Agde
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Commune of Agde |
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| Location | |
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| Administration | |
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| Country | France |
| Region | Languedoc-Roussillon |
| Department | Hérault |
| Arrondissement | Béziers |
| Canton | Agde |
| Intercommunality | Hérault Méditerranée |
| Mayor | Gilles d'Ettore (2001-2008) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0 m–110 m (avg. 5 m) |
| Land area¹ | 50.81 km² |
| Population² (1999) |
19,988 |
| - Density | 393.39/km² (1999) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 34003/ 34300 |
| 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. | |
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Agde is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. Its inhabitants are called Agathois.
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[edit] Location
Agde is located on the river Hérault, 4 km from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 km from Paris. Agde is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi, which connects to the Hérault at the lock ("L'Écluse Ronde d'Agde") just above Agde and debouches into the Mediterranean at Le Grau d'Agde.
[edit] History
Agde (Agathe Tyche, "good fortune") was a 5th century BCE Greek colony of Phocaeans of Massilia. The symbol of the city, the bronze Ephebe of Agde, of the 4th century BCE, recovered from the sands of the Hérault, was joined in December 2001 by two Early Imperial Roman Bronzes, of a child and of Eros, doubtless on their way to a villa in Gallia Narbonensis when they were lost in a shipwreck. In 506 CE the Council of Agde was held at Agde.
[edit] Architecture
Agde is known for the distinctive black basalt used in the local architecture, for example the cathedral of Saint Stephen, built in the 12th century on the foundations of a 5th century Roman church.
[edit] See also
- Cap d'Agde, the seaside resort of Agde
- Ancient Diocese of Agde
- List of traditional Greek place names
[edit] External links
- (French) Agde Town website
- (French) Agde Tourist Office
- (French) Agde (official site)
- (French) Agde has one of the biggest naturist centres of Europe
- Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Agatha (Agde) Hérault, France"
- Recent undersea find of bronzes
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