MONTLUçON

'Montluçon' (Occitan: ''Montluçon'') is a town and commune in central France. It is the largest commune in the ''département'' of Allier, although the ''préfecture'' (capital) resides in the much smaller commune of Moulins.

Contents

Geography

History

Sights

Economy

Miscellaneous

Births

External link and reference

Geography

Montluçon is situated on the Cher River, 50 m. S.W. of Moulins by the Orleans railway.

History

The town, which formed part of the duchy of Bourbon, was taken by the English in 1171, and by Philip Augustus in 1181; the English were beaten under its walls in the 14th century.

Sights

The upper town, on an eminence on the right bank, consists of steep, narrow, winding streets, and preserves several buildings of the 15th and 16th centuries; the lower town, traversed by the Cher, is the seat of the industries.
Of the churches, Notre-Dame is of the 14th century, St Pierre partly of the 12th and St Paul modern. The town-hall, with a library, occupies the site of an old Ursuline convent, and two other convents are used as college and hospital. Overlooking the town is the castle rebuilt by Louis II, Duke of Bourbon, and taken by Henry IV during the French Wars of Religion; it serves as a barracks.

Economy

According to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'':
:Industries embrace the manufacture of glass, chemicals, mirrors, sewing-machines, and iron and steel production. The Commentry coal-mines and Neris, a town with thermal springs, are a few miles distant to the south-east.

Miscellaneous

Population in 1906: 31,888.
Montluçon is the seat of a sub-prefect and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade arbitration, a chamber of commerce and a lycee.
Montluçon is twinned with Hagen, Germany and Leszno, Poland.

Births

Montluçon was the birthplace of:

★ André Messager (1853-1929), composer

★ Marx Dormoy (1888-1941), politician

★ Bernadette Vergnaud (born 1950), French politician and Member of the European Parliament

★ Roger Walkowiak (born 1927), cyclist, winner of the 1956 Tour de France

★ Audrey Tautou (born 1978), actress

External link and reference

★ Town council website (in French)

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