Brignoles

Brignoles (French pronunciation: ​[bʁiɲɔl]; Occitan: Brinhòla) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of Southeastern France. Alongside Draguignan, it is one of two subprefectures in Var.

Brignoles Brinhòla  (Occitan)
Subprefecture and commune
Place du Palais de Justice
Coat of arms
Location of Brignoles
Brignoles Show map of France Brignoles Show map of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Coordinates: 43°24′21″N 6°03′41″E
Country	France
Region	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Department	Var
Arrondissement	Brignoles
Canton	Brignoles
Intercommunality	Agglomération Provence Verte
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Didier Brémond (LR)
Area ^1	70.53 km^2 (27.23 sq mi)
Population  (2017-01-01)[1]	17,179
• Density	240/km^2 (630/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	83023 /83170
Elevation	190–767 m (623–2,516 ft)
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

It was the summer residence of the counts of Provence; their castle dates from the thirteenth century. In 2017, the commune of Brignoles had a population of 17,179.

Personalities

It was the birthplace of:

• Antoine Albalat (1856–1935), writer specialising in French literature.
• Saint Louis of Toulouse (1274–1297), bishop of Toulouse.
• François d'Arbaud de Porchères, poet born in Brignoles in 1590, died in Senevoy in 1640. Writer of numerous poems, he was made, in 1634, the first Immortel of the Académie française, to occupy seat 19.
• Louis Paul Baille (born 1 July 1768 in Brignoles; died 2 October 1821 in Paris), baron de Saint-Pol et de l'Empire, French soldier of the 19th and 20th centuries.
• Amy Cissé (born 1969), retired international basketball player.
• Manu Diaz (born 1955), retired rugby union player.
• François Granet (1692–1741), man of letters.
• François Guisol (1803–1874), poet and author.
• Fabrice Hadjadj (born 1971), philosopher and dramatist, teacher at the Lycée Sainte Jeanne d'Arc since 2002.
• Jean-Jacques Jauffret (born 1965), French film director.
• Joseph-Louis Lambot (1814–1887), the inventor of ferro-cement which led to the development of reinforced concrete. His first construction was a boat made of cement which he tested on the lake at Besse-sur-Issole in 1848. The original prototype is preserved in the museum at Brignoles. This boat was patented on January 30, 1855 and presented at the 1855 World's Fair in Paris (Exposition Universelle 1855).
• Jean-Jacques Marcel (1931–2014), French footballer.
• Catherine Matausch (born 1960), French journalist.
• Jean-Baptiste Maunier (born 1990), French actor.
• René Morizur (1944–2009), French musician, died and buried in Brignoles.
• Victor Nicolas (1906–1979), French sculptor who created many monuments in the departments of Var and Alpes Maritimes.
• Joseph Parrocel (1646–1704), French painter.
• Christian Philibert (born 1965), French film director and screenwriter.
• François-Juste-Marie Raynouard, writer and philologist born in Brignoles in 1761. A bust of him by the sculptor Victor Nicolas is in the Place Saint Pierre, and the Lycée de Brignoles carries his name.
• Adolphe Rossollin (born in Brignoles in or about 1781; died in Paris in April 1815), poet.
• Patrick Valéry (born 1969), retired footballer.

Twin towns and sister cities

Brignoles is twinned with:[2]

• Bruneck, Italy
• Groß-Gerau, Germany
• Szamotuły, Poland
• Tielt, Belgium

See also

• Communes of the Var department

References

• INSEE

1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
2. "Villes jumelées". brignoles.fr (in French). Brignoles. Retrieved 2019-11-21.

External links

• Official website of Brignoles (in French)
• Tourist Office