Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the
Yonne department
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
*Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
and the fourth-largest city in
Burgundy
Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are referred to as ''Auxerrois''.
Auxerre is a commercial and industrial centre, with industries including food production, woodworking and batteries. It is also noted for its production of
Burgundy wine, including
Chablis. In 1995 Auxerre was named "Town of Art and History".
Geography
Auxerre lies on the river
Yonne and the
Canal du Nivernais, about 150 km southeast of
Paris and 120 km northwest of
Dijon. The
A6 autoroute (Paris–Lyon) passes northeast of the city.
Auxerre-Saint-Gervais station has rail connections to Dijon, Paris, Corbigny and Avallon.
History
Auxerre was a flourishing Gallo-Roman centre, then called Autissiodorum, through which passed one of the main roads of the area, the
Via Agrippa (1st century AD) which crossed the
Yonne (Gallo-Roman Icauna) here. In the third century it became the seat of a bishop 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
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
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.
Until the early 20th century, Auxerre was one of the most prosperous cities in the department. But the local authorities of that period refused the railway that was subsequently set in the village of Migennes, and signed the economic decline of the town.
Population
Climate
Main sights
*
Cathedral of St. Étienne (11th–16th centuries). In
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
style, it has three doorways with bas-reliefs. There are stained-glass windows in the choir and the apsidal chapel. The 11th-century crypt houses the remains of the former
Romanesque cathedral.
*
Abbey of Saint-Germain, existing from the 9th century. The crypt has some of the oldest mural paintings in France, and houses the tomb of the
bishops of Auxerre. There is a chapter room (12th century), a cellar (14th century) and a cloister (17th century).
*The Clock Tower, in the Old Town
*The church of St. Pierre en Vallée (17th–18th centuries), established over a 6th-century abbey. In late Gothic style, it has a tower similar to that of the cathedral. Portions of the decorations and inner chapels were financed by local winegrowers.
*
Church of St. Eusèbe, founded in the 7th century. The nave was rebuilt in the 13th century, while the tower is in Romanesque style.
Notable people
*
Germanus of Auxerre
Germanus of Auxerre ( la, Germanus Antissiodorensis; cy, Garmon Sant; french: Saint Germain l'Auxerrois; 378 – c. 442–448 AD) was a western Roman clergyman who was bishop of Autissiodorum in Late Antique Gaul. He abandoned a career as a h ...
(-), bishop of Auxerre, missionary to Britain
*
William of Auxerre (d.1231), early High Scholastic theologian from Auxerre
*
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, (1768–1830), born in Auxerre, mathematician, experimental physicist, and politician
*
Paul Bert (1833–1886), born in Auxerre, physiologist and politician
*Théodore Frédéric Gaillardet, (1808–1882), born in Auxerre, journalist, publisher of French-language newspaper ''
Courrier des Etats-Unis
Courrier may refer to:
*''Courrier International'', a Paris-based French weekly newspaper
*''Courrier des États-Unis'', a French language newspaper published by French immigrants in New York
*''Courrier d'Ethiopie'', a French language weekly newsp ...
'' in New York City, mayor of Plessis-Bouchard, France
*
Eugène Hatin
Eugène Louis Hatin (8 September 1809 – 16 September 1893) was a 19th-century French historian, journalist and bibliographer
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural obj ...
(1809–1893), historian and bibliographer
*
Saint Helladius (d. 387), bishop of Auxerre
*
Paul Monceaux
Étienne-Paul-Victor Monceaux (29 May 1859 – 7 February 1941) was a 19th-20th-century French historian. A professor at the
Collège de France from 1907 to 1937, he was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres in 191 ...
(1859–1941), born in Auxerre, historian
*
Benoît Mourlon
Benoît Mourlon (born 14 July 1988) is a French footballer who plays as midfielder for Auxerre
Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the u ...
(born 1988), footballer
*
Jean Paul Rappeneau
Jean-Paul Rappeneau (born 8 April 1932) is a French film director and screenwriter.
Career
He started out in film as an assistant and screenwriter collaborating with Louis Malle on ''Zazie dans le métro'' in 1960 and '' Vie privée'' in 1961. ...
(1932), born in Auxerre, film director.
*
Guy Roux (1938), coach of
AJ Auxerre for more than 40 years, holding the French record of 894 games in
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
Specialties
*
Gougère – baked choux pastry made of dough mixed with cheese.
*
Kir – a traditional aperitif mixed drink from Burgundy wine (traditionally
Bourgogne Aligoté) and
blackcurrant liqueur.
*
Boeuf bourguignon – a typical main dish made of beef and vegetables.
*
Truffe bourguignonne – truffles from Burgundy.
Regional wines
*
Chablis wine: A white wine made exclusively of
Chardonnay
Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...
in the
Chablis AOC
*
Saint-Bris AOC: The only white wine in Burgundy made of Sauvignon grapes, especially
Sauvignon blanc
is a green-skinned grape variety that originates from the Bordeaux region of France. The grape most likely gets its name from the French words ''sauvage'' ("wild") and ''blanc'' ("white") due to its early origins as an indigenous grape in ...
and
Sauvignon gris
*
Irancy: A red wine from the surrounding area made of
Pinot noir
Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...
*Bourgogne côte d'Auxerre: Belonging to the Burgundy
AOC (wine)
AOC or AoC may refer to:
People
*Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born 1989), Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives
* Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (born 1993), English footballer
Aeronautics
* Aeronautical operational control ...
, it is made of
Chardonnay
Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...
for the white wine and
Pinot noir
Pinot Noir () is a red-wine grape variety of the species ''Vitis vinifera''. The name may also refer to wines created predominantly from pinot noir grapes. The name is derived from the French language, French words for ''pine'' and ''black.' ...
for the red.
*
Crémant de Bourgogne
Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While the phrase commonly refers to champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that term for products exclusively produced in the Champagne regi ...
: Sparkling wine following the tradition of
Champagne, Crémant de Bourgogne has a strong production in and around Auxerre.
*
Bourgogne Aligoté: Dry wine. Aligoté is the second most popular grape variety grown in Burgundy after Chardonnay.
The whole region of Burgundy produces over 200 million bottles per year.
Twin towns – sister cities
Auxerre is
twinned
Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to:
* In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so;
* Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning
* Twinning inst ...
with:
*
Greve in Chianti
Greve in Chianti (the old name was Greve; in 1972 it was renamed Greve in Chianti after the inclusion of that area in the Chianti wine district) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy. It is lo ...
, Italy
*
Płock, Poland
*
Redditch, England, United Kingdom
*
Roscoff, France
*
Saint-Amarin
Saint-Amarin (; ; gsw-FR, Sàntàmàrì) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Grand Est in north-eastern France.
Geography
Saint-Amarin territory tops in the Storkenkopf (1366 m). IGN maps available oGéoportail/ref>
See also ...
, France
*
Worms, Germany
See also
*
County of Auxerre
*
Bishopric of Auxerre
*
Cathédrale Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre
Auxerre Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre) is a Roman Catholic church, dedicated to Saint Stephen, located in Auxerre, Burgundy, France. It was constructed between the 13th and 16th centuries, on the site of a Romanesque c ...
*
Lady of Auxerre
The relatively small (75 cm high) limestone Cretan sculpture called the Lady of Auxerre (or Kore of Auxerre), at the Louvre Museum in Paris depicts an archaic Greek goddess of c. 650 - 625 BCE. It is a ''Kore'' ("maiden"), perhaps a vot ...
*
Saint Germanus of Auxerre
*
Remigius of Auxerre
*
William of Auxerre
*
Communes of the Yonne department
*
AJ Auxerre, the local football club
References
External links
*
Auxerre Town Hall
*
{{Authority control
Communes of Yonne
Prefectures in France
Gallia Lugdunensis
Burgundy