Auxerre

Auxerre
Yonne river
Auxerre
Administration
Country France
Region Burgundy
Department Yonne
Arrondissement Auxerre
Intercommunality Auxerrois
Mayor Guy Ferez
(2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation 93–217 m (305–712 ft)
(avg. 102 m/335 ft)
Land area1 49.95 km2 (19.29 sq mi)
Population2 44,620  (2006)
 - Density 893 /km2 (2,310 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 89024/ 89000
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Auxerre (French pronunciation: [osɛʁ]) is a commune in the Bourgogne region in north-central France, between Paris and Dijon. It is the capital of the Yonne department.

Auxerre's population today is about 45,000.[1] People there are called Auxerrois. Auxerre's urban area accounts for more than 88,000 people.

It is a commercial and industrial centre, with industries including food production, woodworking and batteries. Auxerre is also world-famous for the wine produced in the neighbourhood, including the renowned Chablis.

Contents

History

Auxerre was a flourishing Gallo-Roman centre, Antissiodorum through which passed one of the main roads of the area, the Via Agrippa (1st century AD) which crossed the Yonne River (Gallo-Roman Icauna) here. In the third century it became the seat of a bishop[2] and a provincial capital of the Roman Empire. In the 5th century it received a Cathedral. In the late 11th-early 12th century the existing communities were included inside a new line of walls built by the feudal Counts of Auxerre.

Bourgeois activities accompanied the traditional land and wine cultivations starting from the twelfth century, and Auxerre developed into a commune with a Town Hall of its own. The Burgundian city, which became part of France under King Louis XI, suffered during the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion. In 1567 it was captured by the Huguenots, and many of the Catholic edifices were damaged. The medieval ramparts were demolished in the 18th century.

In the 19th century numerous heavy infrastructures were built, including a railway station, a psychiatric hospital and the courts, and new quarters were developed on the right bank of the Yonne.

In 1995 it was named "Town of Art and History".

Main sights

Personalities

Sister and twin cities

See also

References

  1. ^ Populations légales 2007 de la commune d’Auxerre, INSEE
  2. ^ Councils were held here in 578 and 1147.
  3. ^ Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607–1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1963. 
  4. ^ Howard Eves (1990). An Introduction to the History of Mathematics (sixth ed.). Saunders College Publishing. 

External links