Everything about Orl Ans totally explained
» This article is about the French city of Orléans; for other meanings see Orleans (disambiguation).|
alt moy=116 m|alt mini=90 m|
alt maxi=124 m|hectares=2,748|
km²=27.48|
sans=113,126|
date-sans=1999|
dens=4,117|
date-dens=1999}}
Orléans is a city and
commune in north-central
France, about 130 km (80 miles) southwest of
Paris. It is the
préfecture (capital) of the
Loiret département and of the
Centre région. Population (1999): 113,126.
New Orleans (originally
La Nouvelle-Orléans) is named after the city of Orléans.
It is located on
Loire River where it curves south towards the
Massif Central.
Geography
Orléans is located in the
septentrional bend of the
Loire, which crosses from east to west. Orléans belongs to the
vallée de la Loire sector between
Sully-sur-Loire and
Chalonnes-sur-Loire, which was in
2000 inscribed by
UNESCO as a
World Heritage Site. The capital of
Orléanais, 120 kilomètres south-south-west of
Paris, she's bordered to the north by
de la Source quarter of
Sologne, and to the south by
Beauce and the
forêt d'Orléans.
Five bridges in the town cross the river :
» :* Pont de l'Europe
:* Pont du Maréchal Joffre (also called pont Neuf)
» :* Pont George-V (also called pont Royal), carrying the city
tramway
:* Pont René-Thinat
» :* Pont de Vierzon (rail bridge)
To the north of the Loire (on the rive droite) is to be found a small hill (102m at the pont Georges-V, 110m at the place du Martroi) which gently rises to 125m at la Croix Fleury, at the limits of
Fleury-les-Aubrais.
Conversely, the south (on the rive gauche) has a gentle
depression to about 95 m above sea level (at Saint-Marceau) between the Loire and the Loiret, designated a "zone inondable" (flood-risk zone).
At the end of the 1960s the
Orléans-la-Source quarter was created, 12km to the south of the original city and separated from it by the Val d'Orléans and the
Loiret River (whose source is in the
Parc floral de La Source). This quarter's altitude varues from about 100 to 110m.
Orléans is an autoroute intersection : the
A10 (linking
Paris to
Bordeaux) links to the city outskirts, and
A71 (whose bridge over the Loire is outside the city limits) begins here, heading for the Mediterranean via
Clermont-Ferrand (where it becomes the
A75).
The Loire and navigation
In Orléans, the Loire is separated by a submerged
dike known as the
dhuis into the
Grande Loire to the north, no longer navigable, and the
Petite Loire to the south. This dike is just one part of a vast system of construction that previously allowed the Loire to remain navigable.
The Loire was formerly an important navigation and trading route, but now large ships can only navigate the estaury up to about
Nantes.
Boats on the river were traditionally flat-bottomed boats, with large but foldable masts to gather wind from above the river banks but also to allow them to pass under bridges - they're known as gabarre, futreau, and so on, still on view for tourists near pont Royal.
The river's irregular flow strongly limits traffic on it, in particular at its ascent, though this can be overcome by boats being given a tow.
An "Inexplosible"-type paddle steamer owned by the mairie was put in place in August 2007, facing place de la Loire and containing a bar.
Every two years, the Festival de Loire recalls the role played by the river in the city's history.
Joined to it, on the river's north bank near the town centre, is the
canal d'Orléans, which rejoins the river at
Montargis but is no longer used along its whole length. Its route within Orléans runs parallel to the river, separated from it by a wall or
muret, with a promenade along the top. Its last
pound was transformed into an outdoor swimming pool in the 1960s, then filled in. It was reopened in 2007 for the "fêtes de Loire", with the intention of reviving it and installing a pleasure-boat port there.
History
» See also .
Prehistory and Roman
» See also Cenabum.
Cenabum was a
Gallic stronghold, one of the principal towns of the
Carnutes tribe where the
Druids held their annual assembly. It was conquered and destroyed by
Julius Caesar in
52 BC, then rebuilt under the
Roman Empire. The emperor
Aurelian refounded the city, renaming it "city of Aurelian" (
cité d'Aurélien), which evolved into Orléans.
Accompanying the
Vandals, the
Alans crossed the Loire in
408. One of their groups, under
Goar, joined the Roman forces of
Flavius Aetius to fight
Attila when he invaded Gaul in
451, taking part in the
Battle of Chalons under their king
Sangiban. Installed in Orléans and along the Loire, they were unruly (killing the town's senators when they felt they'd been paid too slowly or too little) and resented by the local inhabitants. 100 places around the present city have names bearing witness to the Alan presence -
Allaines,
Allainville, etc.
Early Middle Ages
In the
Merovingian era, the city was capital of the kingdom of Orléans following
Clovis I's division of the kingdom, then under the
Capetians it became the capital of a
county then
duchy held in
appanage by the house of
Valois-Orléans. The Valois-Orléans family later acceded to the throne of
France via
Louis XII then
Francis I. In
1108, one of the few consecrations of a French monarch to occur outside of
Reims occurred at Orléans, when
Louis VI Le Gros was consecrated in Orléans cathedral by
Daimbert,
archbishop of Sens.
High Middle Ages
The city was always a strategic point on the Loire, for it was sited at the river's most northerly point, and thus its closest point to
Paris. There were few bridges over the dangerous river Loire, and Orléans had one of them, and so became - with
Rouen and Paris - one of medieval France's three richest cities.
On the south bank the "
châtelet des Tourelles" protected access to the bridge. This was the site of the
battle on
8 May 1429 which allowed
Joan of Arc to enter and liberate the city, with the help of the royal generals
Dunois and Florent d'
Illiers. The city's inhabitants have continued to remain faithful and grateful to her to this day, calling her "la pucelle d'Orléans" (the maid of Orléans), offering her a middle-class house in the city, and contributing to her ransom when she was taken prisoner (though this ransom was sequestred by
Charles VII and Joan was never released).
1453 to 1699
Once the
Hundred Years' War was over, the city recovered its former prosperity. The bridge brought in tolls and taxes, as did the merchants passing through the city. King
Louis XI also greatly contributed to its prosperity, revitalizing agriculture in the surrounding area (particularly the exceptionally fertile land around
Beauce) and relaunching
saffron farming at
Pithiviers. Later, during the
Renaissance, the city benefited from it becoming fashionable for rich
châtelains to travel along the val-de-Loire (a fashion begun by the king himself, whose royal domains included the nearby
Chambord,
Amboise,
Blois, and
Chenonceau).
The
University of Orléans also contributed to the city's prestige. Specializing in law, it was highly regarded throughout Europe.
John Calvin was received and accommodated there (during which time he wrote part of his reforming theses) and in return
Henry VIII of England (who had drawn on Calvin's work in his separation from Rome) offered to fund a scholarship at the University. Many other Protestants were sheltered by the city. Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known by his pseudonym
Molière, also studied law at the University, but was expelled for attending a carnival contrary to University rules.
From
13 December 1560 to
31 January 1561, the
French States-General met here. This was just after the death of
Francis II of France, the eldest son of
Catherine de Médicis and
Henry II, on
5 December 1560 in the Hôtel Groslot in Orléans, with his queen
Mary at his side.
The cathedral was rebuilt several times. The present structure had its first stone laid by
Henry IV, and work on it took a century. It thus is a mix of late Renaissance and early
Louis XIV styles, and one of the last cathedrals to be built in France.
1700-1900
When France colonised America, the territory it conquered was immense, including the whole
Mississippi River (whose first European name was the River
Colbert), from its mouth to its source at the borders of
Canada. Its capital was named "
la Nouvelle-Orléans" in honour of
Louis XV's regent, the
duke of Orléans, and was settled with 8000 French and
Cajun inhabitants against the threat from British troops to the north-east.
The Dukes of Orléans hardly ever visited their city since, as brothers or cousins of the king, they took such a major role in court life that they could hardly ever leave. Officially their castle was that at
Blois. The duchy of Orléans was the largest of the French duchies, starting at
Arpajon, continuing to
Chartres,
Vendôme,
Blois,
Vierzon, and
Montargis. The duke's son bore the title duke of Chartres. Inheritances from great families and marriage alliances allowed them to accumulate huge wealth, and one of them -
Philippe Égalité is sometimes said to have been the richest man in the world at the time. His son,
Louis-Philippe I, inherited the Penthièvre and Condé family fortunes.
1852 saw the creation of the "Compagnies ferroviaires Paris-Orléans" and its famous
gare d'Orsay in Paris. In the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870, the city again became strategically important thanks to its geographical position, and was occupied by the
Prussians on
13 October that year. The
armée de la Loire was formed under the orders of
général d'Aurelle de Paladines and based itself not far from Orléans at Beauce.
1900 to present
During the
Second World War, the Nazis made the gare d'Orléans Fleury-les-Aubrais one of their central logistical rail hubs. The Pont Georges V was renamed "pont des Tourelles". A transit camp for deportatees was built at
Beaune-la-Rolande. On the Liberation, the American Air Force heavily bombed the city and the train station, causing much damage. The city was one of the first to be rebuilt after the war: the reconstruction plan and city-improvement initiated by Jean Kérisel and Jean Royer was adopted as early as 1943 and works began as early as the start of 1945. This reconstruction in part identically reproduced what was lost, such as Royale and its arcades, but also used innovative prefabrication techniques, such as îlot 4 under the direction of the architect
Pol Abraham.
The big city of former time is today an average-sized city of 250000 inhabitants. It is still using its strategically central position less than an hour from the French capital in attracting businesses interested in reducing transport costs.
Heraldry
According to
Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun in
La France Illustrée, 1882, Orléans's arms are "
gules, with three caillous in
cœurs de lys of
argent, two and one, at the top
azure,
charged with three fleur de lys
or. Charle Grandmaison, in the
Dictionnaire Héraldique of 1861, states that it's "Or, with three hearts in gules", without the azure top. Sometimes, in faulty designs, we find it described "gules, with three fleurs de lys of argent, azure at the top charged with three fleurs de lys, or.
It is to be noted that the design shown left shows three "cœurs de lys" (heart of a lily), seen from above. This "cœurs de lys" is therefore not a true lily, which would have 6
tepals, but a hypothetical aerial view of a symbolic lily. It has probably also been stylised more and more in heraldry, as in the heart in a pack of cards. Certain authors solve the problem by calling this symbol a "
tiercefeuille", defined as a stemless
clover leaf, with one leaf at the top and two below, thus making this coat of arms "gules, with three reversed tiercefeuilles in argent, etc".
Motto
"Hoc vernant lilia corde" (granted by
Louis XII, then duke of Orléans), meaning "It is by this heart that lilies flourish" or "This heart makes lilies flourish", referring to the
fleur de lys, symbol of the French royal family.
Quarters
Demography
Economy
Media
Transport
City transport
Autoroutes
Five "grands secteurs d'activités"
Administration
Cantons
Birthplace
Orléans is the
patrie (birthplace) of:
Monuments and tourist attractions
Secular heritage
Religious heritage
Museums
Parks
Religion
Catholicism
Other faiths
Food
Originating in Orléans
Festivals
Cultural events, concerts, cinema, and leisure
Twin cities
The city is twinned with:
Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom
Treviso, Italy
Münster, Germany
Kristiansand, Norway
Wichita, Kansas, United States
Tarragona, Spain
Saint-Flour, France
Utsunomiya, Japan
Lugoj, Romania
Kraków, Poland
Parakou, Benin
Education
University
Écoles supérieures
Lycées
Miscellaneous
SPORTS FOOTBALL & BASKETBALL
Military life
Further Information
Get more info on 'Orl Ans'.
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