Apt (Vaucluse)
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| region | Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur | |
| Department | Vaucluse | |
| Arrondissement | Apt ( sub-prefecture ) | |
| Canton | Apt (main town) | |
| Community association | Pays d'Apt-Luberon | |
| Coordinates | 43 ° 53 ' N , 5 ° 24' E | |
| height | 170-567 m | |
| surface | 44.57 km 2 | |
| Residents | 11,425 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 256 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 84400 | |
| INSEE code | 84003 | |
| Website | www.ot-apt.fr | |
Apt is a French city with 11,425 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Vaucluse and the region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur . It is the capital of the canton of Apt and the arrondissement of the same name . It is also the seat of the community association Communauté de communes du Pays d'Apt .
geography
Apt is located between the Vaucluse plateau and the Luberon mountain range in the Calavon valley . The city is considered the center of the Luberon and is located about 50 kilometers north of Aix-en-Provence . After Avignon , west of Apt, there are also about 50 km; there is a TGV train station .
The municipality is part of the Luberon Regional Nature Park . The park administration with the visitor center is also located in Apt.
history
Apt was a wealthy Roman colony , founded by Julius Caesar in 45 BC. In place of an earlier city as Apta Julia . It was a station on Via Domitia , the old Roman road from Milan to Arles . In addition, the Apt diocese was one of the earliest in the region.
The city has had a population of around 11,000 since 1975.
Buildings
The former Ste-Anne cathedral, squeezed into the narrow Rue des Marchands, is a remarkable example of Provencal church architecture from the 12th to 14th centuries. Beginning in the 11th century, the last work was not completed until the second half of the 17th century (Chapelle royale). Until the French Revolution , the church was the seat of the bishops of Apt . With the Concordat of 1801 , the diocese was dissolved and divided between the dioceses of Avignon and Digne . Under the apse there are two crypts one above the other. The lower one dates from the Merovingian period.
economy
Apt is known as the “world capital of candied fruits ”. The place is surrounded by many orchards and vineyards that belong to the area of the Côtes du Ventoux . Apt is also considered the economic center of the sparsely populated Luberon region in central Provence . Every Saturday there is a large market in the center of Apt, labeled “marché classé de la France”.
military
Until the end of the 1990s, the "Plateau d'Albion" north of Apt housed France's land-based nuclear force as Base aérienne 200 . Today, part of the former missile base is used as a training camp for the Foreign Legion and a listening station for the DGSE foreign intelligence service .
tourism
From Apt the region around the mountain ranges Grand Luberon and Petit Luberon can be developed (up to 1,256 m above sea level, about 600 km²).
The area around Apt (e.g. in Gordes ) has been inhabited and visited by French high society and many British and German holidaymakers who want a rural life since the 1970s. For sport climbing , Apt is a popular starting point for climbing tours on the limestone cliffs of Buoux .
Town twinning
Apt has twinned with
Personalities
- Jacques Bernard d'Anselme (1740-1814), General
- Michaël Guigou (* 1982), multiple world champion and Olympic champion in handball
various
- The Aptium , a geological stage of the lower Cretaceous period , is named after the city of Apt .
- (9393) Apta and a Martian crater are named after Apt and Colonia Julia Apta, respectively; see list of Mars craters / A
- Peter Mayle has described the landscape and the way of life of the locals in several novels.
- 1803 fell at a 3.2 kilogram Apt stony meteorite and was as L6 chondrite classified. The stone punched a hole in a vineyard.
literature
- Max Him : Apta Iulia . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 286.
