Vosges
The Vosges ( , ; german: Vogesen ; Franconian and gsw, Vogese) are a range of low mountains in Eastern France, near its border with Germany. Together with the Palatine Forest to the north on the German side of the border, they form a single ...
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, ...
in
Grand Est
Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten;
Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administrat ...
in northeastern France.
It is located in the Vôge Plateau, around the location of the source of the river
Saône
The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île.
The name deri ...
. Darney is known for its forest of oak and beech trees.
History
Darney is built on a
promontory
A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the so ...
dominating the valley of the Saône. The Romans built a castle here to control the area, and watch the forested countryside. As a fortified town in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
, Darney had towers and two fortified gates, and was known as the "city of thirty towers". Theobald II, Duke of Lorraine gave the town its church in 1308. The town suffered during the
Thirty years war
The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...
, being razed by the Swedes led by
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar
Bernard of Saxe-Weimar (german: Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar; 16 August 160418 July 1639) was a German prince and general in the Thirty Years' War.
Biography
Born in Weimar within the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar, Bernard was the eleventh son of Johan ...
, who were allies of the French, in 1634. The castle of the time was destroyed in 1639. Remnants of this castle still exist, as well as the current, smaller castle, which was built in 1725.
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Darney was the rallying point for Czech and Slovak volunteers, where they were stationed at Camp Kleber. Due to their presence, on 30 June 1918,
n independence was proclaimed in the village. The French President,
Raymond Poincaré
Raymond Nicolas Landry Poincaré (, ; 20 August 1860 – 15 October 1934) was a French statesman who served as President of France from 1913 to 1920, and three times as Prime Minister of France.
Trained in law, Poincaré was elected deputy in 1 ...
inspected 6,000 Czech and Slovak legionnaires, before handing over the Czechoslovakian army flag to Edvard Beneš, Minister of the Interior and of Foreign Affairs within the Provisional Czechoslovak government. This flag became the flag of the 21st rifle regiment.
The former town hall is now a Franco-Czechoslovak museum, dedicated to Camp Kleber, the Czechoslovak troops stationed there, and the birth of the Czechoslovak state.
Twin towns
Darney is twinned with the town of
Slavkov u Brna
Slavkov u Brna (; historically known in German as Austerlitz) is a town in Vyškov District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,000 inhabitants. The town gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz which took place seve ...
, also known as Austerlitz, in
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The me ...
.
Points of interest
* Arboretum de la Hutte
Exceptional Darney forest and wilderness assets of Ourche Valley: Oak trees, roe deers, red deers, wild cats. The Ourche river. Scenic views at La Hutte with peaceful pond and lakes, the old chapel and of course the giant trees of the Arboretum. Scenic views at Abbaye de Droiteval.