Luçon (Vendée)
| Luçon | ||
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| region | Pays de la Loire | |
| Department | Vendée | |
| Arrondissement | Fontenay-le-Comte | |
| Canton | Luçon (main town) | |
| Community association | Sud Vendée Littoral | |
| Coordinates | 46 ° 27 ′ N , 1 ° 10 ′ W | |
| height | 1-40 m | |
| surface | 31.52 km 2 | |
| Residents | 9,540 (January 1, 2017) | |
| Population density | 303 inhabitants / km 2 | |
| Post Code | 85400 | |
| INSEE code | 85128 | |
 Luçon - Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption Cathedral |
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Luçon is a western French village with 9540 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in Vendée in the region of Pays de la Loire .
location
Luçon is about 10 meters above sea level. d. M. and about 22 kilometers from the Atlantic shore at L'Aiguillon-sur-Mer in the flat landscape of the Vendée . The port cities of La Rochelle and Les Sables-d'Olonne are about 42 kilometers (driving distance) to the south and 50 kilometers to the west. Luçon has a train station on the Nantes - Bordeaux railway line .
Population development
| year | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2007 |
| Residents | 8243 | 9002 | 9066 | 9099 | 9306 | 9722 |
At the first census in France in 1793, Luçon had just over 2000 inhabitants; since then there has been a steady increase in population - mainly due to immigration from rural areas: in the middle of the 19th century there were a good 5000 and a hundred years later around 7400 inhabitants.
economy
In former times it was the artisans and traders dependent on the agriculture of the area who promoted the prosperity of the city. Today there is a good infrastructure as well as the designation of several industrial areas ( zones industrielles or zones économiques ), in which more than a hundred small and medium-sized companies have settled, which ensure the creation of jobs.
history
As the name of the Pays né de la Mer municipal association already suggests, Luçon is a city 'born of the sea'. As early as the 7th century, St. Philibert founded a monastery in the immediate vicinity of the sea, which was plundered several times by the Normans in the 9th century . In the 10th century an abbey with a small port was built right on the seashore; their monks drained the swampy surrounding area with the help of drains and canals. Farmers followed them in search of fertile farmland, which was plentifully available in the gradually silting environment - in the late Middle Ages it was already 14 kilometers that separated the city from the sea; This in turn was followed by craftsmen and traders who settled in the emerging and rapidly growing city, because Vendée wheat was exported to large parts of France, and later to Central and Northern Europe.
In 1317 Pope John XXII appointed the city, which had risen to become the capital and spiritual and cultural center of Bas- Poitou , became the seat of a bishop - thereupon the former Romanesque abbey church rose to the rank of cathedral and was renewed in the styles of the late Gothic . After the devastation during the Huguenot Wars (1562–1598), the city experienced a heyday at the beginning of the 17th century under the future Cardinal Richelieu , who was ordained Bishop of Luçon by Pope Paul V at the age of 21 (1607) . The city was largely spared from the events of the Vendée uprising (1793–1796), which was shaped by the Catholic and royalists .
Attractions
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Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption cathedral
Others
- With its many parks and gardens ( jardins romantiques ), Luçon is a 'green city' ( ville verte ) that is ideal for walks. The centrally located Jardin Dumaine is particularly worth seeing .
- The chapel of the former Ursuline monastery ( Chapelle des Ursulines ) dates from the 17th century with its 33 meter long vaulted and painted wooden ceiling and its baroque main altar.
- The chapel of the 16th century - d. H. The Order of the Discalced Carmelite Sisters ( Chapelle du Carmel ), which was created during the Counter-Reformation , was not established until the 19th century but in the style of the 13th century.
- The Château de Milles Souris (formerly the Hôtel de Mauras ) probably dates from the end of the 17th century; its main entrance seems to be inspired by the baroque facade of the cathedral.
- The cemetery ( Cimetière historique ), which was laid out during the Revolution , is a real treasure trove for lovers of historicist tombs from the 19th century.
See also: List of Monuments historiques in Luçon (Vendée)
Personalities
- Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu (1607–1624 Bishop of Lucon), Cardinal, First Minister of France
- Gaspard de Bernard de Marigny (* 1754 in Luçon, † 1794 in Combrand ), general on the side of the Vendée uprising .
- François Bon (* 1953 in Luçon), writer
- François Bégaudeau (* 1971 in Luçon), teacher, singer, writer, critic
literature
- Le Patrimoine des Communes de la Vendée. Flohic Editions, Volume 1, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-84234-118-X , pp. 423-442.
- Thorsten Droste : Poitou. Western France between Poitiers and Angoulême - the Atlantic coast from the Loire to the Gironde. DuMont, Cologne 1999, p. 125, ISBN 3-7701-4456-2 .
