Gravelines

Gravelines
region	Hauts-de-France
Department	North
Arrondissement	Dunkerque
Canton	Grande-Synthe
Community association	Community urbaine de Dunkerque
Coordinates	50 ° 59 ′ N , 2 ° 8 ′ E Coordinates: 50 ° 59 ′ N , 2 ° 8 ′ E
height	0-25 m
surface	22.66 km 2
Residents	11,166 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	493 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	59820
INSEE code	59273
Website	Gravelines
	; Place Charles Valentin with the belfry

Gravelines ( Dutch Grevelingen ; German Gravelines ) is a French municipality with 11,166 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in Nord in the region of Hauts-de-France . It is located at the mouth of the river Aa in the North Sea and has a marina .

history

The canalisation of the Aa around 1150 led to the founding of Gravelines by Count Dietrich I of Flanders around 1160 . A mighty citadel was built in the place, which was protected by double enclosing walls and a moat. As a result, Gravelines was often the scene of warlike events. In 1383 an English army under the Bishop of Norwich stormed the city and committed atrocities. It then also conquered Dunkirk , Cassel and all the land up to Sluis . But after the English, pushed by the French, retreated and evacuated the conquered cities, these villages were plundered and burned by the pursuing French. This is the fate of Gravelines too. But soon the city was rebuilt. Like the entire county of Flanders, it passed to the Duchy of Burgundy in 1385 and shared its fate.

On July 13, 1558, a battle between the troops of the Spanish King Philip II and those of the French King Henry II took place near the city . The French lost the battle and were thus forced to the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (April 3, 1559). This peace paved the way for the Catholic Philip II to persecute the Protestants in the Netherlands , which led to the Eighty Years War (1568–1648).

On July 29 ^jul./ August 8, 1588 ^greg.There was also the sea battle at Gravelines , in which the English fleet under Charles Howard and the Spanish Armada faced each other.

In 1644, the Gravelines, which had previously been in Spanish possession, was conquered by the French under the leadership of Duke Gaston of Orléans . Vauban fortified the city, which was captured by Archduke Leopold in 1652 and thus regained for Spain.

Citadel of Vauban

But the French did not give up. On March 23, 1658, Louis XIV concluded a treatise with Cromwell against King Philip IV of Spain in order to jointly attack Gravelines, Mardick and Dunkirk. The first should then belong to the French, the other two cities should be kept by England. Only the connection with England and the slowness of the Spaniards, commanded by Juan José de Austria , made Turenne's bold attack on Dunkirk possible. For on the bare dune sand, where the path led on flooded dams through the lowland turned into a lake, between that flooded inland and the sea, the French army should have perished without provisions from the English fleet. On June 4th Turenne opened the trenches against the fortress, on June 14th he defeated the united hostile army , consisting of Spaniards, French emigrants, Irish and Dutch, led by Condé in the battle in the dunes . On June 25th, Dunkirk surrendered. It was not until July 27th, after the operations had been held up by an illness of the king in the army, that the siege of Gravelines began, which cost the French 800 to 900 soldiers and many officers. The fortress surrendered to Marshal le Ferté on August 26th . Turenne stationed a crew in Gravelines and continued to advance into Flanders. The next year, in the Peace of the Pyrenees (November 7, 1659) , Gravelines was formally ceded by Spain to France, with which country it now finally remained.

It was not until the 19th century that the French language prevailed over the previously spoken Dutch in the city.

Population development

year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006	2017
Residents	7720	8167	9039	11,576	12,336	12,430	11,828	11,166
Sources: Cassini and INSEE

Attractions

Mairie (Town Hall)

Gravelines has a lovely old town, two kilometers from the sea on the east bank of the Aa . The city fortifications, partly laid out in the late 17th century by the famous fortress builder Vauban , have been well preserved. The City Council has, as in many other cities of Flanders , a belfry , of the UNESCO - World Heritage Belfries of Belgium and France belongs.

economy

In the municipality is the Gravelines Nuclear Power Station , one of the - in terms of the annually paid work - the largest in Europe.

The internet service provider OVH operates a large data center in Gravelines, the GRA-1. 400,000 servers are currently in operation there . OVH's second data center (GRA-2) is now also in operation (2019).

Town twinning

Gravelines maintains city partnerships with Biblis in Hesse , with Fáskrúðsfjörður , a town in the municipality Fjarðabyggð in Iceland and Dartford in England's county of Kent .

The Gravelines Canal , Georges Seurat , 1890

Personalities

Georges Seurat (1859-1891), the painter stayed in Gravelines in 1890 and 1891, where he also died. Some of his famous pictures were taken here.
Philippe Lot (* 1967), rower, became world champion in 1993 in the four-man without a helmsman.