Vitry-le-François

Vitry-le-François
Vitry-le-François
	Subprefecture and commune
	; Coat of arms
	; Coat of arms
	Vitry-le-François Location within Grand Est region Vitry-le-François
	Coordinates: 48°43′32″N 4°35′07″E / 48.7256°N 4.5853°ECoordinates: 48°43′32″N 4°35′07″E / 48.7256°N 4.5853°E
Country	France
Region	Grand Est
Department	Marne
Arrondissement	Vitry-le-François
Canton	Vitry-le-François-Champagne et Der
Intercommunality	Vitry-le-François
Government
• Mayor (2008–)	Jean-Pierre Bouquet
Area1	6.45 km2 (2.49 sq mi)
Population (2006)2	15,641
• Density	2,400/km2 (6,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	51649 /51300
	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.

Vitry-le-François (French pronunciation: [vitʁi lə frɑ̃swa]) is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. It is located on the Marne River and is the western terminus of the Marne–Rhine Canal.

History

In 1142, Louis VII invaded Champagne and seized Vitry-le-François. Over a thousand residents were killed when the town's church was set ablaze.

The present town is a relatively recent construction, having been built in 1545 at the behest of King Francis who wished to replace, on a new site, Vitry-en-Perthois, which in 1544 had been entirely destroyed as part of the backwash from the king's Italian War of 1542–46.^[1] The new Vitry was to be a modern city, constructed according to a plan produced by Girolamo Marini. The king's role in its creation resulted in Vitry-le-François receiving the king's name as part of its own name.

Demography

Features

Its church of Notre-Dame is a i7th-century building with fine 18th-century monuments.
A convent of the Récollets was later converted to contain the town hall, the court-house, a library and a small museum.
There is a bronze statue of Pierre Paul Royer-Collard (1763–1845), the politician and philosopher, a native of the district.^[2]

Twin towns

Vitry-le-François is twinned with:

Tauberbischofsheim, Germany, since 1961

References

↑ Chisholm 1911.
↑ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vitry-le-François". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 151.

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[FOOTNOTEChisholm1911-1] Chisholm 1911.

[EB1911-2] One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Vitry-le-François". Encyclopædia Britannica. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 151.