,737 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 30100
INSEE code 30007
Website www.ville-ales.fr
Panorama of Alès

Alès [ alɛs ] (until the 1920s: Alais ) is a town with 40,219 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Gard department in the French region of Occitania .

geography

It is located northwest of Nîmes in a bend in the Gardon d'Alès , on the southern edge of the Cevennes National Park .

history

Alès was the seat of a bishopric - the associated former cathedral St. Jean-Baptiste mostly dates from the end of the 18th century . The citadel was built by Vauban in 1688 .

In the transept of the cathedral there is an Assumption of the Virgin by Pierre Mignard from the 17th century , in the Musée du Colombier , which is housed in the restored part of the castle Le Colombier, a triptych by Jean Bellegambe (around 1470–1534).

In 1629 the Peace of Alès was signed here .

From the middle of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, Alès was the center of coal mining in the Gard, which began to flourish in 1840 with the opening of the railway from Beaucaire via Nîmes to Alès, built at the instigation of Paulin Talabot . The route was extended as the Cevennes Railway to Saint-Germain-des-Fossés near Vichy .

Population development

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2017
Residents 41,360 42,818 44,245 43,268 41,037 39,346 39,943 40.219
Sources: Cassini and INSEE

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Alès  - collection of images, videos and audio files