Saint-Étienne

Saint-Étienne (French: [sɛ̃t‿etjɛn]; Arpitan: Sant-Etiève, Occitan: Sant Estève; English: Saint Stephen) is a city in eastern central France, in the Massif Central, 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, on the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon. Saint-Étienne is the capital of the Loire department and has a population of 172,565 (2017) in the city itself and over 520,000 in the urban area (2017).

Saint-Étienne
Prefecture and commune
Coat of arms
Location of Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne
Coordinates: 45°26′05″N 4°23′25″E
CountryFrance
RegionAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes
DepartmentLoire
ArrondissementSaint-Étienne
CantonSaint-Étienne-1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
IntercommunalitySaint-Étienne Métropole
Government
 • Mayor (2014–2020) Gaël Perdriau (LR)
Area
1
79.97 km2 (30.88 sq mi)
Population
 (2017-01-01)[1]
172,565
 • Rank13th in France
 • Density2,200/km2 (5,600/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
42218 /42000, 42100
Elevation422–1,117 m (1,385–3,665 ft)
(avg. 516 m or 1,693 ft)
Websitewww.saint-etienne.fr
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

In the last years Saint-Étienne made important transformations for transitioning from a 19th-century industrial city to the 21st century "European capital of design". This approach led to important urban renovations of the main districts of the city.

History
See also: Timeline of Saint-Étienne

Named after Saint Stephen, the city first appears in the historical record in the Middle Ages as Saint-Étienne de Furan (after the River Furan, a tributary of the Loire). In the 13th century, it was a small borough around the church dedicated to Saint Etienne. On the upper reaches of the Furan, near the Way of St. James, the Abbey of Valbenoîte had been founded by the Cistercians in 1222. In the late 15th century, it was a fortified village defended by walls built around the original nucleus.

From the 16th century, Saint-Étienne developed an arms manufacturing industry and became a market town. It was this which accounted for the town's importance, although it also became a centre for the manufacture of ribbons and passementerie starting in the 17th century.

Later, it became a mining centre of the Loire coal mining basin, and more recently, has become known for its bicycle industry.

In the first half of the 19th century, it was only a chief town of an arrondissement in the département of the Loire, with a population of 33,064 in 1832. The concentration of industry prompted these numbers to rise rapidly to 110,000 by about 1880. It was this growing importance of Saint-Étienne that led to its being made seat of the prefecture and the departmental administration on 25 July 1855, when it became the chief town in the département and seat of the prefect, replacing Montbrison, which was reduced to the status of chief town of an arrondissement. Saint-Étienne absorbed the commune of Valbenoîte and several other neighbouring localities on 31 March 1855.

Population
Historical population
YearPop.±%
179325,000—    
180618,035−27.9%
182119,102+5.9%
183133,064+73.1%
184148,554+46.8%
185156,003+15.3%
186192,250+64.7%
1872110,814+20.1%
1881123,813+11.7%
1891133,443+7.8%
1901146,559+9.8%
1911148,656+1.4%
1921167,967+13.0%
1931191,088+13.8%
1946177,966−6.9%
1954181,730+2.1%
1962210,311+15.7%
1968223,223+6.1%
1975220,181−1.4%
1982204,955−6.9%
1990199,396−2.7%
1999180,210−9.6%
2011170,049−5.6%
2016171,924+1.1%

Culture

Saint-Étienne became a popular stop for automobile travelers in the early 20th century.

In 1998, Saint-Étienne set up a design biennale, the largest of its kind in France.[2] It lasts around two weeks. A landmark in the history of the importance ascribed to design in Saint-Étienne was the inauguration of La Cité du design on the site of the former arms factory in 2009.

The city also launched the Massenet Festivals, (the composer Jules Massenet hailed from the area) devoted mainly to perform Massenet's operas. In 2000, the city was named one of the French Towns and Lands of Art and History. On 22 November 2010, it was nominated as "City of Design" as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network.[3]

Saint-Étienne has four museums:

  1. the Musée d'Art Moderne has one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in France
  2. Musée de la Mine
  3. Musée de l'Art et de l'Industrie
  4. Musée du vieux Saint-Etienne

Climate

Saint-Étienne has a continental-influenced oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfb), that is heavily influenced by its relative distance to the sea. Summer days are very warm for a marine climate type, but fall into the range due to the cool nights that keep the mean average temperatures below the subtropical threshold of 22 °C (72 °F). Winters are cold. Saint-Étienne is the snowiest city of France, with an average of 82 cm (around 3 ft) of snow per winter. Precipitation levels are very low for this type of climate regime during winter, although the summers are wet and humid.

Climate data for Saint-Étienne (1981–2010 averages)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 20.0
(68.0)		 23.2
(73.8)		 26.4
(79.5)		 28.8
(83.8)		 33.7
(92.7)		 37.8
(100.0)		 41.1
(106.0)		 39.3
(102.7)		 36.0
(96.8)		 29.2
(84.6)		 25.2
(77.4)		 20.2
(68.4)		 41.1
(106.0)
Average high °C (°F) 6.8
(44.2)		 8.4
(47.1)		 12.4
(54.3)		 15.3
(59.5)		 19.8
(67.6)		 23.6
(74.5)		 26.7
(80.1)		 26.3
(79.3)		 22.0
(71.6)		 17.1
(62.8)		 10.8
(51.4)		 7.4
(45.3)		 16.4
(61.5)
Daily mean °C (°F) 3.2
(37.8)		 4.3
(39.7)		 7.4
(45.3)		 10.0
(50.0)		 14.3
(57.7)		 17.8
(64.0)		 20.5
(68.9)		 20.1
(68.2)		 16.4
(61.5)		 12.6
(54.7)		 7.1
(44.8)		 4.1
(39.4)		 11.5
(52.7)
Average low °C (°F) −0.4
(31.3)		 0.1
(32.2)		 2.4
(36.3)		 4.6
(40.3)		 8.8
(47.8)		 12.0
(53.6)		 14.2
(57.6)		 13.8
(56.8)		 10.7
(51.3)		 8.0
(46.4)		 3.3
(37.9)		 0.7
(33.3)		 6.5
(43.7)
Record low °C (°F) −25.6
(−14.1)		 −22.5
(−8.5)		 −13.9
(7.0)		 −7.0
(19.4)		 −3.9
(25.0)		 −0.6
(30.9)		 2.9
(37.2)		 1.1
(34.0)		 −2.6
(27.3)		 −6.2
(20.8)		 −10.6
(12.9)		 −18.6
(−1.5)		 −25.6
(−14.1)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 36.6
(1.44)		 28.2
(1.11)		 36.7
(1.44)		 61.3
(2.41)		 91.6
(3.61)		 78.3
(3.08)		 64.0
(2.52)		 70.4
(2.77)		 75.7
(2.98)		 71.8
(2.83)		 63.1
(2.48)		 40.5
(1.59)		 718.2
(28.28)
Average precipitation days 7.7 6.8 7.2 9.4 11.0 8.8 7.1 7.7 7.5 8.9 8.0 7.3 97.2
Average relative humidity (%) 81 78 73 71 72 72 68 71 75 80 81 83 75.4
Mean monthly sunshine hours 85.6 108.8 159.3 182.4 212.9 239.5 273.1 251.4 187.3 133.5 83.5 67.9 1,985.1
Source 1: Météo France[4][5]
Source 2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity, 1961–1990)[6]

Sport
Stade Geoffroy-Guichard

The city's football club AS Saint-Étienne has won the Ligue 1 title a record ten times, achieving most of their success in the 1970s. The British indie-dance band Saint Etienne named themselves after the club.

St. Étienne has many sports stadiums, the largest being Stade Geoffroy-Guichard used for football and Stade Henri-Lux for athletics. St. Étienne was the capital of the French bicycle industry. The bicycle wheel manufacturer Mavic is based in the city and frame manufacturers Motobécane and Vitus are also based here. The city often hosts a stage of the Tour de France.

St. Étienne resident Thierry Gueorgiou is a world champion in orienteering. The local rugby union team is CA Saint-Étienne Loire Sud Rugby.

Transport
Cité du design
Tramway, bus and bicycles run by STAS (Société de Transports de l'Agglomération Stéphanoise)
Rochetaillée castle

The nearest airport is Saint-Étienne - Bouthéon Airport which is located in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, 12 km (7.46 mi) north-northwest of Saint-Étienne. The main railway station is Gare de Saint-Étienne-Châteaucreux, which offers high speed services to Paris, Lyon (Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway), and several regional lines.

Saint-Étienne is also notable for its tramway (Saint-Étienne tramway) – which uniquely with Lille, it kept throughout the 20th century – and its trolleybus system (Saint-Étienne trolleybus system) – which is one of only three such systems currently operating in France.

Bus and tram transport is regulated and provided by the Société de Transports de l'Agglomération Stéphanoise (STAS), a public transport executive organisation.

The bicycle sharing system Vélivert with 280 short term renting bicycles has been available since June 2010.

Colleges and universities

Notable people

Saint-Étienne was the birthplace of

It was also the place where Andrei Kivilev died.

International relations
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Saint-Étienne is twinned with:

gollark: Also, they could probably just live somewhere with less wildly inflated house pricing.
gollark: > I want the scientists in society to have a place to exist too.I mean, I don't disagree, but just "give whoever rents it first a freeish house" doesn't seem like a good mechanism for that. Unless you mean they do "give whoever they find cool a freeish house", which is... also bad in other ways.
gollark: If it was actually possible to add more housing, it would be much easier to fix.
gollark: We somehow deal with this problem in basically every *other* market.
gollark: If they simply did not awful zoning, land would probably be substantially cheaper (via higher density in places).

See also

References
Notes
  1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. "La Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne". Cité du design. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  3. St-Etienne and Sydney nominated UNESCO Creative Cities , 22 November 2010.
  4. "Données climatiques de la station de Saint-Étienne" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  5. "Climat Rhône-Alpes" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  6. "Normes et records 1961-1990: Saint-Étienne - Bouthéon (42) - altitude 400m" (in French). Infoclimat. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  7. Griffin, Mary (2 August 2011). "Coventry's twin towns". Coventry Telegraph. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  8. "Coventry - Twin towns and cities". Coventry City nonoCouncil. Archived from the original on 12 April 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  9. "British towns twinned with French towns". Archant Community Media Ltd. Retrieved 11 July 2013.

Bibliography
See also: Bibliography of the history of Saint-Étienne
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