Royan is a commune in southwestern France, located in the
department of Charente-Maritime (Nouvelle-Aquitaine region). Its
inhabitants are called Royannais.
Main town of the Côte de
Beauté and Royannais with 18,398 inhabitants in 2017, at the heart
of an urban area of 48,982 inhabitants in 2013, Royan is above all
one of the main seaside resorts on the French Atlantic coast, with
five beaches of fine sand, and also of a marina which can receive
more than 1000 boats as well as an active fishing port. Economic
center radiating on the southwest quarter of the department
(tertiary activities: shopping centers, crafts, banks and mutual
funds, educational establishments) the city also lives at the rate
of the university pole of Carel, specialized in the teaching of
languages.
Located in the Arvert peninsula, on the right bank
of the mouth of the largest estuary in Europe, the Gironde, Royan
has always been a highly coveted strategic site, costing it several
sieges and destruction. After the Germanic invasions (Visigoths in
particular), and some Viking incursions, Royan, then a small fishing
port, was the seat of several priories during the Middle Ages. Under
English domination during the Hundred Years War, the city becomes
during the Wars of religion a Protestant stronghold which will be
besieged and destroyed by Louis XIII.
It was only during the
Restoration that Royan developed thanks to its sea baths and
acquired great renown in the mid-nineteenth century, particularly
from the Second Empire. It welcomes many artists during the Roaring
Twenties.
Destroyed by Allied bombings during the Liberation
battles (siege of Royan, September 12, 1944 - April 15, 1945), the
martyred city was subsequently declared a Research Laboratory on
Urban Planning and has since had an architectural heritage
representative of the 1950s. (modernist architecture), which earned
it to be classified as a city of art and history in 2010.
Today, Royan asserts more than ever its seaside vocation. It is a
tourist and cultural center welcoming 90,000 inhabitants annually
each summer season.
Royan was founded during late Antiquity, probably around the
fifth century. From that time on, two distinct urban centers
developed: Saint-Pierre, a farming village perched on a plateau
overlooking the Gironde estuary, and the village of Roianum, camped
on the Foncillon plateau, a strategic cape bordered by the waters
from the estuary.
From the eleventh century, Royan was
fortified by the lords of Didonne. It became an English stronghold
during the Hundred Years War, and the Black Prince granted his first
privileges to the city, now governed by a college of twelve aldermen
and twelve councilors. The city became French again in 1451, a few
years before the effective end of hostilities (1453).
During
the wars of religion, Catholics and Protestants fight over the city:
fight under its walls, Prince Henri de Navarre (the future King
Henri IV) and the Sire de Brantôme. In 1592, Royan was established
as a marquisate. The promulgation of the Edict of Nantes in 1598
made the city a Protestant place of safety.
In 1622, the
population rose up against King Louis XIII, who personally led the
siege of the city. The latter submits and obtains forgiveness from
the sovereign. The fortified city was razed to the ground in 1631 by
order of Richelieu, the citadel dismantled, the ditches filled.
The renaissance of the city only intervened with the fashion for
sea bathing, imported from England at the start of the 19th century.
Only then does the city begin to develop again. At the start of the
“Belle Époque”, Royan became a modern city, frequented by eminent
personalities from the world of culture, as well as by the upper
middle class of Bordeaux first, then Paris.
Under the
leadership of Mayor Frédéric Garnier, the city is modernized,
welcoming the railroad (1875), inaugurating its tram network (1890)
and building several casinos: the municipal casino (1895) was thus
until its destruction the largest in France. At the start of the
Second World War, Royan was an internationally known seaside resort,
frequented by Picasso, Sacha Guitry, Jacques-Henri Lartigue.
During the Occupation, Royan was a German fortress. As the end of
the conflict becomes clearer, it becomes one of the last pockets of
resistance of the Third Reich in France. As a result, it was
severely bombed on January 5, 1945: in the space of a few hours,
Royan was reduced to smoking ruins: 427 inhabitants and 47 German
soldiers were killed, 200 people were wounded. New raids were
carried out on April 14 and 15, during which nearly 725,000 liters
of napalm were used. On April 17, the German commander of Royan
surrendered.
Royan is destroyed at more than 85%: it becomes
a research laboratory on town planning. The city was rebuilt using
modernist techniques then fashioned by the great architects of the
time: Le Corbusier, Niemeyer. It therefore becomes an original city,
marked by the spirit of the 1950s, and is not long in being reborn
to seaside life.
Main city of Royannais and the Arvert peninsula, the town
occupies the right bank of the mouth of the Gironde estuary, in the
immediate vicinity of the Atlantic Ocean, in the historic former
province of Saintonge . Belonging to the south of France - we speak
more precisely of “atlantic midday”, it can be attached to two large
geographical areas, the French Great West and the French Great
Southwest.
The city is located in the heart of the Atlantic
Arc, in the south-west of the Charente-Maritime department, 60
kilometers south of La Rochelle and 94 kilometers north of Bordeaux.
On the coast, limestone cliffs and beaches alternate, locally
called conches. These are five in number, of varying sizes. The
smallest, the conche du Pigeonnier, measures only a few hundred
meters and the largest, the Grande Conche, extends over nearly 2,600
meters between the marina and the tip of Vallières, in the
neighboring town of Saint -Georges-de-Didonne. All are lined with
extremely fine sand, around 180 µm. Their formation seems to have
taken place about 10,000 years ago.
Capital of the Côte de
Beauté, Royan is located opposite the Verdon, on the other bank of
the Gironde (8.2 km as the crow flies), and adjoins Vaux-sur-Mer,
downstream on the same shore, and Saint-Georges-de-Didonne,
upstream. Saint-Sulpice-de-Royan is 3.9 km away on the Rochefort
road and Medis 5.5 km away on the Saintes road.