Épinal (; german: Spinal) is a commune in northeastern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
and the prefecture of the
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 ...
The commune has a land area of . It is situated on the river
Moselle
The Moselle ( , ; german: Mosel ; lb, Musel ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it jo ...
, south of Nancy. Épinal station has rail connections to Paris, Remiremont, Strasbourg, Belfort and Nancy.
The old town centre features the Place des Vosges, the Chapitre district, Saint-Maurice's Basilica, medieval castle remains and the Roman House (11th and 13th centuries). It is also known for its parks and gardens, as well as a large communal forest with arboretum (the Arboretum de la Forêt d'Épinal).
There are major fortifications, extended and maintained until the early 20th century. There is a legend, among the populace of Épinal, that Napoleon's ghost strolls the wall ramparts on 9 September of each year at 05:00. It was on this day and at this time that, in 1811, Napoleon gave his first and last oration to the city of Épinal, wherein he addressed the challenges posed by northern expansion.
The Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial on the outskirts of the town where United States service members killed in World War II are buried.
Notable residents
* Isabelle Cogitore (born 1964), historian
* Jean-Baptiste Jacopin (1755–1811), general of the armies of the 1st Republic and the First French Empire.
*
Victor Magnien
François Victor Antoine Magnien (21 November 1802 – 8 June 1885) was a French violinist, guitarist, conductor, teacher and composer.Philip J. Bone: ''The Guitar and Mandolin. Biographies of Celebrated Players and Composers'' (London: Schott & Co ...
(1802–1885), violinist, guitarist and composer
*
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...
(1858–1917), founder of sociology
*
Louis Lapicque
Louis Édouard Lapicque (1 August 1866 – 6 December 1952) was a French neuroscientist, socialist activist, antiboulangist, dreyfusard and freemason who was very influential in the early 20th century. One of his main contributions was to propos ...
(1866–1952), physiologist, specialist of the nervous system and known for his discovery of the
chronaxie
Chronaxie is the minimum time required for an electric current double the strength of the rheobase to stimulate a muscle or a neuron. Rheobase is the lowest intensity with indefinite pulse duration which just stimulated muscles or nerves. Chronaxi ...
.
*
Marcel Mauss
Marcel Mauss (; 10 May 1872 – 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology". The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociology and ...
(1872–1950), father of French modern ethnography and nephew of
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim ( or ; 15 April 1858 – 15 November 1917) was a French sociologist. Durkheim formally established the academic discipline of sociology and is commonly cited as one of the principal architects of modern social science, al ...
.
*
Marc Boegner
Marc Boegner, commonly known as ''pasteur'' Boegner (; 21 February 1881 – 18 December 1970), was a theologian, pastor, essayist, notable member of the French Resistance and a notable voice in the ecumenical movement.
Biography
Marc Boegner w ...
(1881–1970), writer, thinker and pastor, president of the
Fédération protestante de France
The Protestant Federation of France (''Fédération protestante de France'') is a religious organisation created on 25 October 1905, which united the main Protestant Christian groupings in France. The current president is Christian Krieger, who ...
and the
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...
, a member of the
Académie française
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...
Jean-Marie Cavada
Jean-Marie Cavada (born 24 February 1940 in Épinal, Vosges) is a French politician and former journalist and media executive who last served as a Member of the European Parliament for Ile de France from 2004 until 2019. Since 3 December 2 ...
(1940) journalist and politician.
*
Léo Valentin
Léon Alfred Nicolas Valentin (22 March 1919, Épinal ( Vosges), France - 21 May 1956, Liverpool, England) was a French adventurer, who attempted to achieve human flight using bird-like wings. Léo Valentin is widely considered to be the most ...
(1919–1956), French soldier and adventurer, nicknamed "l'homme-oiseau".
* Marceline Loridan-Ivens (1928), film director
*
Philippe Séguin
Philippe Séguin (21 April 1943 – 7 January 2010) was a French political figure who was President of the National Assembly from 1993 to 1997 and President of the Cour des Comptes of France from 2004 to 2010.
He entered the Court of Financia ...
(1943–2010), Mayor of Épinal, French politician, President of the Court of Auditors under the Fifth Republic.
* Ségolène Royal (1953), completed her high school in Charmes, before joining the Lycée Saint-Joseph of Épinal in 1968.
* Laetitia Masson (1966), screenwriter and film director
* Valérie Donzelli (1973), actress and film director
*
Jeanne Cressanges
Jeanne Cressanges, real name Jeanne Mouchonnier (born 6 May 1929 in Noyant-d'Allier ( Allier) is a French screenwriter, dialoguist, essayist, and novelist.
Biography
Jeanne Cressanges was born in a modest family of the Bourbonnais. Her paterna ...
, novelist, essayist
* Nicolas Matthieu (1978), writer, winner of the
Prix Erckmann-Chatrian The prix Erckmann-Chatrian is a literary award from Lorraine, awarded every year since 1925 in memory of the literary duo Erckmann-Chatrian. It rewards a written prose work by someone form Lorraine or about Lorraine. It is often nicknamed the " Go ...
in 2014.
* Maria Pourchet, (1980), writer, winner of the
Prix Erckmann-Chatrian The prix Erckmann-Chatrian is a literary award from Lorraine, awarded every year since 1925 in memory of the literary duo Erckmann-Chatrian. It rewards a written prose work by someone form Lorraine or about Lorraine. It is often nicknamed the " Go ...
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to s ...
Aurore Mongel
Aurore Mongel (born 19 April 1982 in Épinal, France) is a national record holding and Olympic butterfly swimmer from France. She swam for France at the 2008 Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad ( ...
Rayane Bouhanni
Rayane Bouhanni (born 24 February 1996 in Épinal) is a French cyclist, who last rode for UCI Professional Continental team . He is the younger brother of Nacer Bouhanni.
Major results
;2014
: National Junior Road Championships
::1st Road r ...
Épinal is best known for the " Images d'Épinal" – which is now a common expression in French language – the popular prints created by a local company, the Imagerie d'Épinal, formerly known as the Imagerie Pellerin. These stencil-colored woodcuts of military subjects, Napoleonic history, storybook characters and other folk themes were widely distributed throughout the 19th century. The company still exists today, and still uses its hand-operated presses to produce the antique images. Other local industries include textiles, metals, morocco leather, precision instruments, and bicycles. There is a school of textile weaving.
Politics
Épinal is contained within
Vosges' 1st constituency
The 1st constituency of the Vosges is a French legislative constituency in the Vosges département.
Description
The 1st Constituency of Vosges forms a band of territory running through the centre of the Department from north to south. It inc ...
for elections to the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...
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:
*
Bitola
Bitola (; mk, Битола ) is a city in the southwestern part of North Macedonia. It is located in the southern part of the Pelagonia valley, surrounded by the Baba (North Macedonia), Baba, Nidže, and Kajmakčalan mountain ranges, north of th ...
, North Macedonia
*
Chieri
Chieri (; pms, Cher) is a town and '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont ( Italy), located about southeast of Turin, by rail and by road. It borders the following municipalities: Baldissero Torinese, Pavarolo, Montaldo ...
, Italy
*
Gembloux
Gembloux (; wa, Djiblou; nl, Gembloers, ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Namur, Belgium.
On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 21,964 inhabitants. The total area is 95.86 km², yielding a population den ...
Communes of the Vosges department
The following is a list of the 507 communes of the Vosges department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2022):