Châlons-en-Champagne


Coordinates: 48°57′27″N 4°21′54″E / 48.9575°N 4.365°E / 48.9575; 4.365

Commune of Châlons-en-Champagne

Notre-Dame-en-Vaux
Location
Châlons-en-Champagne is located in France
Châlons-en-Champagne
Châlons-en-Champagne
Administration
Country France
Region Champagne-Ardenne
Department Marne
Arrondissement Châlons-en-Champagne
Intercommunality Châlons-en-Champagne
Mayor Bruno Bourg-Broc
(2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation 83 m (270 ft) avg.
Land area1 26.05 km2 (10.06 sq mi)
Population2 47,339  (1999)
 - Density 1,817 /km² (4,710 /sq mi)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 51108/ 51000
Website http://www.chalons-en-champagne.net/
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Châlons-en-Champagne is a city in France. It is the capital of both the department of Marne and the region of Champagne-Ardenne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Rheims.

Formerly called Châlons-sur-Marne, the city was officially renamed in 1998. It should not be confused with the Burgundian town of Chalon-sur-Saône.

Contents

History

Châlons is conjectured to be the site of the Catalaunian Fields in which the battle of Chalons, 451AD, turned back the westward advance of Attila.

Main sights

  • Saint Etienne's cathedral, including parts of the first Romanesque cathedral built in the 12th century. Nevertheless, it was mainly rebuilt in Gothic style. The west façade (in Baroque style) and two close spans were added in the 17th century.
Cloister Notre-Dame-en-Vaux
  • Notre-Dame-en-Vaux church, part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Built between 1157 and 1217, the collegiate church had a cloister and was a place of pilgrimage in the 12th century, and Museum du Cloitre de Notre-Dame-en-Vaux 12th century.
  • Saint-Alpin, perhaps the oldest church of the city. It was rebuilt around 1170 in Gothic style, but still marked by the Romanesque style.
  • Hôtel de Ville (city hall). It has a façade representative of the neo-classic period of the end of the 18th century. The steps of the building are procteted by four stoned lions.
  • Porte Sainte-Croix (Ste-Croix Gate). Previously called Porte Dauphine, this gate was one of the entries into the city. It was dedicated to Marie-Antoinette when she came via Chalons on her way to Paris to marry king Louis XVI of France.
  • Ancien Hotel des Intendants of Champagne (18th century). Today home to the Prefecture of the Champagne-Ardenne region and Prefecture of the Marne.
  • Le Cirque. The old town circus, completed in 1899, is sheltering the Centre National des Arts du Cirque (CNAC).

Transport

Châlons is served by the TGV network with service to and from Paris Gare de l'Est. Additionally, Châlons is connected with the Champagne-TGV station, near Rheims, with high speed trains going to Lille, Nantes, Rennes and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Châlons is located at the intersection of two major axes:

Châlons is also served by an international airport devoted to shipping (Châlons Vatry Airport [1]), ranking third in France with almost 60,000 tonnes of freight passing through each year.

Local transportation is provided by SITAC BUS buses.

Education

University level

  • Centre national des arts du cirque (CNAC), which is a Circus Arts Learning Centre created in 1985. Each year about twenty students learn all the disciplines of modern circus arts.
  • Institut Universitaire Technologique Reims, Châlons, CharleVille, is a national university, that is a branch of the University of Reims.

Sport

  • ESPE Basket Châlons-en-Champagne is a Châlons' basketball team.

Twinning

Births

Châlons-en-Champagne was the birthplace of:

Nicolas Appert

Deaths

Châlons-en-Champagne was the death location of:

Mentions

British comedian Eddie Izzard mentions Châlons-en-Champagne (at the time known as Châlons-sur-Marne) on his stand-up album Definite Article, as part of a routine in which he tells of his school exchange trip to Châlons-sur-Marne, one of the highlights of which was a visit to a glue factory.

See also

References

  1. ^ Ilkeston Twinning Association
  2. ^ Neuss sister city link page

External links

Sister project Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Châlons-en-Champagne
v • d • e
Préfectures of régions of France
Metropolitan France
Overseas regions
gay





stock | retire | vm
Why are we here?
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
This page is cache of Wikipedia. History