Charleville-Mézières

Charleville-Mézières (French pronunciation: ​[ʃaʁləvil mezjɛʁ]) is a commune in northern France, capital of the Ardennes department in the Grand Est region. Charleville-Mézières is located on the banks of the Meuse River.

Charleville-Mézières
Prefecture and commune
Place Ducale
Coat of arms
Location of Charleville-Mézières
Charleville-Mézières
Charleville-Mézières
Coordinates: 49°46′19″N 4°42′58″E
CountryFrance
RegionGrand Est
DepartmentArdennes
ArrondissementCharleville-Mézières
CantonCharleville-Mézières-1, 2, 3 and 4
IntercommunalityCœur d'Ardenne
Government
 • Mayor (2014–2020) Boris Ravignon
Area
1
31.44 km2 (12.14 sq mi)
Population
 (2017-01-01)[1]
46,428
 • Density1,500/km2 (3,800/sq mi)
Demonym(s)French: Carolomacérien
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
08105 /08000
Elevation133–323 m (436–1,060 ft)
(avg. 148 m or 486 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

History
Charleville in 1625

Charleville and Mézières were originally separate communities on opposite banks of the Meuse, about a mile (2 km) distant from one another.[2]

Charleville was founded by Charles Gonzaga, the 8th duke of Mantua, in 1606. Its inhabitants were known as Carolopolitans (Carolopolitains). It was prosperous from the 17th century, although its fortifications were dismantled under Louis XIV in 1687 and it passed into French hands in 1708. It was plundered by the Prussians in 1815. France's royal armaments factory was formerly located there and gave its name to the Charleville musket, before being relocated and divided between Tulle and Châtellerault. In the 19th century, the city continued to produce arms through private firms, as well as nails, hardware, wine, spirits, coal, iron, and slate. It boasted a spacious port, a theatre, a large public library, and a museum of natural history.[2]

The inhabitants of Mézières were known as Macerians (Macériens).

By the mid-19th century, the two towns were linked by a suspension bridge.[2] The present commune was established in 1966. Another commune, Le Theux, had already been merged into Mézières in 1965. It has a population of about 51,000.

Panorama of Place ducale

Climate

With an annual average of 9°C (48,1°F), Charleville-Mézières is generally the coolest city of France. Winters are long, cold and gloomy while summers are hot enough but sometimes, even in the middle of July, night temperatures can drop below 5°C (41°F). Under the Köppen-Geiger climate classification, Charleville-Mézières features a temperate oceanic climate (Cfb) with strong continental influences (Dfb).

Climate data for Charleville-Mézières (1981–2010 averages)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 15.0
(59.0)		 17.5
(63.5)		 22.0
(71.6)		 28.1
(82.6)		 30.7
(87.3)		 34.9
(94.8)		 39.2
(102.6)		 37.0
(98.6)		 30.7
(87.3)		 27.7
(81.9)		 19.9
(67.8)		 15.6
(60.1)		 39.2
(102.6)
Average high °C (°F) 5.1
(41.2)		 6.6
(43.9)		 10.8
(51.4)		 14.6
(58.3)		 18.8
(65.8)		 21.6
(70.9)		 24.1
(75.4)		 23.7
(74.7)		 19.6
(67.3)		 14.9
(58.8)		 9.1
(48.4)		 5.7
(42.3)		 14.6
(58.3)
Average low °C (°F) −0.5
(31.1)		 −0.7
(30.7)		 1.6
(34.9)		 3.3
(37.9)		 7.3
(45.1)		 10.2
(50.4)		 12.1
(53.8)		 11.7
(53.1)		 8.9
(48.0)		 6.2
(43.2)		 2.7
(36.9)		 0.5
(32.9)		 5.3
(41.5)
Record low °C (°F) −17.5
(0.5)		 −16.7
(1.9)		 −13.8
(7.2)		 −8.5
(16.7)		 −4.4
(24.1)		 −2.4
(27.7)		 1.7
(35.1)		 0.4
(32.7)		 −2.0
(28.4)		 −6.7
(19.9)		 −11.8
(10.8)		 −16.4
(2.5)		 −17.5
(0.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 102.3
(4.03)		 77.0
(3.03)		 82.5
(3.25)		 62.7
(2.47)		 69.4
(2.73)		 70.4
(2.77)		 74.6
(2.94)		 70.8
(2.79)		 67.2
(2.65)		 88.3
(3.48)		 86.9
(3.42)		 106.3
(4.19)		 958.4
(37.73)
Average precipitation days 13.7 11.3 13.3 10.9 11.3 10.4 10.0 9.6 10.2 11.8 12.9 14.1 139.5
Mean monthly sunshine hours 53.6 66.5 118.5 163.5 186.6 195.2 206.3 196.9 143.5 97.2 45.6 42.6 1,515.9
Source: Météo France[3][4]

Population
Historical population
YearPop.±%
17937,240—    
18007,724+6.7%
18068,430+9.1%
18218,320−1.3%
18317,773−6.6%
18368,878+14.2%
18419,875+11.2%
18469,353−5.3%
18519,162−2.0%
186611,244+22.7%
187212,676+12.7%
187613,759+8.5%
188116,185+17.6%
188616,906+4.5%
189117,390+2.9%
189617,805+2.4%
190118,772+5.4%
190620,702+10.3%
191122,654+9.4%
192121,689−4.3%
192622,634+4.4%
193122,708+0.3%
193622,557−0.7%
194620,193−10.5%
195422,536+11.6%
196224,668+9.5%
196855,343+124.4%
197560,176+8.7%
198258,667−2.5%
199057,008−2.8%
199955,490−2.7%
200850,876−8.3%
200949,975−1.8%

Culture

Puppetry is an important part of the cultural life of Charleville-Mézières, which is called the "World Capital of Puppetry Arts". An international puppet festival has been held there every three years since 1961, and became a biennial event in 2011.[5] The town is also home to the world headquarters of UNIMA[6] as well as the International Puppetry Institute (French: Institut International de la Marionnette),[7] which is housed in a historic building featuring a giant automaton of a puppeteer who performs a puppet show every hour on the hour. The École Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette (ESNAM), a college which offers a higher education in puppetry, is also situated in Charleville-Mézières. [8]

The poet Arthur Rimbaud (1854–1891) was born in Charleville. The Rimbaud museum is located in the old water mill (Le Vieux Moulin) to the north of the town.

Transport

City buses are run by TAC,[9] Transports de l’Agglomération de Charleville-Mézières. The Gare de Charleville-Mézières railway station offers connections to Paris (by TGV), Reims, Lille, Metz and regional destinations.

Sport

OFC Charleville represent the town at association football. Étoile de Charleville-Mézières is a basketball club.

Famous residents

International relations

Charleville-Mézières is twinned with:[10]

gollark: Yes, its own HORRIBLE scripting.
gollark: `rm`'s `--help` text is actually larger than 2KB.
gollark: Windows < MacOS, sort of.
gollark: At this point nobody really cares about POSIX.
gollark: Windows, yes, or BeOS.

See also

Notes
  1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. EB (1878), "Charleville".
  3. "Données climatiques de la station de Charleville-Mézières" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  4. "Climat Champagne-Ardenne" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  5. "L'histoire". Festival-marionnette.com. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  6. "UNIMA: Accueil". Unima.org. Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  7. "INSTITUT INTERNATIONAL DE LA MARIONNETTE - IIM". Retrieved 5 September 2015.
  8. "Website of IIM and ESNAM". Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  9. Archived 21 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  10. "Jumelages et coopérations internationales". charleville-mezieres.fr (in French). Charleville-Mézières. Retrieved 20 November 2019.

References
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