world.wikisort.org - France

Search / Calendar

Montluçon (French: [mɔ̃lysɔ̃] (listen); Occitan: Montleçon [munləˈsu]) is a commune in central France on the river Cher. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's prefecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known as Montluçonnais. The town is in the traditional province of Bourbonnais and was part of the mediaeval duchy of Bourbon.

Montluçon
Montleçon (Occitan)
Subprefecture and commune
The Château of the Dukes of Bourbon in Montluçon
Location of Montluçon
Montluçon
Montluçon
Coordinates: 46°20′27″N 2°36′12″E
CountryFrance
RegionAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes
DepartmentAllier
ArrondissementMontluçon
CantonMontluçon-1, 2, 3 and 4
IntercommunalityCA Montluçon Communauté
Government
  Mayor (20202026) Frédéric Laporte[1]
Area
1
20.67 km2 (7.98 sq mi)
Population
 (Jan. 2019)[2]
34,361
  Density1,700/km2 (4,300/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
  Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
03185 /03100
Elevation194–364 m (636–1,194 ft)
(avg. 207 m or 679 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography


Montluçon is located in the northwest of the Allier department near the frontier of the Centre-Val de Loire and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions.

Montluçon is linked with surrounding regions and towns via four main road axes, plus the highway A71 from Orléans to Clermont-Ferrand; through a railway linking in the North Vierzon then Paris (3-5h). Formerly the canal de Berry linked Montluçon towards the north.

Montluçon is 106 kilometres (66 miles) south of Bourges, 340 km (211 miles) from Paris, 95 km (59 mi) from Clermont-Ferrand, 280 km (174 mi) (3h) from Lyon, 150 km (93 mi) (2h) from Limoges and 400 km (249 mi) from the Atlantic coast.

Montluçon is close to the Méridienne verte (an architectural project marking the Paris meridian) and to the Greenwich meridian.

Montluçon is also close to the geographic centre of Metropolitan France.


History



Early history


Montluçon was built in the Middle Ages. The first mention of a place called Monte Lucii (Mont de Lucius) dates from the eleventh century. Guillaume, son of Archambaud IV of Bourbon, built the castle in a defensible position on a small rocky hill on a bend in the river Cher.

The town, which formed part of the duchy of Bourbon, was taken by the English in 1171, and by Philip Augustus in 1181; the English were finally driven out in the 14th century.

In the 14th century, Louis II de Bourbon re-built the castle and walls. Montluçon and other Bourbon lands reverted to the French crown in 1529, and Henry IV further improved the defenses.

Montluçon became the administrative seat of the area in 1791, then entered the industrial era thanks to the presence of coalpits 12 km (7 mi) distant in Commentry, the Canal de Berry in 1830 and the railway in 1864. These transport links allowed the import of ore and export of coal, wood and manufactured goods. The population grew from 5000 inhabitants in 1830 to 50 000 in 1950.


World War II


During the Second World War, the Germans occupied the Dunlop tyre plant (even though Montluçon was in the free zone) to exploit the research laboratory to synthesize rubber, since natural rubber could not be imported by Germany. The manufacturing of tyres for Luftwaffe aircraft was also of interest for the Germans.

For this reason, the Allies bombed the site on 12–16 September 1943, as well as part of the nearby town Saint-Victor, causing 36 deaths and injuring more than 250 civilians.

A notable act of resistance occurred in the city on 6 January 1943 when a mob of citizens overran guards supervising a massive deportation of men to Germany in accordance with the Service de Travail Obligatoire (Obligatory Work Service) plan that sent able Frenchmen to fill vacancies in German factories during the war. All the men who were to be deported managed to escape into the countryside, evading the forced industrial service awaiting them in the Reich.[3]


Post-World War II


Since 1945, traditional industry (blast furnaces and glassware) has declined. Today Montluçon has chemical industries, tyre manufacture (Dunlop), and electronics (Sagem), and more recently a technopole at La Loue was established for high-tech companies.

New Zealand-born SOE agent Nancy Wake, the most decorated woman of World War II, led her small army of resistance fighters in the countryside around Montluçon. Wake died on 7 August 2011 aged 98, and on 11 March 2013, her ashes were scattered in a small wood outside Montluçon. The ceremony was followed by a civic reception in the town.


Population


Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1793 5,521    
1800 5,684+0.42%
1806 5,212−1.43%
1821 4,716−0.66%
1831 4,991+0.57%
1836 5,034+0.17%
1841 5,740+2.66%
1846 7,331+5.01%
1851 8,922+4.01%
1856 15,289+11.37%
1861 16,212+1.18%
1866 18,675+2.87%
1872 21,247+2.17%
1876 23,416+2.46%
1881 26,079+2.18%
1886 27,818+1.30%
1891 27,878+0.04%
1896 31,595+2.53%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901 35,062+2.10%
1906 34,251−0.47%
1911 33,799−0.27%
1921 36,114+0.66%
1926 37,504+0.76%
1931 41,052+1.82%
1936 42,515+0.70%
1946 46,826+0.97%
1954 48,743+0.50%
1962 55,184+1.56%
1968 57,871+0.80%
1975 56,468−0.35%
1982 49,912−1.75%
1990 44,248−1.49%
1999 41,362−0.75%
2007 39,761−0.49%
2012 38,072−0.86%
2017 35,653−1.30%
Source: EHESS[4] and INSEE (1968-2017)[5]

Transportation



Air


There is a small airport 30 km (19 mi) from Montluçon (Montluçon - Guéret Airport) with flights mainly for Paris, and a smaller aerodrome in Montluçon itself (Montluçon - Domérat Aerodrome). The nearest international airports are Clermont-Ferrand Airport and Limoges Airport.


Road


Montluçon is linked to French and European road networks, by three major routes:


Rail


Montluçon-Ville railway station
Montluçon-Ville railway station

The Gare de Montluçon-Ville railway station is served by three main passenger rail lines.


City buses


Montluçon's local buses are run by Maelis.


Sights


The upper town, on the right bank of the Cher, consists of steep, narrow, winding streets, and preserves several buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries. The lower town, traversed by the Cher, is the industrial zone.

The church of Notre-Dame dates from the fourteenth century, the church of St Pierre partly from the 12th. The town hall, with a library, occupies the site of an old Ursuline convent, and two other convents are used as a college and hospital. Overlooking the town is the castle rebuilt by Louis II, Duke of Bourbon, and taken by Henry IV during the French Wars of Religion; it serves as a barracks.


Monuments



Culture



International relations


Montluçon is twinned with:[6]


Miscellaneous


Administration: Montluçon is a sub-prefecture and has courts, a board of trade arbitration, a chamber of commerce and several schools (general public, private, commercial).

Sport:


Personalities


Montluçon was the birthplace of:


See also



References


  1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 4 May 2022.
  2. "Populations légales 2019". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 29 December 2021.
  3. John F. Sweets, Choices in Vichy France, (Oxford: Oxford University Press: 1994): 25.
  4. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Montluçon, EHESS. (in French)
  5. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  6. "Jumelage" (PDF). montlucon.com (in French). Montluçon Pratique 2019. p. 31. Retrieved 19 November 2019.



На других языках


[de] Montluçon

Montluçon ist eine französische Stadt in der Region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Mit 34.361 Einwohnern (Stand 1. Januar 2019) ist sie die größte Stadt im Département Allier. Montluçon ist Sitz der Unterpräfektur (sous-préfecture) des Arrondissements Montluçon sowie Sitz des Gemeindeverbandes Montluçon Communauté.
- [en] Montluçon

[fr] Montluçon

Montluçon .mw-parser-output .prononciation>a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png")center left no-repeat;padding-left:15px;font-size:smaller}Écouter (prononciation : /mɔ̃.ly.sɔ̃/ ou localement /mo.ly.sɔ̃/) est une commune française située dans le centre de la France, sous-préfecture du département de l'Allier dans la région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

[ru] Монлюсон

Монлюсон (фр.  Montluçon) — самый крупный город департамента Алье в регионе Овернь Франции. Город является супрефектурой округа Монлюсон, состоящего из 12 кантонов.



Текст в блоке "Читать" взят с сайта "Википедия" и доступен по лицензии Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike; в отдельных случаях могут действовать дополнительные условия.

Другой контент может иметь иную лицензию. Перед использованием материалов сайта WikiSort.org внимательно изучите правила лицензирования конкретных элементов наполнения сайта.

2019-2025
WikiSort.org - проект по пересортировке и дополнению контента Википедии