Argentan
Argentan (French: [aʁʒɑ̃tɑ̃] (
listen)) is a commune and the seat of two cantons and of an arrondissement in the Orne department in northwestern France.[3]
Argentan | |
|---|---|
Subprefecture and commune | |
 The château of the dukes in the centre of Argentan | |
.svg.png.webp) Coat of arms | |
Location of Argentan | |
  Argentan  Argentan | |
| Coordinates: 48°45′N 0°01′W | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Normandy |
| Department | Orne |
| Arrondissement | Argentan |
| Canton | Argentan-1 Argentan-2 |
| Intercommunality | Argentan Intercom |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Frédéric Leveillé[1] |
| Area 1 | 18.18 km2 (7.02 sq mi) |
| Population | 13,401 |
| • Density | 740/km2 (1,900/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 61006 /61200 |
| Elevation | 152–228 m (499–748 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Argentan is located 180 km (110 mi) NE of Rennes, 131 km (81 mi) ENE of the Mont Saint-Michel, 188 km (117 mi) SE of Cherbourg, 58 km (36 mi) SSE of Caen, 133 km (83 mi) SW of Rouen and 100 km (62 mi) N of Le Mans. Argentan station has rail connections to Caen, Le Mans, Paris and Granville.
History
Argentan is situated near the river Orne. Although the region was heavily populated during the Gallo Roman period the town is not mentioned until 1025–1026. The toponym comes from the Gaulish words argentos ("silver") and magos ("market").[4] The town grew in importance during the Middle Ages.
Throughout the Middle Ages, Argentan alternated between prosperity and destruction, as English forces occupied the city several times. The Plantagenets had considered this town as one of the most important of Normandy.
During the reign of Louis XIV, Colbert set Alençon against Argentan in an economic competition on lace making. Thus, the point d'Argentan ("Argentan stitch") and the point d'Alençon ("Alençon stitch") were created. Argentan became a very important town for traditional industry. It also gained in religious importance with the building of a Benedictine Abbey and two churches, Saint-Martin and Saint-Germain. Several mansions (hôtels particuliers) were also built.
During World War I, the French 104th Infantry Regiment/14th Infantry Brigade was stationed at Argentan. It participated in the battle of Verdun in 1916.
During World War II, the city was almost totally destroyed. On 5 June 1944, on the eve of the Allied D-Day landing on the beaches of Normandy, the city suffered an important air raid in which the train station was destroyed.[5] The city suffered further damage when it was bombed on 6 and 7 June by B-17 and B-24 bombers of the U.S. Eighth Air Force.[6] The greatest part of the city was, however, left in ruins two and a half months later, at the end of August, during the battle of the Argentan-Falaise Pocket. The U.S. Third Army, under the command of general George S. Patton liberated Argentan after eight days of violent combat against the German 9th Panzer Division and the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich. The U.S. 80th Infantry Division liberated the city in the morning of 20 August.
Population
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| Source: EHESS[7] and INSEE (1968–2017)[8] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Main sights
- Donjon of Argentan
- Tour Marguerite, a medieval tower
- Ducal Castle (14th century), now a court house. It houses the St. Nicholas Chapels (late 11th century), built by Pierre II of Alençon
- Saint Martin church (15th–16th centuries)
- Saint Germain church (16th–18th centuries)
- Saint Roch Chapel
- Museum of the Argentan lace
Gallery
Chapel Saint Nicholas – built at the end of the 11th century
Hôtel du Moulin de Tercey, 2 rue Saint-Martin
Donjon of Argentan, built by Henry II of England
Saint Germain church (built 16th–18th centuries)
Tour Marguerite is the only surviving medieval tower
Saint Martin church, built in the 15th and 16th centuries
Hotel Joseph de Laleu 56 rue Saint Martin built in 1651
This hotel particulier was the Nicolas Ango house
The former abbey, now a restaurant- Château of the Dukes of Alençon (15th century), now the Court House
Birthplace of painter André Mare
Hôtel du comte de Lonlay
Notable people
- Giles d'Argentan (c. 1280 – 24 June 1314), Norman knight who was killed at the Battle of Bannockburn
- François-Eudes de Mézeray (1610–1683), historian
- Fernand Léger (1881–1955), painter
- André Mare (1885–1935), painter
- Michel Onfray (born 1959), writer and philosopher
Twin towns – sister cities
Abingdon-on-Thames, England, United Kingdom
Baja, Hungary
Rotenburg an der Fulda, Germany
References
- "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 9 August 2021.
- "Populations légales 2020". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 29 December 2022.
- INSEE commune file
- MOULIN, Marie-Anne; CHAVE, Isabelle; FAJAL, Bruno; FOUCHER, Jean-Pascal; et al. (2008). Argentn et ses environs au Moyen Âge: Approche historique et archéologique. Public Library: Conseil général de l'Orne. p. 38. ISBN 978-2-86061-032-2.
- Destruction of Argentan SNCF train station in August 1944: http://argentan.vapeur.free.fr/gare_guerre.html (French site)
- Freeman, Roger A., The Mighty Eighth, Motorbooks International, 1981, 1990, pp. 259 & 260.
- Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Argentan, EHESS. (in French)
- Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
- "Villes jumelées". argentan.fr (in French). Argentan. Retrieved 2021-04-23.
External links
