Boulogne-sur-Mer Listening is a French commune, sub-prefecture of
the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region. Its
inhabitants are called the Boulonnais. With 40,874 intramural
inhabitants at the last census in 2017, the city is the second in
the department by its population behind Calais, and first by its
population density. Boulogne-sur-Mer is also the center of an
agglomeration of about 132,000 inhabitants, the 61st most populous
urban area in the country.
Located on the edge of the English
Channel, facing the English coast, the town is known to be the first
fishing port in France, for having been an important connecting port
with England until the end of the twentieth century (place aujourd '
hui occupied by Calais) and for its 2000 years of eventful history,
mainly marked by the desires of conquest of Julius Caesar and
Napoleon I. Classified as a "tourist resort", the one commonly
called the "capital of the Opal Coast" is one of the main tourist
destinations in the region thanks to its rich historical heritage,
its beach and those of the neighboring seaside resorts. as well as
at the national center of the sea Nausicaá, one of the most visited
tourist sites north of Paris, considered as “the largest aquarium in
Europe” since its last extension in 2018.
Listed historical monuments of the walled city
The fortified
town (also called the old town or upper town) was built on the site
of a Roman camp which became the Gallo-Roman town of Gesoriacum, one
of the bases of the “Classis Britannica”. Built by Philippe Hurepel
de Clermont, son of the King of France Philippe Auguste, the
fortifications that surround it and the castle (now a museum)
constitute one of the best preserved medieval architectural groups
in France. The bases of these ramparts are those of the Gallo-Roman
ramparts.
Today a district of Boulogne-sur-Mer, the fortified
city retains the dimensions and the historical layout of the
orthogonal roads (cardo, decumanus, forum), the last vestiges of the
castrum. It is home to many historical monuments:
Belfry: MH
inscription by decree of June 10, 1926, UNESCO World Heritage
listing in 2005. This was originally the keep of the first castle
known to the Counts of Boulogne, attributed to Renaud de Dammartin
(late 12th century ). Its rooms host a lapidary museum (stained
glass window by Godefroy de Bouillon, stone and cast iron balls,
wells, etc.)
Basilica of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception:
classification by decree of March 26, 1982. It was built by Father
Benoît-Agathon Haffreingue between 1827 and 1866 on the site of the
cathedral razed in 1798. Its dome, 101 cm high m, can be seen for
miles around. Visitors can discover the splendid Torlonia altar, a
masterpiece of Italian mosaic, made in the Vatican workshops.
Weighing 16 tons, it is made up of 147 kinds of marble and
ornamental stones. Many works by Eugène Delaplanche are also
presented there (statue of Notre-Dame de Boulogne, cenotaph of Abbé
Haffreingue, altar of the Sacred Heart, etc.)
Crypt of the
basilica: classification with the basilica. Its foundations date
from Roman times. This one is very impressive by its dimensions (one
of the largest crypts in France and Northern Europe), its rooms (low
crypt, dome crypt, chapel of the Virgin ...), its covered walls. of
frescoes (nineteenth-century "grisailles" and medieval paintings),
its sculptures and its treasury of sacred art (including the
reliquary of the Holy Blood, donated by Philippe le Bel in 1308).
Château d'Aumont: registration by decree of June 10, 1926,
classification by decree of October 6, 1977. Today a castle-museum,
it includes various collections: masks from Alaska, fifth world
collection of Egyptian antiquities (after the museum of Cairo, the
British Museum, the Louvre and the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in
Turin), objects from Africa and Oceania, Roman and medieval
sculptures, paintings by Georges Mathieu. The visitor discovers at
the same time the Roman foundations of the building as well as the
room of the Barbière (Gothic room vaulted with ribs), the count's
room and the chapel. The ramparts are inscribed with the castle.
Imperial Palace, or Hôtel Desandrouin or des Androuins: registration
by decree of September 20, 1946, partially classified by decree of
June 27, 1984. Built in 1777 by Giraud Sannier for Viscount
François-Joseph-Théodore Desandrouin, the First Consul stayed there
briefly then Emperor Napoleon, Empress Marie-Louise of Austria and
Tsar Alexander I.
Saint-Wilmer Abbey and Church: buildings
containing the remains of the abbey and the church: registration by
decree of January 11, 1944.
Fontaine aux Dauphins, rue de Lille:
registration by decree of January 16, 1947.
Louis XVI fountain
and pavilion, behind the Gayole gate: fountain, with the facade of
the pavilion which surmounts it and the wall on which it leans over
a length of approximately 10 meters on each side of the monument:
inscription by decree of October 5, 1945.
Maison du Croissant,
rue de Lille, facade and porch: registration by decree of April 5,
1948.
Entrance structures to the fortified town: Porte des
Degrés, Porte Gayole (facade of the two towers which form the door,
excluding the interior premises), Porte Neuve (or Porte de Calais or
Porte Flamengue) and Porte des Dunes classified in 1905.