Saint-Laurent-du-Var

Saint-Laurent-du-Var
region	Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
Department	Alpes-Maritimes
Arrondissement	Grasse
Canton	Cagnes-sur-Mer-2
Community association	Nice Cote d'Azur
Coordinates	43 ° 40 ′  N , 7 ° 11 ′  E Coordinates: 43 ° 40 ′  N , 7 ° 11 ′  E
height	0-214 m
surface	10.11 km 2
Residents	28,453 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	2,814 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	06700
INSEE code	06123
Website	saintlaurentduvar.fr
Saint-Laurent-du-Var: Hôtel de Ville (town hall)

Saint-Laurent-du-Var is a French municipality with 28,453 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Alpes-Maritimes in the region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur . It belongs to the municipal association Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur .

During the French Revolution , the community took the nickname Laurent-du-Var .

geography

Saint-Laurent-du-Var is just a few kilometers southwest of Nice . The municipality extends in a north-south direction on the right bank of the Var up to its mouth in the Mediterranean Sea . On the left bank of the river in the east of the heavily urbanized place is a fertile marshland . To the west, a chain of hills rises parallel to the course of the river, from whose peaks, up to about 200 m high, the valley and the coastal strip in the south can be seen.

history

Traces of an old coastal settlement as well as remains of walls, roof tiles, amphorae and ceramics from Roman times near today's Square de Djibouti are evidence of early settlement.

The origin of the municipality of Saint-Laurent lies in the establishment of a hostel for travelers in the 11th century, which was placed under the protection of St. Lawrence of Rome . The village was built around the Castrum Sancti Laurentii and a ford across the Var. Until the first bridge was built in 1792, the ford was an important source of income. Some of the travelers were carried across the river on their backs to transport them to the other side of the river.

In the 15th century, the village was initially completely abandoned in order to be settled again later by families from Liguria.

In the war years 1943 and 1944, the community had to endure several Allied bombing attacks because of the Var Bridge, which cost 70 people with their lives and largely devastated the place.

Population development

year	1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006	2016
Residents	8186	10.156	15,503	20,678	24,426	27.141	30,076	28,645
Sources: Cassini and INSEE

Today's highly urbanized structure of the municipality in the Aire urbaine of Nice with more than 500,000 inhabitants is only the result of developments in the recent past. In the early 1960s, Saint-Laurent-du-Var was a small town with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. A strong influx of people into the greater Nice area made the place grow rapidly, especially in the 1970s. In 1982, with continued growth, the 20,000 population limit was already exceeded. Due to its geographical location with slopes that are sometimes difficult to settle, the calculated population density of around 2,500 inhabitants per square kilometer is relatively low for the degree of urbanization.

A TGV duplex in Saint-Laurent-du-Var

Culture and sights

After the bombing raids in 1943 and 1944, the community was almost completely rebuilt in the post-war style. The place is therefore a modern settlement with only a few historical buildings. The 19th century Château de Montaleigne is one of the older buildings .

The marina is one of the main tourist attractions of the municipality.

Personalities

The Belgian comic artist André Franquin (1924–1997), who created the characters Gaston Lagaffe , Marsupilami , Modeste et Pompon , suffered a heart attack in 1997 in Saint-Laurent-du-Var, from which he died.

Town twinning

Saint-Laurent-du-Var has partnerships with the following cities and municipalities

• Landsberg am Lech in Bavaria
• Siófok in Hungary

literature

• Le Patrimoine des Communes des Alpes-Maritimes . Flohic Editions, Volume 1, Paris 2000, ISBN 2-84234-071-X , pp. 198-202.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Website of the city ( Memento of the original from July 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 

Web links

Commons : Saint-Laurent-du-Var  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website
• Link catalog on the topic of Saint-Laurent-du-Var at curlie.org (formerly DMOZ )