Alencon

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Alencon
Alençon coat of arms
Alençon (France)
Alencon
region Normandy
Department Orne ( prefecture )
Arrondissement Alencon
Canton Alençon-1 (main town)
Alençon-2 (main town)
Community association Alencon
Coordinates 48 ° 26 '  N , 0 ° 6'  E Coordinates: 48 ° 26 '  N , 0 ° 6'  E
height 127-152 m
surface 10.68 km 2
Residents 25,848 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 2,420 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 61000
INSEE code 61001
Website alencon.fr

City Hall

Alençon is the capital and with 25,848 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) is also the largest city in the Orne department in the region of Normandy in France . Alençon is an access community associated with the Normandy-Maine Regional Nature Park .

Some French kings carried the title Duke of Alençon , as this title was given to the king's third-born son after 1549.

geography

The Briante in Alençon

Alençon is located in northern France on the southern edge of the Orne department in the Campagne d'Alençon landscape named after the city , about 90 kilometers southeast of Caen , the capital of the Lower Normandy region, and 48 kilometers north of Le Mans at an average altitude of 140 meters above sea ​​level . The Mairie stands at a height of 136 meters. Neighboring communities of Alençon are Damigny in the north-west, Saint-Paterne - Le Chevain in the east and south-east and Saint-Germain-du-Corbéis in the south-west. The municipality has an area of ​​1068 hectares. Alençon lies on the Sarthe and the Briante , a tributary of the Sarthe.

The municipality is assigned to a climate zone of the type Cfb (according to Köppen and Geiger) : warm, moderate rainy climate (C), fully humid (f), warmest month below 22 ° C, at least four months above 10 ° C (b). There is a maritime climate with a moderate summer.

history

Alençon lace from the 18th century, here the point d ' Argentan and point d'Alençon techniques were mixed.

In Gallo-Roman times , Alençon was just a ford across the Sarthe. As a fortified market town, Alençon was first mentioned in a document in the 11th century. The city grew, was made a county and at the beginning of the 15th century a duchy. Margaret of Navarre influenced the life of the city in the 16th century . She promoted the Reformation and some residents committed to Calvinism early on .

In 1665 a royal lace manufacturer was founded, whose point d'Alençon , as the special design of the lace was called, was kept secret. In 2010 the point d'Alençon was added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity .

1793 received Alençon in the course of the French Revolution (1789-1799) the status of a municipality and 1801 through the administrative reform in the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) the right to local self-government .

In the Second World War (1939-1945) Alençon was occupied by the German Wehrmacht (see also Alençon-Valframbert airfield ). On August 12, 1944, the city was liberated from the 2nd division blindée under Major General Leclerc .

Population development
year 1793 1851 1901 1931 1954 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2009
Residents 12,954 14,760 17,270 16,688 21,893 25,584 31,656 33,680 31,608 29,988 28,935 27,325

The city had its highest population in 1975.

politics

Alençon is the seat of the communal association Communauté urbaine d'Alençon , the prefecture of the département, the sub-prefecture of the arrondissement and the capital of three cantons.

Twin cities

Culture and sights

The Gothic basilica Notre-Dame d'Alençon stands in the city center. Honoré Balzac settles his novel “The Old Maid” from the series of works “Rivals” in Alençon and thus gives an impression of a French provincial town around 1830, a time when republicans and royalists were enemies.

Economy and Infrastructure

Alençon train station

Alençon is a location for the textile and electrical industry.

There are three Lycées , six vocational schools, six colleges and several private and public primary schools in Alençon. The city has a train station and an Alençon-Valframbert airfield, which is used for tourism and sports .

Local products

The municipal area are controlled appellations (AOC) for Maine Anjou - beef and protected geographical indications (PGI) for beef labeled Bœuf du Maine , pork (Porc de Normandie) , poultry (Volailles du Maine, de Loué and de Normandie ) , chicken eggs (Œufs de Loué) and Cidre de Normandie or normand .

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Birthplace of Therese von Lisieux

Personalities who have worked here

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d La ville d'Alençon. In: Annuaire-Mairie.fr. Retrieved March 5, 2013 (French).
  2. ↑ la Sarthe at SANDRE (French)
  3. ↑ Craftsmanship of Alençon needle lace-making. In: unesco.org. UNESCO , accessed March 5, 2013 .
  4. ↑ a b Alençon - notice communal. In: cassini.ehess.fr. Retrieved March 5, 2013 (French).
  5. ^ Communauté urbaine d'Alençon. In: communaute-urbaine-alencon.fr. Joaquin Pueyo, Catherine Bescond, accessed March 5, 2013 (French).
  6. ↑ Louise Hervieu. In: Base Joconde. Ministère de la culture, accessed August 9, 2010 (French).
  7. ↑ Isabelle Cernetic, Marie-Sophie de Sairigné, Collectif, Charlotte Rousselle, Céline Dutheil: Le Petit Futé Normandy . 12th edition. Petit Futé, 2009, ISBN 978-2-7469-2391-1 , pp. 358 ( in Google Books [accessed August 9, 2010]). (French)
  8. ^ Yves Lecouturier: Célèbres de Normandie . Orep Editions, 2007, ISBN 978-2-915762-13-6 , pp. 45 . (French)