Chalon-sur-Saône (, literally ''Chalon on

Saône The Saône ( , ; ; ) is a river in eastern France (modern Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department an ...

'') is a city in the

Saône-et-Loire Saône-et-Loire (; Arpitan: ''Sona-et-Lêre'') is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in France. It is named after the rivers Saône and Loire, between which it lies, in the country's central-eastern part. Saône-et-Loire is B ...

department in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

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 ...

in eastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. It is the largest city in the department; however, the department capital is the smaller city of

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically Anglicization, anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home t ...

Geography

Chalon-sur-Saône lies in the south of the

and in the east of France, approximately north of Mâcon. It is located on the

river, and was once a busy port, acting as a distribution point for local wines which were sent up and down the Saône river and the Canal du Centre, opened in 1792.

History

Ancient times

Though the site (ancient ''Cabillonum'') was a capital of the Aedui and objects of

La Tène culture The La Tène culture (; ) was a Iron Age Europe, European Iron Age culture. It developed and flourished during the late Iron Age (from about 450 BC to the Roman Republic, Roman conquest in the 1st century BC), succeeding the early Iron Age ...

have been retrieved from the bed of the river here, the first mention of ''Cavillonum'' is found in Commentarii de Bello Gallico (VII, chs. 42 and 90). The Roman city already served as a river port and hub of road communications, of the

Via Agrippa ''Via Agrippa'', is any stretch of the network of Roman roads in Gaul that was built in the last century BCE by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, to whom Augustus, Octavian entrusted the reorganization of the Gauls. In all, the Romans built of roads in ...

and side routes. In 354 AD the Roman Emperor

Constantius II Constantius II (; ; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civ ...

stationed the Roman 7th Army in Chalon (then called Cabyllona) for an invasion against the brother kings, Gundomadus and Vadomarius of the

Alamanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE, the Alemanni c ...

. However, not having received supplies, the Roman troops revolted, and were pacified by the grand chamberlain Eusebius with money. In

Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

the city had dwindled so much that a wall round it encircled fifteen hectares.

Christian centre

Saint Marcellus of Chalon (''Saint Marcel'') is said to have been martyred here in 179 AD. Chalon became one of the ''de facto'' capitals of the kingdom of

Burgundy Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') 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. ...

under

Guntram Saint Gontrand ( 532 in Soissons – 28 March 592 in Chalon-sur-Saône), also called Gontran, Gontram, Guntram, Gunthram, Gunthchramn, and Guntramnus, was the king of the Kingdom of Orléans from AD 561 to AD 592. He was the third-eldest and seco ...

, king from 561 to 592, who died here. Guntram also promoted the cult of Saint Marcellus. It continued to pay for its importance by being frequently attacked until the 10th century. The bishopric of Chalon-sur-Saône, a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

of the Archdiocese of Lyon, was also established here in the 6th century, and a Church Council was held here from 644–655. After the French Revolution, in accordance with the

Concordat of 1801 The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between the First French Republic and the Holy See, signed by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII on 15 July 1801 in Paris. It remained in effect until 1905, except in Alsace–Lorraine, ...

, the diocese of Chalon was amalgamated with the diocese of Autun, which gave the name to the new entity.

Modern developments

Chalon in the 19th century is best known as the birthplace of

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

. Its most famous resident,

Nicéphore Niépce Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (; 7 March 1765 – 5 July 1833) was a French inventor and one of the earliest History of photography, pioneers of photography. Niépce developed heliography, a technique he used to create the world's oldest surviving ...

, also has a lycée (secondary school) named after him. There is a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

which contains some early photography relics, located on the ''Quai des Messageries'' in the town, containing more than two million photographs and many old artefacts such as cameras and other equipment for old and modern photography. Also on display are Niépce's 1807 Pyréolophore, which is probably the world's first

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal comb ...

, plus his 1818 implementation of a dandy horse, for which he coined the word vélocipède.Niepce Museum, Other Inventions
Another famous resident is Dominique Vivant Denon (1747–1825), who was involved in the creation of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

museum, converting the former royal palace into a museum after the French Revolution. In the late 19th century, copper and iron works were the town's main industry. The large engineering works of Petit-Creusot, a branch of those of

Le Creusot Le Creusot () is a Communes of France, commune and industrial town in the Saône-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, eastern France. The inhabitants are known as Creusotins. Formerl ...

, manufactured heavy industrial items.

Population

Economy

The primary industries are nuclear, plastics, metallurgy, and mechanics. The Chamber of Commerce of Saône-et-Loire manages the ''École de Gestion et de Commerce de Chalon-sur-Saône'', as well as the river port on the

. There are 2,472 businesses: 764 stores, 454 retail services, 409 schools and health and social services, 378 wholesale services, 122 construction companies, 69 agricultural and alimentary businesses, 64 real estate businesses, 60 transportation business, 49 industries de biens intermédiaires, 35 industries de biens de consommations, 34 entreprises d'énergie, 33 industries de biens d'équipements et 1 industrie automobile. The most important companies are Framatome (formerly Areva), Saint-Gobain, Nordeon, Cartonnerie Laurent, Chalondis, Carrefour 2000, Géant Casino, Comptoirs des Fers, Cayon, Amazon and ''Le journal de Saône-et-Loire''. Until the early 2000s, Kodak was the largest employer in town. Their production site became the campus of ''Le Grand Chalon en Bourgogne'' in 2005.

Transport

Railway

The Gare de Chalon-sur-Saône railway station offers connections with Paris, Dijon, Lyon and several regional destinations. The station is located along the PLM mainline from Paris Gare de Lyon to Marseille-Saint-Charles, at kilometre post 382.150 from Paris.

Road

The primary national roads serving Chalon are the A6 autoroute from Paris to Lyon, the route nationale 73, from Chalon to

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

and the route nationale 80, from Chalon to Montchanin. The city is also located on the pan-European bicycle route the EuroVelo 6, which stretches from

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Oc ...

on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

near

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

to Constanta on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Air transport

The closest major commercial airport is Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, located about 120 kilometres away.

Public transport

The public transportation company ''STAC'' offers a bus network ''ZOOM'', including a free bus in the center, lines to surrounding communities, and services for disabled riders. There also exists a bike sharing scheme ''Réflex''.

Culture

St. Vincent's Cathedral on the Place Saint-Vincent which, while dating mainly from the 12th to the 15th centuries, has some elements dating from the eighth century and a neo-gothic nineteenth century façade. The church of St Pierre, with two steeples, dates from the late 17th century. The city square also has a number of cafés and a busy market on Fridays and Sundays. Every year in July, Chalon-sur-Saône hosts an international street artists festival, called Chalon dans la Rue ("Chalon in the street"). Over four days, artists from across Europe and beyond come to the streets of Chalon to perform, mostly for free, in music, theatre, acrobatics, comedy, etc. A program is made available by the town, so people know of the main groups performing, and several newspapers report what performances are must-see and where and when to find them.

Education

An institute of research of the engineering school Arts et Métiers ParisTech was established in Chalon in 1997. This institute offers graduate and doctoral programs in the domain of virtual reality and image engineering. It includes a municipal library.

Sports

The Élan Chalon basketball club is a member of the

LNB Pro A LNB may refer to: Sport * Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, a professional basketball league in the Dominican Republic * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol, an Argentine basketball league * Liga Nacional de Básquetbol (Paraguay), Liga Nacional de Básquetb ...

, and plays its home matches at the Le Colisée. Other sports clubes include FC Chalon, HBC Chalon-sur-Saône, Volley-Ball Chalon-sur-Saône and the former RC Chalon.

Notable people

Notable people associated with the city include: * Joseph Touchemoulin (1727–1801), composer * Dominique Vivant Denon (1747-1825), involved in creating the ''Louvre'' * Roger Grosjean (1920-1975), double agent in World War II and later a noted archaeologist in Corsica * Eugène Genet (1850-1904), politician * Robert Marchi (1919-1946), World War II fighter ace *

, (1765-1833) pioneer of photography, took the earliest surviving photograph * Jean Baptiste Félix Descuret (1795-1871), physician and writer * Omer Letorey (1873–1938), composer

Tourism

* The Arboretum de Pézanin, one of the richest tree collections in France, * The Rock of Solutré * Cluny abbey, and its medieval city * Charolles and the "bœuf charolais" *

, Paray-le-Monial

International relations

Chalon-sur-Saône is twinned with: * Saint Helens, United Kingdom *

Solingen Solingen (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr. After Wuppertal, it is the second-largest city in the Bergisches Land, and a member of ...

, Germany * Novara, Italy

Climate

Notes

References

* * ''Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte'' (Grosser Atlas zur Weltgeschichte), 1 January 1997 by Priscilla Strain and Frederick Engle (authors);

External links

*
Local web portal www.vivre-a-chalon.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalonsursaone Communes of Saône-et-Loire Subprefectures in France Gallia Lugdunensis Burgundy