Narbonne is a French commune located in the department of Aude,
in the Occitanie region. The town is crossed by the Canal de la
Robine, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.
Narbonne is
the largest and most populous municipality in the Aude department
and seventh in the Occitanie region. The 53,594 inhabitants of
Narbonne are called the Narbonnais. Its urban area had 91,825
inhabitants in 2013. It is also the city-center of an intermunicipal
body of 125,487 inhabitants, Grand Narbonne.
Located in the
heart of the “Narbonnaise en Méditerranée regional natural park”,
Narbonne also has other classified natural sites, such as the Clape
massif and that of the Sainte-Marie de Fontfroide abbey as well as
the pond of Bages- Sigean. Founded by the Romans in 118 BC. AD, it
was their second oldest colony in Gaul (after Aix-en-Provence, 122
BC) and its urban center keeps traces of many centuries of history
(Saint-Just cathedral - and-Saint-Pasteur, palace of the
Archbishops, remains of the Domitian way…). The town is surrounded
by scrubland and vineyards (it specializes in the trade of Aude and
Languedoc wines); close to the coast of a very touristy region, it
has a beach of five kilometers of fine sand at Narbonne-Plage.
Its status as the oldest Roman colony in Gaul has earned it the
nickname “the eldest daughter of Rome outside Italy”.
La Cathédrale de Narbonne Saint-Just Cathedral: construction began in
1272
The Archaeological Museum is housed in the adjoining bishop's
palace.
In addition to the cathedral, the witnesses of Roman history
are particularly worth seeing, including:
Roman horreum: a granary
that was embedded in the ground as a so-called cryptoporticus
Archaeological site Clos de la Lombarde
Clos de la Lombarde:
Archaeological site with remains of Roman town houses ("domus"), the
only ones in Gaul.
Remains of Via Domitia: in front of the town hall
Pont des Marchands: a bridge of houses of Roman origin
Narbo Via, a
Roman history museum opening in 2021
Narbonnaise en Méditerranée
Regional Natural Park: which includes parts of the commune of Narbonne
antiquity
Narbonne was the first Roman colony outside of
Italy. She was born around 118 BC. in what was then Gaul as Colonia
Narbo Martius. The Via Domitia, the first Roman road in Gaul, ran
through Narbonne. It was built around the time the colony was
founded and connected Italy with the Spanish colonies. At Narbonne,
the Via Domitia joined the Via Aquitania, which led to the Atlantic
Ocean via Toulouse and Bordeaux. Later the Provincia of southern
Gaul was named Gallia Narbonensis after its capital. As the
administrative center of the Roman province, archaeologists have
been able to prove that Narbonne prospered economically and was home
to architectural masterpieces.
middle Ages
From 462
Narbonne came under the influence of the Visigoths. It briefly
became the capital of the whole Visigothic Empire and later, after
the Visigothic Empire had lost most of the areas north of the
Pyrenees to the Frankish Empire, of the Visigothic province of
Septimania. In the course of the conquest of the Visigoths by the
Moors in 719, Narbonne was also taken. 40 years later, in 759, the
city fell to the Frankish Empire under Pepin the Short.
In
793 Narbonne was destroyed, burned and depopulated by an army of
Emir Hisham I, who resided in Cordoba.
In the High Middle
Ages, the Duchy of Narbonne belonged to the sphere of influence of
the Counts of Toulouse and thus also the Cathars, who were almost
wiped out during the Albigensian Wars (1209-1229). After that, the
area fell to the French crown. In the years from 1272 to 1332, the
Saint-Just Cathedral was built in the northern French Gothic style.
With a choir height of 41 meters, it is one of the highest in
France.
Narbonne is not far from the Mediterranean coast on the Canal de la Robine at an altitude of about 10 m above sea level. i.e. M. There is a connection to the Canal du Midi via a connecting canal (Canal de Jonction) which continues the Canal de la Robine inland. Narbonne has access to the A9 Autoroute and the A61 Autoroute. The nearest cities are Béziers (approx. 35 km north-east) and Carcassonne (approx. 60 km west), the nearest large cities are Perpignan (approx. 65 km south) and Montpellier (approx. 95 km north-east). The climate is warm and rarely rains.
Saint Sebastian (3rd century), died in Rome around 288 as a Christian
martyr
Carus (c. 223–283), Roman Emperor
Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de
Mondonville (1711–1772), violin virtuoso and composer
Joseph-Martin
Cabirol (1799-1874), rubber manufacturer and inventor
Henry Cros
(1840–1907), glass artist, sculptor and painter
Paul Raynal
(1885–1971), playwright
Benjamin Crémieux (1888–1944), writer
Joë
Bousquet (1897–1950), writer
Pierre Reverdy (1889–1960), poet
Charles Trenet (1913–2001), singer, composer, poet and painter
André
Héléna (1919–1972), crime writer
Jacques Fihey (1931–2017), Bishop of
Coutances
Pedro Soler (born 1938), flamenco guitarist
Joseph
Gonzales (born 1941), boxer
Joël Prévost (born 1950), chanson singer
Gerard Schivardi (born 1950), politician
Eric Andrieu (born 1960),
politician
Claude Égéa (born 1963), jazz musician
Alex Antor (born
1979), Andorran alpine skier
Brice Soniano (born 1979), double bass
player
Ethel-Julie Puig-Arjona (born 1981), beach volleyball player
Dimitri Szarzewski (born 1983), rugby player
Camille Lacourt (born
1985), swimmer
Benjamin Lariche (born 1987), racing driver
Pierre
Mortefon (born 1989), windsurfer
Florian Sotoca (born 1990), soccer
player
Marion Mortefon (born 1992), windsurfer
Alex Baron (born
1994), automobile racer
Nasredine Khatir (born 1995), middle-distance
runner