Alençon (UK: /æˈlɒ̃sɒ̃/, US: /ˌælɒ̃ˈsoʊn/, French: [alɑ̃sɔ̃] (listen); Norman: Alençoun) is a commune in Normandy, France, capital of the Orne department.[3] It is situated 173 kilometres (107 mi) west of Paris. Alençon belongs to the intercommunality of Alençon (with 52,000 people).

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (April 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Alençon]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Alençon}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Alençon Alençoun (Norman)
Prefecture and commune
Town hall
Coat of arms
Location of Alençon
Alençon Show map of France Alençon Show map of Normandy
Coordinates: 48°25′50″N 0°05′35″E
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Orne
Arrondissement	Alençon
Canton	Alençon-1 and 2
Intercommunality	Alençon
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Joachim Pueyo[1]
Area 1	10.68 km2 (4.12 sq mi)
Population  (Jan. 2019)[2]	25,870
• Density	2,400/km2 (6,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	61001 /61000
Elevation	127–152 m (417–499 ft) (avg. 135 m or 443 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

History

The name of Alençon is first recorded in a document dated in the seventh century. During the tenth century, Alençon was a buffer state between Normandy and the Maine regions.

In 1049–1051, William Duke of Normandy, later known as William the Conqueror and king of England, laid siege to the town, which had risen in support of the Count of Anjou along with two other towns of the Bellême estates, Domfront (then in Maine) and Bellême (held directly from King Henry I of France). According to Duke William's chaplain and panegyrist, William of Poitiers, the defenders of the fortress refused to surrender and mockingly waved animal hides from the castle walls, referencing William's lineage as the grandson of a tanner. In response to this, William had 32 prisoners of the town's hands and feet cut off, prompting a sudden surrender. Upon hearing of this event, the town of Domfront also surrendered.[4][5]

Alençon was occupied by the English during the Anglo-Norman wars of 1113 to 1203.

The city became the seat of a dukedom in 1415, belonging to the sons of the King of France until the French Revolution, and some of them played important roles in French history: see Duke of Alençon. The French Revolution caused relatively little disorder in this area although there were some royalist uprisings nearby.

A long-standing local fabric industry gave birth to the town's famous point d'Alençon lace in the 18th century. The economic development of the nineteenth century was based on iron foundries and mills in the surrounding region. In the first half of the twentieth century the city developed a flourishing printing industry.

Alençon was home to Sts. Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin,[6][7] the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.[8] They were the first spouses in the history of the Catholic Church to be proposed for sainthood as a couple, in 2008. Zélie and Louis were married at the Basilica[9] of Notre-Dame in Alençon on 13 July 1858 and spent their whole married life in Alençon, where Thérèse was born[10] in January 1873 and spent her early childhood until the death of her mother in 1877.

On 17 June 1940 the German Army took occupation of Alençon. On 12 August 1944 Alençon was the first French city to be liberated by the French Army under General Leclerc, after minor bomb damage.

After the war the population sharply increased and new industries settled. Many of these were related to plastics and the town is now a major plastics educational centre.

Climate

Population

Heraldry

The arms of Alençon are blazoned : Azure, a double-headed eagle displayed Or.

Economy

In the seventeenth century, Alençon was chiefly noted for its lace called point d'Alençon.

Today, Alençon is home to a prosperous plastics industry, and, since 1993, to a plastics engineering school.

MPO Fenêtres is a local PVC windows company established in Alençon since 1970, is one of the first company in Alençon with around 170 employees (2009) and a turnover of 28 million euros in 2008. It is also the oldest French PVC windows company still in activity.

Education

"Écoles". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.

"Collèges". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.

"Lycées". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.

Transport

Alençon is linked by the A28 autoroute (motorway/freeway) with the nearby cities of Le Mans to the south (Sarthe) and Rouen (Seine-Maritime) to the north. The A88 autoroute links the A28 just north of Alençon to the coastal port of Caen.

The Alençon railway station offers regional services towards Caen, Le Mans and Tours.[16] A comprehensive town bus system operates from 7:00 to 19:00.

There is a comprehensive network of cycle paths.

Notable people

Twin towns – sister cities

Alençon is twinned with:[17]

• Basingstoke and Deane, England, United Kingdom
• Quakenbrück, Germany

Gallery

• 
  La Halle aux Blé
• 
  Château des Ducs
• 
  Library

See also

• Alençon lace
• Communes of the Orne department

References

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Alençon.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alençon.

• Official website
• Alençon Tourist Office
• Shrine of Alençon: pilgrimage on the steps of St. Therese and her parents, the blessed Louis and Zelie Martin
• Website about the life, writings, spirituality, and mission of St. Therese of the Child Jesus of the Holy Face; information about the life of her family in Alençon and about pilgrimages to Alençon

На других языках

[de] Alençon

[fr] Alençon

[ru] Алансон