Calais

This article is about the northern French town. For other uses, see Calais (disambiguation).

Calais
Pier and lighthouse on the Calais seafront
Location of Calais
Country	France
Arrondissement	Calais
Government
• Mayor	Natacha Bouchart (UMP term=2008-2014)
Population	77,333
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	62193 /

Calais (IPA: [kaˈlɛ]; in English often /kæˈleɪ/, traditional English pronunciation /ˈkælɨs/; Dutch: Kales) is a town in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras.

The population of the metropolitan area at the 1999 census was 125,584.

Calais overlooks the Strait of Dover, the narrowest point in the English Channel, which is only 34 km (21 miles) wide here, and is the closest French town to England, of which Calais was a territorial possession for several centuries. The white cliffs of Dover can easily be seen on a clear day.

The old part of the town, Calais proper (or Calais-Nord), is situated on an artificial island surrounded by canals and harbours. The modern part of the town, St-Pierre, lies to the south and southeast.

History

Main article: History of Calais

Ferry docked at Calais

Economy

The city's proximity to England has made it a major port for centuries. It is the principal ferry crossing point between England and France, with the vast majority of Channel crossings being made between Dover and Calais. The French end of the Channel Tunnel is also situated in the vicinity of Calais, in Coquelles some 4 miles (6 km) to the west of the town.

The mainstay of the town's economy is, naturally, its port, but it also has a number of indigenous industries. The principal ones are lace making, chemicals, and paper manufacture. It possesses direct rail links to Paris (148 miles / 238 km to the south).

Calais has restaurants that are popular with English visitors, in the tradition of seaside towns, but shopping is its most popular attraction.

Transport

As well as the large port, the town is served by two railway stations: Gare de Calais-Fréthun and Gare de Calais-Ville, the former being the first stop on mainland Europe of the Eurostar line.

File:Calais-townhall-at-night.jpg

City hall

Sport

Calais is represented in association football by the Calais RUFC, who will compete in the Championnat National for the 2007–08 season since they finished as Champions of the CFA Group A last season.

Main sights

Virtually the entire town was destroyed by heavy bombardments during World War II, so there is little in Calais that pre-dates the war. For most visitors, the town is simply a place to pass through en route to other destinations.

The town centre is dominated by its distinctive city hall, built in the Flemish Renaissance style (and visible well out to sea). Directly in front of the town hall is a cast of the statue The Burghers of Calais (French Les Bourgeois de Calais), by Auguste Rodin.

The German wartime military headquarters, situated near the train station in a small park, is today open to the public as a war museum.

Immediately to the west is the Côte d'Opale, an extremely scenic cliff-lined section of coast that parallels the White Cliffs on the British coast and is part of the same geological formation.

On clear days, the buildings of Calais can quite readily be seen with the naked eye from the British shore, 33 km (21 miles) away.

See also

• Communes of the Pas-de-Calais department

References

Based on the article in the French Wikipedia.

• INSEE Template:En icon
• IGN Template:En icon

External links

• Official Website (in French)
• Agglomération (in French)
• Info about the port and city (in French)
• Info about the port and city (in English)
• Port of Calais
• Calais fortifications
• Old Postcard Views of Calais
• Photos of Calais in 3d (Anaglyphs).
• 3D View of Castle of Calais from Henry VIII period Google Earth