commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Haute-Saône
Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.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, ...
,
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
of
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...
, eastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
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 ...
. It is the last major town in Haute-Saône before the Saône flows into
Côte-d'Or
Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...
.
Gray is believed to have acquired its name from an old landed estate in its vicinity owned by a family with Gallo-Roman origins bearing the name "Gradus", a cognate of the Celtic "Grady" meaning "illustrious" or "noble".
Population
Sights
The town includes many old buildings. An 18th century stone bridge spans the Saône river, connecting the main town with the settlement of
Arc-lès-Gray
Arc-lès-Gray (, literally ''Arc near Gray'') is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Haute-Saône department
The following is a list of th ...
. Gray is a popular place for fishing and various water activities.
Gray's Basilica (Basilique Notre Dame) was built from 1478 to 1559, with a bell tower typical of Franche-Comté.
An art museum, the Musée Château Baron Martin, is housed in the Château of the
Count of Provence
The land of Provence has a history quite separate from that of any of the larger nations of Europe. Its independent existence has its origins in the frontier nature of the dukedom in Merovingian Gaul. In this position, influenced and affected by ...
, brother of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
, which in the 18th century replaced the fortress belonging to the Dukes of Burgundy. The 12th century "Paravis Tower" is the last remnant of the fortress and offers a panoramic view of the Saône Valley. The museum displays some 1200 pieces of art from the 15th to the 20th century throughout 24 rooms.
The Carmelite chapel (Chapelle des Carmelites) was built in 1667. Since 1978, it has held eight centuries of sacred art in Haute-Saône, including paintings, sculptures, and religious objects.
Gray is the site of France's National
Esperanto
Esperanto ( or ) is the world's most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Created by the Warsaw-based ophthalmologist L. L. Zamenhof in 1887, it was intended to be a universal second language for international communi ...
Museum.
File:Grande bibliotheque-Gray01.jpg, The Great Library
File:Merry-Joseph Blondel, The Death of Hyacinthus.jpg, ''The death of
Hyacinthus
''Hyacinthus'' is a small genus of bulbous, spring-blooming perennials. They are fragrant flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Scilloideae and are commonly called hyacinths (). The genus is native to the area of the eastern M ...
'' by
Merry-Joseph Blondel
Merry-Joseph Blondel (; 25 July 1781 – 12 June 1853) was a French history painter of the Neoclassical school. He was a winner of the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1803. After the salon of 1824, he was bestowed with the rank of ''Knight'' in th ...