Auxerre

Auxerre
Yonne river
Auxerre
Location within Burgundy region  Auxerre
Administration
Country	France
Region	Burgundy
Department	Yonne
Arrondissement	Auxerre
Intercommunality	Auxerrois
Mayor	Guy Ferez (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	93–217 m (305–712 ft) (avg. 102 m or 335 ft)
Land area1	49.95 km2 (19.29 sq mi)
Population2	44,620  (2006)
- Density	893 /km2 (2,310 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	89024/ 89000
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Auxerre (French pronunciation: [osɛʁ]) is a commune in the Bourgogne region in north-central France, between Paris and Dijon. It is the capital of the Yonne department.

Auxerre's population today is about 45,000. People there are called Auxerrois. Auxerre's urban area accounts for more than 88,000 people.

It is a commercial and industrial centre, with industries including food production, woodworking and batteries. Auxerre is also world-famous for the wine produced in the neighbourhood, including the renowned Chablis.

History

Clock Tower

Auxerre was a flourishing Gallo-Roman centre, Antissiodorum through which passed one of the main roads of the area, the Via Agrippa (1st century AD) which crossed the Yonne River (Gallo-Roman Icauna) here. In the third century it became the seat of a bishop and a provincial capital of the Roman Empire. In the 5th century it received a Cathedral. In the late 11th-early 12th century the existing communities were included inside a new line of walls built by the feudal Counts of Auxerre.

Bourgeois activities accompanied the traditional land and wine cultivations starting from the twelfth century, and Auxerre developed into a commune with a Town Hall of its own. The Burgundian city, which became part of France under King Louis XI, suffered during the Hundred Years' War and the Wars of Religion. In 1567 it was captured by the Huguenots, and many of the Catholic edifices were damaged. The medieval ramparts were demolished in the 18th century.

In the 19th century numerous heavy infrastructures were built, including a railway station, a psychiatric hospital and the courts, and new quarters were developed on the right bank of the Yonne.

In 1995 it was named "Town of Art and History".

Old Slide

Main sights

• Cathedral of St. Étienne (11th–16th centuries). In Gothic style, it is renowned for its three doorways with remarkable bas-reliefs. The stained glass windows in the choir and the apsidal chapel are among the finest in France. The 11th century crypt houses the remains of the former Romanesque cathedral.
• Abbey of Saint-Germain, existing from the ninth century. The crypt has some of the most ancient mural paintings in France, and houses the tomb of the bishops of Auxerre. Also interesting are the chapter room (12th century), the cellar (14th century) and the cloister (seventeenth century).
• The Clock tower, located in the Old Town
• The church of St. Pierre en Vallée (17th–18th centuries), established over a 6th century abbey. In the style of late Gothic architecture, it has a tower similar to that of the cathedral. Portions of the decorations and inner chapels were financed by local winegrowers.
• Church of St. Eusèbe, founded in the 7th century. The nave was rebuilt in the 13th century, while the tower is in Romanesque style.
• Museum of Natural History.

A view of Auxerre's old town with Saint-Germain Abbey in the background.

Personalities

• Théodore Frédéric Gaillardet, (1808–1882), born in Auxerre, journalist, publisher of French-language newspaper Courrier des Etats-Unis in New York City, mayor of Plessis-Bouchard, France.
• Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier, (1769–1830), born in Auxerre, mathematician, experimental physicist, and politician.
• Saint Patrick (5th Century AD), Apostle to the Irish, visited Bishop Germanus of Auxerre here. Possibly he studied in Auxerre.
• Saint Helladius (d. 387), bishop of Auxerre

Sister and twin cities

• Greve in Chianti, Italy
• Płock, Poland
• Redditch, United Kingdom
• Roscoff, France
• Saint-Amarin, France
• Varaždin, Croatia
• Worms, Germany

See also

• County of Auxerre
• Bishopric of Auxerre
• Cathédrale Saint-Étienne d'Auxerre
• Lady of Auxerre
• Saint Germanus of Auxerre
• Remigius of Auxerre
• William of Auxerre
• Communes of the Yonne department

References

• INSEE

External links

•  Goyau, Georges (1913). "Sens". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
• Auxerre Town Hall (French)
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Auxerre". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.