Saint-Étienne (;

Franco-Provençal Franco-Provençal (also Francoprovençal, Patois or Arpitan) is a Gallo-Romance languages, Gallo-Romance language that originated and is spoken in eastern France, western Switzerland, and northwestern Italy. Franco-Provençal has several di ...

: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

of the

Loire The Loire ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône. It rises in the so ...

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

, in the

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

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 ...

. Saint-Étienne is the thirteenth most populated commune in France and the second most populated commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Its

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

(''métropole''),

Saint-Étienne Métropole Saint-Étienne Métropole () is the ''métropole'', an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Saint-Étienne. It is located in the Loire department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, central France. It was created in January 2018, rep ...

, is the second most populous regional metropolis after

. The commune is also at the heart of a vast

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region consisting of a densely populated urban area, urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories which share Industry (economics), industries, commercial areas, Transport infrastructure, transport network ...

with 406,868 inhabitants (2020), the eighteenth largest in France by population, comprising 105 communes. Its inhabitants are known as ''Stéphanois'' (masculine) and ''Stéphanoises'' (feminine). Long known as the French city of the "weapon, cycle and ribbon" and a major

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

centre, Saint-Étienne is currently engaged in a vast

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

program aimed at leading the transition from the

industrial city An industrial city or industrial town is a town or city in which the municipal economy, at least historically, is centered around industry, with important factories or other production facilities in the town. It has been part of most countries' ...

inherited from the 19th century to the "design capital" of the 21st century. This approach was recognised with the entry of Saint-Étienne into the UNESCO Creative Cities network in 2010. The city is currently undergoing renewal, with the installation of the Châteaucreux business district, the ‘Steel’ retail complex and the manufacturing creative district. The city is known for its football club

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), abbreviated as A.S.S.E. () and commonly known as Saint-Étienne, is a French professional football club based in Saint-Étienne, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. The club was founded in 1933 and competes ...

, which has won the

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

title ten times.

History

Named after

Saint Stephen Stephen (; ) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first martyr of Christianity."St ...

, the city first appears in the historical record in the Middle Ages as (after the River Furan, a tributary of the

). In the 13th century, it was a small borough around the church dedicated to Saint Stephen. On the upper reaches of the Furan, near the Way of St. James, the Abbey of Valbenoîte had been founded by the

Cistercians The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

in 1222. In the late 15th century, it was a fortified village defended by walls built around the original nucleus. From the 16th century, Saint-Étienne developed an arms manufacturing industry and became a market town. It was this which accounted for the town's importance, although it also became a centre for the manufacture of ribbons and

passementerie Passementerie (, ) or passementarie is the art of making elaborate trimmings or edgings (in French, ) of applied braid, gold or silver cord, embroidery, colored silk, or beads for clothing or furnishings. Styles of passementerie include the tass ...

starting in the 17th century. Later, it became a mining centre of the Loire coal mining basin. The Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) was completed in 1830. In the first half of the 19th century, it was only a chief town of an arrondissement in the ' of the

, with a population of 33,064 in 1832. The concentration of industry prompted these numbers to rise rapidly to 110,000 by about 1880. It was this growing importance of Saint-Étienne that led to its being made seat of the prefecture and the departmental administration on 25 July 1855, when it became the chief town in the ' and seat of the prefect, replacing Montbrison, which was reduced to the status of chief town of an . Saint-Étienne absorbed the commune of Valbenoîte and several other neighbouring localities on 31 March 1855. During the

repression of January and February 1894 The repression of January and February 1894 was an episode of the Ère des attentats (1892–1894), during which France engaged in significant Political repression, state repression against Anarchism, anarchists. The passage of the lois scélérat ...

, the police conducted raids targeting the

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

living there, without much success.

Demographics

The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Saint-Étienne proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Saint-Étienne absorbed the former communes of Beaubrun, Montaud, Outre-Furent and Valbenoîte in 1855, ceded Planfoy in 1863, merged with the exclave Saint-Victor-sur-Loire and with Terrenoire in 1969 and Rochetaillée in 1973.

Culture

Saint-Étienne became a popular stop for automobile travelers in the early 20th century. In 1998, Saint-Étienne set up a design

biennale In the art world, a biennale ( , ; ), is a large-scale international contemporary art exhibition. The term was popularised by the Venice Biennale, which was first held in 1895, but the concept of such a large scale, and intentionally internationa ...

, the largest of its kind in France. It lasts around two weeks. A landmark in the history of the importance ascribed to design in Saint-Étienne was the inauguration of ''La Cité du design'' on the site of the former arms factory in 2009. The city also launched the

Massenet Festival Massenet Festival is a wikt:biennale, biennale festival of music by French composer, Jules Massenet held in Saint-Étienne, France, close to the area where the composer was born. The first Massenet Festival took place in November 1990 when the ope ...

s, (the composer

Jules Massenet Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet (; 12 May 1842 – 13 August 1912) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era best known for his operas, of which he wrote more than thirty. The two most frequently staged are ''Manon'' (1884 ...

hailed from the area) devoted mainly to perform Massenet's operas. In 2000, the city was named one of the

French Towns and Lands of Art and History Since 1985, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication has pursued a policy of preserving and promoting France's heritage. Historic towns and districts have been designated ''Villes et Pays d'Art et d'Histoire'' ("Towns and Lands of Art and ...

. On 22 November 2010, it was nominated as "City of Design" as part of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Creative Cities Network The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) is a flagship city programme of UNESCO launched in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities which have recognized culture and creativity as strategic drivers of sustainable urban development Urban means ...

. Saint-Étienne has four museums: # the '' Musée d'Art Moderne'' has one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in France # '' Musée de la Mine'' # ''Musée d'Art et d'Industrie'' ( fr) # ''Musée du vieux Saint-Étienne'' ( fr) Saint-Étienne has 38 Monuments historiques, 6 buildings labeled Architecture contemporaine remarquable (Remarkable Contemporary Architecture), 2 sites classés (Classified sites) and 5 sites patrimoniaux remarquables (Remarkable heritage sites).

Climate

The climate is temperate at the weather station due to its low altitude, but Saint-Étienne itself is much higher, above 530 m (1,739 ft) in the centre, as well as even above 700 m (2,297 ft) in the southern parts of the city. Saint-Étienne is very close to a

warm-summer humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dfb''); it is generally one of the snowiest cities in France, with an average of 85 cm (2.79 ft) of snow accumulation per year.

Sport

The city's football club

has won the

title a joint-record ten times, achieving most of their success in the 1970s."Ligue 1 : Le PSG égale l'ASSE avec 10 titres, les records en Europe"
rmcsport.bfmtv.com (in French), 25 April 2022. The British indie-dance band Saint Etienne named themselves after the club. Saint-Étienne has many sports stadiums, the largest being Stade Geoffroy-Guichard used for football and Stade Henri-Lux for athletics. St. Étienne was the capital of the French bicycle industry. The

bicycle wheel A bicycle wheel is a wheel, most commonly a wire wheel, designed for a bicycle. A pair is often called a wheelset, especially in the context of ready built "off the shelf" performance-oriented wheels. Bicycle wheels are typically designed ...

manufacturer Mavic is based in the city and frame manufacturers Motobécane and Vitus are also based here. The city often hosts a stage of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

. Saint-Étienne resident Thierry Gueorgiou is a world champion in

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

. The local

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

team is CA Saint-Étienne Loire Sud Rugby.

Transport

The nearest airport is

Saint-Étienne–Bouthéon Airport Saint-Étienne–Loire-Airport or ''Aéroport de Saint-Étienne–Loire'' is an international airport serving the French city of Saint-Étienne. It is located in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, 12 km north-northwest of Saint-Étienne, within the '' ...

which is located in

Andrézieux-Bouthéon Andrézieux-Bouthéon (; ) is a commune of the Loire department, France. It lies on the right bank of the river Loire, at its confluence with the river Furan, 13 km north of the city of Saint-Étienne. Population Sights * Le Château Bo ...

, north-northwest of Saint-Étienne. The main railway station is Saint-Étienne-Châteaucreux station, which offers high-speed services to Paris and Lyon ( Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway), as well as connects to several regional lines. There are four other railway stations in Saint-Étienne (Bellevue, Carnot, La Terrasse and Le Clapier) with local services.Réseau TER et cars Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
TER Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, accessed 30 May 2022. Saint-Étienne is also notable for its tramway (

Saint-Étienne tramway The Saint-Étienne tramway () is a tram system in the city of Saint-Étienne in the Rhône-Alpes (France) that has functioned continuously since its opening in 1881. The first tramway line was steam-operated and was opened by the (CFVE) on 4 Dec ...

) – which uniquely with Lille, it kept throughout the 20th century – and its

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

system ( Saint-Étienne trolleybus system) – which is one of only three such systems currently operating in France. Bus and tram transport is regulated and provided by the

Société de Transports de l'Agglomération Stéphanoise Société de Transports de l'Agglomération Stéphanoise, or STAS operates a public transport network and infrastructure in and around Saint-Étienne. Its responsibility is to provide Tramway de Saint Etienne, tramway, trolleybus and bus service in ...

(STAS), a public transport executive organisation. The

bicycle sharing system A bicycle-sharing system, bike share program, public bicycle scheme, or public bike share (PBS) scheme, is a shared transport service where bicycles are available for shared use by individuals at low cost. The programmes themselves include bo ...

Vélivert with 280 short term renting bicycles has been available since June 2010.

Colleges and universities

Jean Monnet University Jean Monnet University ( or ) is a public research university based in Saint-Étienne, France. It is under the Academy of Lyon and belongs to the administrative entity denominated University of Lyon, which gathers different schools in Lyon and S ...

École d'Économie - Saint-Étienne School of Economics École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

(SE²) *

École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

(EMSE or ENSMSE) * École nationale d'ingénieurs de Saint-Étienne (ENISE) * Telecom Saint Étienne (TSE) * EMLYON Business School * ENSASE (École National Supérieure d'Architecture de Saint-Étienne)

Notable people

Saint-Étienne was the birthplace of: * René Diaz (born 1926), French journalist and illustrator *

Augustin Dupré Augustin Dupré (6 October 1748 – 30 January 1833) was a French engraver of currency and medals, the 14th Graveur général des monnaies (Engraver General of Currency). Biography He began his career as an engraver at the royal factory for ...

(1748–1833), engraver of French coins and medals, France's 14th graveur général des monnaies * Claude Fauriel (1772–1844), historian, philologist and critic *

Saint Marcellin Champagnat Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat, FMS (20 May 17896 June 1840) was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic priest who founded of the Marist Brothers, a religious congregation of Religious brother, brothers devoted to Mary, mother of Jesu ...

(1789–1840), Catholic priest and founding members of the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers) who founded the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

and was

canonised Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of sai ...

in 1999 * Antonin Moine (1796–1849), sculptor * Jules Janin (1804–1874), writer and critic * Paul Jean Rigollot (1810-1873), pharmacist and inventor *

Francis Garnier Marie Joseph François Garnier (; 25 July 1839 – 21 December 1873) was a French officer, inspector of Indigenous Affairs of Cochinchina and explorer. He eventually became mission leader of the Mekong Expedition of 1866–68, Mekong Exploration C ...

(1839–1873), officer and explorer who explored the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...

, much to the surprise of the inhabitants * Lucie Grange (1839–1908), medium, feminist prophet and newspaper founder *

(1842–1912), composer, best known for his operas *

Paul de Vivie Paul de Vivie, who wrote as Vélocio
(28 April 1853

, aka ''Velocio'' (1853–1930), publisher of ''Le Cycliste'', early champion of the dérailleur and father of French cycle touring * Claudine Chomat (1915–1995), feminist and communist activist, member of the

French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...

during World War II * Jean Bonfils (1921–2007), classical organist and composer * André Bourgey (1936), geographer * Jean-Michel Othoniel (1963), contemporary artist * Bernard Lavilliers (born 1946) (Bernard Ouillon), singer * Orlan (1947–), contemporary artist * Willy Sagnol (born 1977), French International football player * Jean Guitton (1901–1999), Catholic philosopher and theologian * Thierry Gueorgiou (born 1979),

Orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that involve using a map and compass to navigation, navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a specia ...

world champion * Norma Ray (born 1970), singer * Alexis Ajinça (born 1988), basketball player * Sylvain Armand (born 1980), footballer * Sliimy (born 1988), singer * Aravane Rezai (born 1987), tennis player * Loïc Perrin (born 1985), footballer * Théophile Naël (born 2007), racing driver It was also the place where Andrei Kivilev died.

International relations

Saint-Étienne is twinned with:

References

Bibliography

External links

*
City council website

Tourist board official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saintetienne Massif Central Communes of Loire (department) Prefectures in France Forez Loire communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Cities in France