Arras is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the
Hauts-de-France region in northern France. Its inhabitants are
called the Arrageois.
Historical and administrative capital
of the Pas-de-Calais department, in the heart of the most extensive
agri-food economic zone north of Paris, Arras is, with its 42,600
inhabitants, the second most populous city in the department after
Calais.
It is the seat of the urban community of Arras, which
brings together 109,592 inhabitants in 2020 on 46 municipalities.
With the cities of the former mining basin located a little further
north, it is directly under the influence of the "Lille metropolitan
area", a metropolitan area of nearly 3.8 million inhabitants whose
center, the city of Lille, is only 45 km away.
Historically,
Arras was, under the Ancien Régime, the capital of the province of
Artois, a major religious center and a prosperous city known for its
cloth manufacturing. University city, Arras is characterized today
by its great youth: in fact, 33% of the inhabitants of the
agglomeration are under 25 years old. It also hosts the Main Square
Festival, a musical event held every year in July.
Arras is
famous for its two magnificent baroque squares which form a unique
architectural ensemble in Europe, its belfry and its citadel, both
classified as UNESCO World Heritage sites. With 225 buildings
protected as historical monuments, Arras is the city with the
highest density of monuments in France.
The squares of Grand'Place and Place des Heros – Like many French
urban centers, Arras is made of cobblestones. Both main squares measure
17,000 m2. The two large squares of the city are truly splendid and
offer a collection of 155 unique facades of Flemish Baroque
architecture. By 1492 Arras had become part of the Spanish Netherlands
and this helps explain the style of architecture (Arras was reconquered
by the French only in 1640 at the time of Louis X These large city
squares were designed to host large markets that at different times
contributed not a little to the prosperity of the city.
Town Hall (H
Ville The town hall on the Place des Heros (and not on the Grand'Place)
was destroyed during the war but has been recreated in its original
style. The dominant bell tower (beffroi) is 77 meters high, or 326
steps, and offers a beautiful view of the city of Arras. Construction
had begun in 1463, but it took a century later, in 1554, before the work
was completed (in comparison, the town hall took only four years to
build). The bell tower was built in the Gothic style. At the top of the
bell tower is the statue of the golden lion holding the sun, 2 meters
high. She was installed under Luigi Luigi The statue found at the top of
the bell tower is a reproduction of the original that is in the Museum
of Fine Arts of Arras (the original was damaged due to bombing during
the First World War). During this time, the bell tower was destroyed and
was rebuilt later, just as it was originally with a concrete structure
by the chief architect of historical monuments Pierre Paquet along with
the town hall of Arras. The bell tower is a historical monument. Since
2005, the belfry of Arras is inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site
in the category: Belfries of Belgium and France. The local Tourist
Information Office is located on the left entering and is open every day
except Christmas and New Year. Below, in the basement, are the
underground premises, the Boves. These can be visited during tours and
give a glimpse of an area used by the British army as a field hospital.
The Boves are still frequented by locals today and some sections have
even been turned into restaurants. During the war they were used as a
shelter for soldiers and then the returning city dwellers took refuge
there as they rebuilt their destroyed city.
Bove. The Boves of Arras
are a set of underground environments (tunnels connecting individual
cellars) that men have progressively excavated since the secolo The
existing network is of considerable extension and excellent state of
conservation. These quarries were excavated when local builders used
large blocks of gypsum to build the most important buildings in the
city. These tunnels were also used as a refuge by the Arrageois during
wars, invasions, bombings... These dungeons were also used by the
British during the First World War to install a small hospital.
Sandstone or limestone columns support the vaulted halls and stairs that
allow residents to store food in cellars at a constant temperature of 11
C
Carrereell, ☎ +33 3 21 51 26 95. Adults: 6,60 Ridotto Mon-Sun all
year round: 10:00-12:30 and 13: 30-18: 00. Closed 1 gennaio January and
3 weeks after the Christmas holidays; 28, 29 and 30 June and 25
December. This is a network of underground tunnels that played an
important role in conquering enemy lines during the Battle of Arras in
1917. They helped save the lives of many soldiers. Kilometers of tunnels
were dug under the Arras campaign to create command posts, kitchens,
dormitories and even a hospital, protecting some 24,000 Allied soldiers.
It is located about 700 meters behind the Arras SNCF train station, in
the direction of Bapaume. The entrance is in Via Deletoille, the first
on the left immediately after the Leclerc supermarket.
Museum of Fine
Arts (Musee des Beau Arts The Museum of Fine Arts of Arras is located in
the ancient Abbey of San Vedasto. The original statue of the golden lion
("le lion d'or") of Arras resides in this museum. In the collection of
paintings of the museum you can see various art works of the following
artists: Pieter Brueghel le Jeune, Balthasar van der Ast, Paul Rubens,
Gerard Seghers, Nicolas Maes, Jacob van Es, Jacopo Bassano, Giovanni
Baglione, Claude Vignon, Philippe de Champaigne, Jean Jouvenet,
Sébastien Bourdon, Laurent de La Hyre, Charles Le Brun, Nicolas de
Largillière, Antoine Watteau, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Carle Van Loo,
Joseph-Marie Vien, Camille Corot, Théodore Rousseau, Théodore
Chassériau, and Eugène Delacroix.
Place Victor-Hugo. This is an
octagonal square located in the "basse ville", not too far from the
church"Notre-Dame-des-Ardents". In the center of this square is an
obelisk with a fountain. Around this square there are many old stone
houses.
Citadel of Arras. The Citadel of Arras was built following
Vauban's plans at the initiative of Louis Luigi Its main task was to
protect the kingdom from attacks by the armies of the Spanish
Netherlands, but the diminishing importance of Arras as a strategic site
soon made it suitable. redundant and became known as The Useless Belle -
Pretty (but) useless. One of the reasons why Vauban chose this
particular location is the proximity of the river" Crinchon " which
could serve both as a source of water for the garrison but also as a
method of filling the moat in difficult times. During the Battle of
Arras in 1917 the moat was at one point used as a parking lot for tanks.
Until July 2009 the citadel was still used as a military garrison and
housed the Arrageois: 601e Regime de Circulation Routiere. Under
President Sarkoz's new military policy, the regiment was disbanded in
July 2009 and the citadel sold off. What Arras will do with the complex
has yet to be decided.
Cite Nature, 25, boulevard Schuman, ☎ +33 3 21
21 59 59. Inaugurated in the Art Deco buildings of an old miner's lamp
factory (transformed by the famous architect J 2500 m2 of permanent
exhibitions cover the environment, food, technology, history and 1500 m2
of various gardens, there is also a hall for meetings and exchanges. At
the "Cite Nature" you can participate in wine tastings, debates with
artists, listen to music and watch shows.
Museum of the Great War,
Place Andre Audinot (Ch P), ☎ +33 3 22 83 14 18, info@historial.org.
Adults 9,00 €; veterans and seniors: 7,00 €; children and teenagers from
7 to 15 years and students: 4,50. April-October: Mon-Sun 9:30-18:00;
November-March: Thu-Tue 9:30-17:00. Closed from 10 December to 22
January. Near the heart of the battlefields of the Somme of the First
World War, it is housed inside the castle of Peronne, a castle in the
town of Peronne. It represents the daily life of the soldiers at the
front in that harsh period as well as the lives of civilians and the
enormous social changes. It has two large permanent specialist
exhibitions: (1) Prisoners of War - the exhibition deals with all
aspects of captivity: food, for example, was insufficient and of poor
quality; disease was widespread; and prisoners of war had to work hard;
and (2) Children in World War I: for some, World War I was seen as a
means to defend civilization from barbarism, to protect the future of
children. The image of the child was therefore often used in posters,
especially for recruitment.
Abbey of Saint Vedastus, rue des Teinturiers. The abbey of San
Vedasto, subject to Benedictine rule, was founded in 667 on the hill of
La Madeleine near Arras. It is around the abbey that the village
developed, on the banks of the river "Crinchon". Since 1825 it has
housed the Museum of Fine Arts of Arras.
Notre-Dame Cathedral, rue
des Teinturiers. The taste of the classical period imposed at the time
gave the interior of the church the appearance of an ancient temple.
Everything is grand, majestic and wonderfully proportioned. It gives an
impression of nobility, balance and serene majesty and radiant light.
The cathedral houses some wonders (series of eight sculptures of saints
of the Pantheon, Tombs of bishops) and some Art Deco pieces.
Church
of St. John the Baptist, rueacqu Built in the sixth century,
Saint-Nicolas-on-the-Fosse is one of the few religious buildings in
Arras to have gone through revolutionary turmoil. Known as the Temple of
Reason during the terror, the church was then returned to worship,
becoming known as St. John the Baptist in 1833 after the consecration of
the cathedral. Destroyed during the First World War, it was rebuilt in
neo-Gothic style.
Church of St. Nicholas, place de la Prefecture.
Built according to the designs provided by the architect J Oseph Tra
TraLer in 1837, the church of St. Nicholas is one of the best examples
of neoclassical architecture in Arras.
The Rue Neuve du Vivier.
Designed by architect Ale GrAnder Grign Gr in the spirit of the Gothic
of the second century, the church of Saint-Ger costruita was built
between 1860 and 1866. In a national context in which the "Greeks"
(followers of Neoclassicism) compete with the "Goths" (followers of the
Neo-Gothic), Grign fatto The hotel Deus,, rue Saint-Aubert, is another
example of his work.
Church of Nostra Signora degli Ardenti, rue
Aristide-Briand. Built in 1876, this Roman-Byzantine style church is the
work of the Norman architect Hesdinois Clovis, a pupil of Grign. It
respects the style of the flowery novel of the secolo In one apparition,
the virgin gives a magic candle to Normand and Ithier. This magic candle
will cure Ardent disease (a disease caused by ergot) with a few drops of
wax.
Main Square Festival. A local music festival that takes place every year between the end of June and the beginning of July. A variety of artists, French and American, perform in the Citadel of Arras, an ancient military base. Famous American groups such as Maroon 5 performed here.
The region was conquered by the Romans in 56 BC, during the
Gallic War. Around 15 BC the village of Nemetacum was born on the
hill of Baudimont, which the Romans chose as the capital of the
Atrebates. It becomes a town of medium importance, covering about 30
ha, which was fortified during the first incursions of Germanic
peoples in the third century.
In the fourth century,
Nemetacum was a center of crafts and trade renowned for its textiles
exported to the whole empire.
In 406-407, the Germans destroy
the city.
In 428, the Salian Franks led by Clodion the Hairy
conquered the entire region up to the Somme. The Roman general
Aetius preferred to negotiate peace and concluded a treaty with
Clodion (foetus) which made the Franks, "federates" fighting for
Rome.
During their invasion of Gaul in 451, Attila and the
Huns devastated Arras and several cities in the region, Thérouanne,
Tournai, etc., before heading to Amiens and Paris.
After the
conversion of Clovis, a bishopric was created in Arras in 499, and
entrusted to Saint Vaast; but it was quickly attached to that of
Cambrai.
Saint Aubert, Bishop of Cambrai, transferred the body of Saint Vaast
to the banks of the Crinchon and founded the Saint-Vaast Abbey in 667.
In the ninth century, Arras became the privileged residence of the
Counts of Flanders who established a hereditary castle there.
In
1025, the bishop of Arras, Gerard of Cambrai, gathers in the church of
Saint‑Marie a synod to fight against a heresy, which will be suppressed.
In 1105, an epidemic caused by a fungus on wheat affects the city,
then ceases. Some speak of the "miracle of the Holy Candle".
Water-related activities are possible thanks to the town's location:
boats can dock on the old shore, and the water from the Horsehair is
used in the manufacture of fabrics. In the twelfth century, the
important development of institutions and the economy thanks to the
Saint-Vaast Abbey allows the city to count eleven churches. The
prosperity of the city is reflected in the reconstruction of its great
cathedral in 1161, the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral, now completely
disappeared because it was destroyed during the Revolution. In 1163, the
city acquires a charter for the affairs of the city, which serves as an
example for the cities of Flanders.
Arras has about 35,000
inhabitants who develop a trade to the East thanks to the drapery
industry: the tapestries of Arras are known as arazzi in Italy and in
England simply as arras. In Poland, in Krakow, the Wawel Royal Castle
houses more than a hundred pieces, the most important and the most
precious collection of Arras tapestries from the Renaissance period.
In 1191, the Treaty of Arras was signed: the current territory of
the department enters the fold of the royal domain.
In the
thirteenth century, Arras includes ten parishes, eleven churches, two
chapels, a chapel, three hospices, four mills and a hall.
A
Burgundian town tormented at the end of the Middle Ages
The city is
then Burgundian from the fourteenth century to the fifteenth century.
In 1415, Colart de Montbertaut, mayor of Arras, died during the
Battle of Azincourt in 1415.
In 1430, Joan of Arc, a prisoner,
was locked up in the Arras region, perhaps at the Bellemotte castle in
Saint-Laurent-Blangy. The Peace of Arras of 1435 reconciles the Valois
of France and Burgundy, and puts an end to the wars started in 1345.
In 1460, one of the most famous witchcraft trials of the Inquisition
began in Arras, the Great Vauderie of Arras.
In the second half
of the fifteenth century, the city of Arras undergoes enormous
upheavals. After having, in August 1463, bought the towns of the Somme,
including Arras, from his uncle Philip III of Burgundy, Louis XI stayed
there peacefully in January 1464. By his letters patent sent in February
1464, the king authorized a fair of three days a year in this city, so
that the flight of foreign exchange would be reduced, due to the
powerful fairs of Antwerp and Bruges65. According to the Treaty of
Conflans (1465) then that of Péronne (1468), the king had to return them
to Charles the Bold. Following the death of the latter, the royal army
occupied Arras in May 1477, after several months of battles. Imposed
then of 43 000 ecu compensation, the city emptied quickly.
Louis
XI wanted to repopulate it with Meccan people from all estates, trades
and vacations borrowed from the main cities of France. For example,
Laval had to provide his contingent, which left on July 2, 1477. They
arrived in the desolate city, and very few stayed there despite the
extensive privileges offered to them there. Nevertheless, very few
returned to their hometown.
On July 4, 1479, Arras became French.
The Treaty of Arras (1482), the peace between France and Austria,
concluded that Artois entered the dowry of Margaret of Austria,
betrothed to the future Charles VIII. The former inhabitants who had
taken refuge as far as Lille and Roubaix began to return, in particular
the burghers. Finally, in 1491, the forced marriage of Charles VIII and
Anne of Brittany, according to a delicate political situation, made the
city of Arras return to Habsburg, with Margaret of Austria who had grown
up in Amboise, daughter of the late Marie of Burgundy.
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, Artois is disputed during
the wars between Francis I and Charles V. In 1525, there were only a
hundred merchants in Arras. The textile activity did not improve much
thereafter; the conflicts made the artisans flee to Lille and Roubaix.
The Treaty of Madrid of 1526 attached Arras to the Spanish Netherlands,
but it was not respected by Francis I; the conflicts continued until the
end of his reign.
During the Reformation that inflamed the
region, the city of Arras remained faithful to the Catholic camp, and
signified its loyalty to the King of Spain during the Union of Arras in
1579. Ponthus Payen, bourgeois of Arras, wrote about the revolt of the
Gueux (1566 and 1567) as well as on "the troubles of Arras" of 1577 and
1578.
It was conquered by Louis XIII in 1640 after a siege and
then besieged by the Spaniards in 1654 (episode of the relief of Arras);
Vauban participated in its defense without commanding and the city was
taken over by Turenne. However, the attachment to France is final and
ratified only in 1659 by the Treaty of the Pyrenees.
In 1668, the
city integrates the regional defensive project of Pré carré de Vauban
with the construction of the citadel. It is located at the bottom left
of the opposite map.
In 1749, the City and the City of Arras,
having their separate administration and separated by a rampart, are
united to form one. The aldermanical power of the City is transmitted to
that of the City and suppressed.
Maximilien de Robespierre, a
native of Arras, was elected on April 26, 1789 with seven other deputies
from the Third estate of Artois. During the French Revolution, the
municipality was first led by Dubois de Fosseux, an erudite hobereau,
secretary of the Academy of Arras and future president of Pas-de-Calais.
In competition with Aire-sur-la-Lys, Calais and Saint-Omer, Arras
finally obtains the prefecture of Pas-de-Calais.
From November
1793 to August 1794, ten months of terror took place: the city was then
under the dictatorship of Joseph Lebon, mayor of Arras and deputy for
Pas-de-Calais, who introduced food restrictions, ordered 400 executions
and destroyed many religious buildings (Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral in
particular). He was himself guillotined in October 1795.
At the
end of August 1804, Napoleon I visited Arras. Faced with the dilapidated
state of the Notre-Dame-en-Cité cathedral, which had been transformed
into a stone quarry during the Revolution, he decided to raze the ruins,
while the abbey church of Saint-Vaast was erected as a cathedral.
Arras sees its demography and its economic activity stagnate while
Lille, under the blow of the industrial revolution, explodes. Under the
impetus of Émile Legrelle, dynamic mayor, Arras dismantled part of its
ramparts to establish vast peripheral boulevards, build a new sewer
network, and acquired a new railway station in 1898 (the previous one,
opened for the opening of the Paris - Lille line, dated from 1846).
Second Empire
In the mid-nineteenth century, Arras industrializes
with modern mechanization techniques.
Belle epoque
On March
28, 1904, at the great epoch of the Universal Exhibitions, the opening
of the Exhibition of the North of France took place in Arras. It lasts
until October 9th. The president of the republic Émile Loubet and Émile
Combes, president of the council, come to visit it on May 23rd.
Between 1912 and 1914, the 33rd infantry regiment was barracks in Arras.
At that time, its leader was Colonel Philippe Pétain, who had among the
officers under his command second Lieutenant Charles de Gaulle.
The First World War inflicted considerable destruction on the
Aragon heritage because the city was located less than 10 km from
the front, and it was the stake of the expensive battles of Artois.
The staff of the 3rd infantry brigade was in Arras when the
general mobilization was decided on August 1, 1914. The general
staff commanded by General Duplessis includes a captain, a
lieutenant and ten men. On August 5, 1914, he left Arras for Hirson,
via Valenciennes and Avesnes-sur-Helpe. He will fight in the east.
From August 31, 1914, the Uhlan horsemen were at
Tilloy-lès-Mofflaines, and a patrol of soldiers made a first
incursion into Arras, followed on September 6, by 3,000 men and a
staff (commanded by General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim) who settled in
the barracks, the citadel and in the city. A regiment of Arab
goumiers is trying to defend the surroundings of the city. In
September, the soldiers of Louis Ernest de Maud'huy repel part of
the German troops; trenches are being dug in the suburbs of Arras.
The town hall of Arras burned down on October 7 and the belfry was
destroyed on the 21st, then the cathedral and the Saint-Vaast palace
were victims of bombing in July 1915.
On January 1, 1916,
Father Guérin founded a weekly newspaper The Lion of Arras to
support the population.
Secretly, the British transformed the
chalk quarries under the city so that they could accommodate the
24,000 soldiers necessary for the smooth running of the Battle of
Arras on April 9, 1917. The Wellington Quarry site today recalls
this series of facts that make Arras one of the two major theaters
of the Nivelle Offensive.
After the war, the city, ravaged in
three quarters, was decorated with the Croix de guerre 1914-1918 on
August 30, 1919. It is rebuilt almost identically, and takes the
opportunity to expand. In the arrondissements of Arras and Béthune,
150,000 ha of land are sterilized.
On September 22, 1922, at the Durand brickworks, Belgians unearth a
treasure from the second century and the third century.
Arras
suffered destruction again during the Second World War, but to a lesser
extent compared to the annihilation after 1914-1918. On August 21, 1941,
for the first time in Arras, prisoners of the citadel were shot by the
Germans. On April 29, 1942, the Resistance launched a helping hand on
the Gestapo building in Arras. On July 4, 1942, the railwaymen Eugene
d'hallendre and Lucien Delassus met in Arras Roland Farjon, responsible
for the North of the resistance network Civil and military Organization
(OCM), with the aim of establishing the network in the region.
From 1945 to 1975, the SFIO deputy and several times president of the
Council Guy Mollet was the mayor of the city. Under his mandates, Arras
was equipped with major public buildings, including a new town hall,
four general high schools and two vocational high schools. Nevertheless,
the city is struggling to pull its weight economically and remains
overshadowed by the attractiveness of the powerful mining basin and the
Lille metropolis. The Arrageois industry is declining, so is commerce.
The renewal of the city began in the 1990s, when the mining basin
was sinking into the crisis of deindustrialization. Arras is chosen to
host the management of the new University of Artois, it also benefits
from a TGV service linked to the proximity of the LGV Nord. Arras is
developing its service activities around local commerce and tourism: the
opening of the Wellington Quarry in 2008 announces the reorientation of
the activity towards memory tourism. The industrial zones are beginning
their renewal with an emphasis on food processing and the manufacture of
finished products with high added value (Häagen-Dazs factory) and
logistics.
On October 13, 2023, Dominique Bernard, associate
professor of modern letters, teacher at the integrated college of the
Gambetta school group, is murdered by a Chechen islamist86.
Posthumously, he is appointed by decree of the President of the Republic
dated October 18, 2023 knight of the Legion of Honor.