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Coordinates: 45°38′56″N 0°09′39″E / 45.648906, 0.160847

Commune of Angoulême

Angoulême Cathedral

Location
Angoulême (France)
Angoulême
Administration
CountryFrance
RegionPoitou-Charentes
DepartmentCharente
ArrondissementAngoulême
CantonChief town of 3 cantons
IntercommunalityAngoulême
MayorPhilippe Lavaud
(2008-2015)
Statistics
Elevation27 m–130 m
(avg. A geographic coordinate system enables every location on the Earth to be specified in three coordinates using mainly a spherical coordinate system. Wikipedia talkFeatured lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below -->This list of countries, arranged alphabetically This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. France is divided into 26 regions or régions (in French of which 21 are in continental Metropolitan France, one is the island of Corsica, Poitou-Charentes is an administrative region in central western France comprising four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, In the context of the political and geographic organization of France and many of its former colonies a department (département depaʁtǝmɑ̃ is an Administrative division Charente ( Saintongeais: Chérente, Occitan: T'Charanto) is a department in western France named after the Charente The 100 French departments are divided into 342 arrondissements, which may be translated into English as districts. The arrondissement of Angoulême is an arrondissement of France located in the Charente département, in the Poitou-Charentes The cantons of France are territorial subdivisions of the French Republic's 341 arrondissements and 100 departments. The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning "greater" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government The elevation of a Geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point often the mean sea level. 100 m)
Land area¹21. 85 km²
Population²
(1999)		43,171
 - Density1,976/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code16015/ 16000
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0. As of January 1, 2008, 64473140 people live in the French Republic. Population density (in agriculture standing stock and Standing crop) is a measurement of Population per unit area or unit volume The INSEE code is a numerical indexing code used by the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE to identify various entities including communes Postal codes were introduced in France in 1972, when La Poste introduced automated sorting. Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of 386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. An estuary is a semi-enclosed Coastal body of Water with one or more Rivers or Streams flowing into it and with a free connection to the open
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once. C D E
France

Angoulême is a commune in western France, capital of the Charente département. The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Charente ( Saintongeais: Chérente, Occitan: T'Charanto) is a department in western France named after the Charente In the context of the political and geographic organization of France and many of its former colonies a department (département depaʁtǝmɑ̃ is an Administrative division

Contents

History

Angoulême (Iculisma or Ecolisna, later Angoulesme) was taken by Clovis from the Visigoths in 507, and plundered by the Normans in the 9th century. Clovis I (c 466 &ndash 27 November 511) was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler The Visigoths (Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, or Wisi were one of two main branches of the Goths, an East For the area code see Area code 507 Events By Place Europe Battle of Vouillé: Clovis I The Normans were the people who gave their names to Normandy, a region in northern France. The 9th century is the period from 801 to 900 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian / Common Era.

In 1360 it was surrendered by the Treaty of Brétigny to the English; they were, however, expelled in 1373 by the troops of Charles V, who granted the town numerous privileges. The Treaty of Brétigny was a Treaty signed on May 8, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II (the Good England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Charles V ( 21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380) called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death and a member It suffered much during the French Wars of Religion, especially in 1568 after its capture by the Protestants under Coligny. The French Wars of Religion (1562 to 1598 between French Catholics and Protestants ( Huguenots involved both civil infighting Protestantism refers to the forms of Christian faith and practice that originated in the 16th century Protestant Reformation. Gaspard de Coligny ( February 16, 1519 &ndash August 24, 1572) Seigneur (Lord de Châtillon held the office of

The county of Angoulême dated from the 9th century, the most important of the early counts being William Taillefer, whose descendants held the title till the end of the 12th century. Angoulême ( Angoumois) in western France was part of the Carolingian empire as the kingdom of Aquitaine. Withdrawn from them on more than one occasion by Richard Coeur-de-Lion, it passed to King John of England on his marriage with Isabel, daughter of Count Adhémar, and by her subsequent marriage in 1220 to Hugh X passed out to the Lusignan family, counts of Marche. Richard I (8 September 1157 &ndash 6 April 1199 was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death John (24 December 1167 &ndash 19 October 1216 reigned as a King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death Isabella of Angoulême ( Fr Isabelle d'Angoulême; (1188 &ndash May 31, 1246) was Countess of Angoulême and Queen consort Hugh X of Lusignan, Hugh V of La Marche or Hugh I of Angoulême or Hugues X & V & I de Lusignan (c The Lusignan family originated in the Poitou near Lusignan in western France in the early 10th century. The County of Marche (la Marcha was a Medieval French County, approximately corresponding to the modern département of Creuse On the death of Hugh XIII in 1302 without issue, his possessions passed to the crown. In 1394 the countship came to the house of Orleans, a member of which, Francis I, became king of France in 1515 and raised it to the rank of duchy in favour of his mother Louise of Savoy. Orléans is the name used by several branches of the Royal House of France all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's royal founder Hugh Capet Francis I (September 12 1494 &ndash March 31 1547 was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547 List of Queens and Empresses of France Wikipedia_talkFeatured_lists#Proposed_change_to_all_featured_lists for an explanation of this and other inclusion tags below A duchy is a territory fief, or domain ruled by a Duke or Duchess. Louise of Savoy ( September 11, 1476 &ndash September 22, 1531) was the mother of Francis I of France. The duchy, now crown land and only nominally a duchy, thereafter was passed on within the ruling house of France, one of its holders being Charles of Valois, natural son of Charles IX. Charles of Valois ( March 12, 1270 &ndash December 16, 1325) was the fourth son of Philip III of France and Isabella of Aragon Charles IX (27 June 1550 &ndash 30 May 1574 born Charles-Maximilien, was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death The last duke was Louis-Antoine, eldest son of Charles X, who died in 1844. Louis-Antoine of France Dauphin of France and Duke of Angoulême (born Louis-Antoine of Artois; August 6, 1775 – June 3, 1844) Charles X (9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836 ruled as King of France and Navarre from 20 May 1824 until the French Revolution of 1830, when he abdicated Year 1844 ( MDCCCXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year

Angoulême was marginally to the west of the demarcation line during World War II, and thus occupied by the Germans. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Being on the main railway line with extensive marshalling yards it was of strategic importance and the scene of much resistance activity. The railway station was bombed by the Allies (American B-25's) late on in the war with the object of disrupting German supply lines to the north where the battle was raging in Normandy. There is a museum devoted to the Resistance and deportations. A statue stands near the station to commemorate deportations to the concentration camps. The survivors of the so-called "Cockleshell Heroes", notable for their daring raid in miniature submarines on the German U-Boat base at Bordeaux, made their escape across country to a safe house at Ruffec just north of Angoulême, now the site of a British shop, and the Monument to the Resistance is at Chasseneuil to the east. Operation Frankton was a World War II British Combined Operations military Commando raid on Nazi German shipping in Chasseneuil is a commune in the Indre department in central France.

Geography

Angoulême is located 134 km or 83. 8 miles N. N. E. of Bordeaux on the railway between Bordeaux and Poitiers. ( Gascon: Bordèu) is a port city in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate Poitiers is a town on the Clain River in west central France.

The town proper occupies an elevated promontory, washed on the north by the Charente and on the south and west by the Anguienne, a small tributary of that Ocean. The Charente is a River in western France, flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. The more important of the suburbs lie towards the east, where the promontory joins the main plateau, of which it forms the north-western extremity. The countryside to the north and west is rather flat agricultural land, whereas to the east and south it is more forested and attractively hilly, being the north-west extremity of the Perigord Vert.

Sights

Angoulême
Angoulême

In place of its ancient fortifications, Angoulême is encircled by boulevards above the old city walls, known as the Remparts, from which fine views may be obtained in all directions. Fortifications are Military Constructions and Buildings designed for defense in Warfare Humans have constructed defensive works for Within the town the streets are often narrow and apart from the cathedral and the hôtel de ville the architecture is of little interest to the purists. This article is about the history and organisation of the cathedral However, the "old town" has been preserved, maintained and largely pedestrianised, and is now a charming cobbled restaurant quarter, with some interesting galleries and boutiques, much appreciated by locals and visitors.

Angoulême Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Peter, a church in the Byzantine-Romanesque style, dates from the 11th and 12th centuries, but has undergone frequent restoration, and was partly rebuilt in the latter half of the nineteenth century by the architect Paul Abadie. Angoulême Cathedral ( Cathédrale Saint-Pierre d'Angoulême) is the most important religious edifice of Angoulême, Charente, France, and one Byzantine architecture is the Architecture of the Byzantine Empire. Regional characteristics of Romanesque architecture|Romanesque art Romanesque architecture is the term that is used to describe the architecture of Middle Ages Europe which Paul Abadie ( 10 December 1812 &ndash 2 August 1884) was a French Architect and building restorer The façade, flanked by two towers with cupolas, is decorated with arcades filled in with statuary and sculpture, the whole representing the Last Judgment. A facade or façade (fəˈsɑːd is generally one side of the exterior of a Building, especially the front but also sometimes the sides and rear In Architecture, a cupola or lantern is a radially symmetrical ornamental structure (often dome-shaped or quadrilateral located on top of a larger An arcade is a passage or walkway covered over by a succession of Arches or vaults supported by columns In Christian eschatology, the Last Judgment or Day of the Lord is the judgment by God of every human who ever lived The crossing is surmounted by a dome, and the extremity of the north transept by a fine square tower over 160 ft. A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a Cruciform (cross-shaped church Full descriptions of the elements of a Gothic floorplan are found at the entry Cathedral diagram. high.

The hôtel de ville, also by Abadie, is a handsome modern structure, but preserves two towers of the chateau of the counts of Angoulême, on the site of which it is built. Angoulême ( Angoumois) in western France was part of the Carolingian empire as the kingdom of Aquitaine. It contains museums of paintings and archaeology. [Hotel de Ville:[1]

Tours of the town also include the "murs peints", the various walls painted in street-art cartoon style, a feature of Angoulême and related to its association with the "bande dessinée", the comic strip. The attractive covered market "Les Halles", on the site of the old Jail, was restored and refurbished in 2004 and is a central part of city life.

Economy

Angoulême is a centre of the paper-making and printing industry, with which the town has been connected since the 14th century. Most of the mills are situated on the banks of the watercourses in the neighbourhood of the town. Cardboard for packaging, as well as fine vellum for correspondence have been produced in quantity, but the best known export is RIZLA+ cigarette roll-up paper, named after riz (rice paper) and LaCroix, after Monsieur LaCroix the founder. "Le Nil" is another local brand of roll-up paper, named, not after the Nile in Egypt, but a small tributary of the Charente River. Papermaking is favoured because of the uniform temperature and volume of the water year-round, partly due to the River Touvre, which joins the Charente River at Angoulême. This is the second largest underground source in France after the River Sorgue (La Fontaine de Vaucluse). It is a bizarre sight to see The Touvre, a full-blown river, emerging from the head of the valley at Ruelle. There is a trout fishery at the source and a pumping station to supply the drinking water needs of Angoulême.

The economy of the modern town also relies on its various festivals. For example, the printers and paper-makers, whose industry relied on intricate machinery, became skilled mechanics and amongst the first to become fascinated with the motor car in the late 19th Century. Motor trials were held regularly, starting on the long straight road through Puymoyen, now a suburb. Monsieur LaCroix (RIZLA+) was a celebrated motorcycle racer. The Paris-Madrid road race of 1903, notorious for its cancellation due to the large number of deaths, passed through Angoulême. Marcel, one of the brothers Renault, was one of the victims, the spot now marked by a memorial. The town has been closely associated with motor trials and racing, the Circuit Des Remparts (see below) being re-enacted annually, the last such street-racing circuit in France, besides Pau (and Monaco). As well as local heroes, famous racing drivers such as Fangio, Gonzalzes, Wimille, Veyron and Trintignant were regular visitors, and the mythical cars they drove frequently appear at the modern event. The hotel and restaurant trade receives a considerable boost at this time

The subsidiary industries, such as the manufacture of machinery, electric motors and wire fabric, are of considerable importance, Angoulême being the most inland navigable port on the Charente River, the traditional river boat being the Gabare. Iron and copper founding, brewing, tanning, and the manufacture of gunpowder, confectionery, heavy iron goods, gloves, boots and shoes (including the traditional "pantoufle" carpet slippers) and cotton goods are also carried on. Commerce is active in wine, Cognac and building-stone.

Angoulême is reputed to have the largest square-footage of supermarket ("grand surface") area per head of population in all France, and has at least six hamburger restaurants (four Macdonalds and two Quick)!

Transportation

Angoulême in 1914
Angoulême in 1914

The main line of the Paris-Bordeaux railway passes through a tunnel beneath the town and is due for large scale refurbishment to reduce journey times still further. Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city ( Gascon: Bordèu) is a port city in southwest France, with one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area at a 2008 estimate The new high speed link between Tours and Bordeaux has been approved and will by-pass the town centre to the West. It is due to open in 2013.

Angoulême Brie-Champniers airport, newly named Angoulême-Cognac airport is situated 9. 5km NE of the city centre in Champniers, just off the N10. In spite of the termination of the air service to Lyon, the airport is undergoing improvement, with the runway extended 50 metres to accommodate the Boeing 737. The terminal is having a new restaurant and shops added in order to greet flights from the UK budget airlines in Spring 2008. [2]

City of Festivals

Angoulême, along with paper and printing, has long been associated with animation, illustration and the graphic arts. The national Musée de la Bande Dessinée (comic strip museum, the CNBD) is situated in an ambitious paper-mill conversion down by the river. A new museum dedicated to the motion picture opens Summer 2007 at the newly restored "chais" on the riverside at Saint Cybard. The famous Angoulême International Comics Festival takes place for a week every year in January and receives nearly a quarter of a million visitors from around the world. Angoulême International Comics Festival ( French: Festival International de la Bande Dessinée d'Angoulême) is the main comics festival in Europe

Smaller, yet most influential is FITA, held each December. FITA stands for Forum International des Technologies de l’Animation – International Forum for Animation Technologies. The event was started in 1998. The purpose of the event is to gather 250 – 300 French professionals from animation, effects, post-production and game development studios – SFX supervisors, head of studios, animators, technical directors - to come and listen to internationally renowned speakers on the latest advances and new ideas in entertainment technology. Speakers from Hollywood and beyond are attracted not only by the opportunity to speak, but also to experience the old world charm of the city.

The Circuit Des Remparts motor racing event, with its historic street circuit around the ramparts and past the Cathedral, is re-enacted on the Sunday of the mid weekend in September, and is the world's largest gathering of pre-war Bugatti racing machines, usually around 30 cars of fabulous value, many being examples of the legendary T35, the Ferraris of their day, which their owners "demonstrate" at full speed around the twisting cicuit, complete with hairpin bends and hillclimbs. British vintage and classic cars are also in abundance, most having been driven to the event. The Saturday of the "Remparts" weekend includes a "touristic" rally (as opposed to a speed event) for classic and sporting cars, around the picturesque Cognac growing area. Tickets include a big lunch and a large party and prize-giving in Les Halles in the evening.

With the Gastronomades festival at Christmas, Music Metisse in May and Piano de Valois in October, Angoulême truly lives up to its name "City of Festivals".

A new exhibition centre (Le Parc Des Expos) and a new shopping mall at the Champ de Mars in the town centre (opening Sept/Oct 2007) are the latest additions to a rapidly growing city.

Angoulême is the seat of a bishop, a prefect, and an Assize court. In many rites of the Roman Catholic Church and in Anglican churches, a diocese is an administrative territorial unit administered by a Bishop. For subsequent types of praefectura, see Prefect. Prefecture (from the Latin Praefectura) indicates the office The Court of Assize, or Assizes, is a medieval term for Legal codes (such as Assizes of Jerusalem) that continues to be used in modern times Its public institutions include tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a council of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. It also has a lycée, training-colleges, a school of artillery, a library and several learned societies.

Angoulême was the finish of Stage 18 and Stage 19 (ITT) in the 2007 Tour de France. The 2007 Tour de France, the 94th running of the race, took place from July 7 to July 29 2007

Births

Angoulême City Hall
Angoulême City Hall

Angoulême was the birthplace of:

Twin towns

Angoulême is twinned with:

See also

Sources, external links and references

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