Cavaillon

Cavaillon
region	Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
Department	Vaucluse
Arrondissement	Apt
Canton	Cavaillon ( Chef-lieu )
Community association	Luberon Monts de Vaucluse
Coordinates	43 ° 50 ' N , 5 ° 2' E Coordinates: 43 ° 50 ' N , 5 ° 2' E
height	49-200 m
surface	45.96 km 2
Residents	26,641 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	580 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	84300
INSEE code	84035
Website	http://www.cavaillon.com/
	; Hôtel-Dieu , which houses, among other things, the Archaeological Museum; on the right the Porte d'Avignon

Cavaillon ( Occitan Cavalhon ) is a French municipality with 26,641 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Vaucluse in the region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur . It is the seat of the canton of the same name in the Apt arrondissement . Cavaillon was the seat of the diocese of Cavaillon , which became part of the Archdiocese of Avignon in 1801 .

The municipality is located in the valley of Coulon in Luberon National Nature Park .

history

For military reasons, Celtic cavarers founded an oppidum on the 180-meter-high St. Jacques Hill , which was under the rule of Marseilles for a long time . When the Romans took over the settlement, they moved it from the hill to the plains and named the wealthy colony Cabellio . The Roman quadrifron from the Augustan era, reconstructed from fragments, is a silent witness of this era .

Cavaillon belonged to the papal territory of Comtat Venaissin . In 1251, Pope Innocent IV consecrated the Romanesque cathedral of St. Véran. The cathedral has a richly decorated polygonal choir and in 1653 received a large gold-plated baroque organ that is unique in Provence . The rest of the interior of the church has not been altered to his advantage by the overzealous efforts of the centuries. Next to the cathedral is a simple, harmonious Romanesque cloister.

Thanks to the asylum policy of the papacy, Cavaillon was, alongside Carpentras , Avignon and L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, an important center and vanishing point of French Jewry from persecution under Philip the Fair . Cavaillon also had a carrière , a ghetto , in which a synagogue already existed in the 14th century , which was replaced by a new building in 1772.

When the National Socialists wanted to lead the last train with Jews to be exterminated over the Durance from southern France in 1944 , the fully occupied train, consisting of closed freight cars, had to wait several days in the sweltering heat without water or food because of the destroyed railway bridge for its onward journey to the Drancy collection camp . Although the train was poorly guarded and apparently many people knew what the transport was for, very few helped.

Population development

year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006	2017
Residents	17.058	18,544	21,259	20,615	23.102	24,563	25,819	26,641
Sources: Cassini and INSEE

Attractions

There was once a bakery under the synagogue that made unleavened bread . Instead of the bakery, there is now a small museum on the history of Judaism as the only reminder of a large Jewish community up until the French Revolution . In addition to liturgical implements, manuscripts, grave steles and a wrought iron grille, it also contains Torah scrolls . In the basement there is a mikvah , a cultic cleansing bath for women.

In the archeology museum in a former baroque chapel of the former hospital L'hôtel-Dieu from 1753, in addition to ointment pots made of glass and faience, ceramics, coins and urns, exhibits from the Celto-Ligurian phase of the place are presented.

In addition to the arc romain erected in 1880, the Porte d'Avignon as a remnant of the medieval city wall is also worth seeing.

From the summit of the Colline St.-Jacques , on which there is a small Romanesque chapel, you have a beautiful view of the city and, with good visibility, of the Mont Ventoux .

Interior view of the synagogue
Cavaillon Town Hall
Roman arch
Saint-Jacques Chapel
Saint-Véran Cathedral

economy

Cavaillon has been known for its cultivation and trade in early vegetables and fruit since Roman times. 800,000 tons of fruit and vegetables alone reach the European markets from the fields and greenhouses of Cavaillons via the wholesale market . That is why Cavaillon is sometimes called the capital of melons .

politics

Like most municipalities in Provence, the city is conservative or right-wing dominated. The UMP is with Jean-Claude Bouchet the mayor and 26 of the 35 councilors of the city. In the 2007 presidential election , Nicolas Sarkozy received the most votes with 34.18%, and Marine Le Pen in 2012 with 31.38%.

Sister cities are: