Honfleur

Honfleur
region	Normandy
Department	Calvados
Arrondissement	Lisieux
Canton	Honfleur-Deauville
Community association	Pays de Honfleur-Beuzeville
Coordinates	49 ° 25 ' N , 0 ° 14' E Coordinates: 49 ° 25 ' N , 0 ° 14' E
height	0-117 m
surface	13.67 km 2
Residents	7,425 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	543 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	14600
INSEE code	14333
Website	www.ville-honfleur.com
	; Old harbor in Honfleur

Honfleur ( French Honfleur ^?^/^I ) is a French commune and port town with 7,425 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Calvados department in Normandy . It lies at the mouth of the Seine in the English Channel .

history

The name Honfleur was first mentioned as Hunefleth in 1025; later it is documented as Hunefloth (around 1062), Honneflo (1198), Honflue (1246), then as Honnefleu (up to the 18th century). The ending vowel [r] wasn't added until the 19th century. The Norman word fleu ("flower"; French: fleur) was pronounced like fleu "coastal river" in the Old Norman dialect.

For centuries the city was a relatively insignificant port compared to Harfleur on the other bank of the Seine estuary. Over time, the small town with its picturesque, narrow, six-story houses and the Lieutenance (the remainder of a fortification) on the Vieux Bassin (old harbor basin) from the 17th century has developed into one of the most charming places in Normandy and a much-visited tourist attraction .

In the 19th century, Honfleur became a center of artistic activity. Eugène Boudin , the painter of coastal landscapes, was born here in 1824. The Musée Eugène Boudin is dedicated to him and documents the picturesque atmosphere of the city and the Seine estuary. Honfleur is also the birthplace of the French composer Erik Satie . Painters such as Courbet , Sisley , Jongkind , Claude Monet , Pissarro , Renoir and Cézanne came to Honfleur and often met in the Ferme St-Siméon, a farm that is considered one of the birthplaces of Impressionism and is now a stylish hotel.

Population development

year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2009	2016
Residents	9141	9292	9188	8495	8272	8178	8163	7728
Sources: Cassini and INSEE

Attractions

The painters still stand on the quayside at Honfleur and in the Greniers à Sel, two warehouses built in 1670 east of the Vieux Bassin in l'Enclos, the city's 13th century defense system for the purpose of storing salt Organized exhibitions of contemporary artists.

Sainte Catherine Church

Pont de Normandie

The Sainte Catherine church with the free-standing tower is on Place Ste. Catherine. It was built in the middle of the 15th century with two twin ships and a roof structure like ship hulls by ship carpenters and equipped with painted glass windows and other works of art. The church is listed as a historical monument in the Base Mérimée of the French Ministry of Culture.

The composer Erik Satie is also a child of the city. In Les Maisons Satie , you can be inspired by his music .

A masterpiece of engineering is the Pont de Normandie , inaugurated in 1995 , which connects Honfleur and Le Havre ( Département Seine-Maritime ); it is one of the longest bridges in Europe.

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Alphonse Allais (1854–1905), writer and humorist
Louis Marie François Andlauer (1876–1915), organist and composer
Ernest Henri Besnier (1831–1909), dermatologist and medical director of the Hôpital St. Louis in Paris
Eugène Boudin (1824–1898), French painter, pioneer of impressionism
Erik Satie (1866–1925), French composer and pianist

Personalities who have worked on site

Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867), writer, lived in Honfleur for six months in 1859 and wrote La danse macabre (dance of death), La chevelure (hair), and Chant d'automne (autumn song).