Gardanne

Gardanne (in Occitan Of Provence Gardana according to the traditional standard or Gardano according to the Standard mistralienne) is a common French, located in the department of the Rhone delta and the area Provence-Alp-Coast of Azure. Its inhabitants is called Gardannais.

Geography

To 15 km in the south of Aix-en-Provence and 25 km in the north of Marseilles, Gardanne is the geographical, administrative heart and history of the field of Provence. Its territory is composed of small staged plates, separated by a left affluent from the Arc, the Saint-Pierre. The city is located in the middle of the highway node of the South-east of the France. The highways A51 (Marseilles - Aix Gap), A8 (Nice - Aix), A7 (Marseilles - Avignon - Lyon), A52-A50 (Aix Aubagne - Toulon) and A55 (Marseilles - Montpellier) are accessible in a few minutes by the secondary roads D7 and D6. Marseilles is at 20 minutes, Aix with less than one fifteen minutes, the Marseilles-Provence airport at 25 minutes, and parks it TGV of Aix (Alpine laburnum) at 20 minutes. Gardanne is also connected by the SNCF to the Gare of Marseilles Saint-Charles, like with that of Aix-en-Provence.

History

A Neolithic site , where vestiges going back to 4000 av. J. - C. were recently put at the day, makes it possible to think that the occupation of the territory of the current commune of Gardanne is very old. But it seems that the birth of the city dates from the Moyen-âge, with the construction of a Castrum on the southern slope of the hill of Cativel. In the cartulaire of the abbey Saint-Victor of Marseilles, it is made mention as of the 11th century of this castrum, the parish church Notre-Dame which was transferred there, and of the grounds belonging to the abbey. During all Middle Ages the borough locked up in its ramparts and the seigniory of Gardanne belong to various noble families. As of the 13th century, the inhabitants assert franknesses and freedoms via their communal magistrates.

The king Rene, king de Sicile, Count d' Anjou and of Provence, becomes owner of the communal field and manages it 1454 with its death in 1480. Hunting lodge, which exists always, commonly called “ Pavillon of the King Rene ” or “ Pavillon of the four Turns ” forever be the property of King Rene since it was built between 1573 and 1583, that is to say 93 years after the death of the sovereign. This building was restored recently by the District council.

The Castle of King Rene to Gardane (C-W communication of the 15th century) is entirely destroyed today. It was located not far from the current Town hall. The King liked to go there to devote itself with his hosts to his favorite pastimes: agriculture, culture of the vine, the breeding and hunting. He maintained there inter alia a herd cash to 1300 ewes. True model farm, this seigniory largely took part in the development of agriculture and the breeding in Provence.

The city passes then under control of the Famille of Forbin, of which one of the members (Claude de Forbin) will become Corsaire of Louis XIV.

In 1676, the inhabitants obtain from the king the repurchase of their field for the price of 134.000 books and demolish supervision seigneurale. It is as at that time as the exploitation starts (individual) coal of ground, which levels by places on the surface. Quickly, coal is required to compensate for the wood shortage which strikes the area.

At the 19th century, the coal mining is modernized and fed Marseilles industries (Huile laugh, Tuile laugh, Savon neries) very greedy in energy.

The village, primarily agricultural, is metamorphosed with the extension of the center town, the cover of the Saint-Pierre brook which crosses it and the construction of a station (railway Marseilles - Aix-en-Provence). The painter Paul Cézanne lives there fifteen months between 1885 and 1886 and painted there paintings considered as precursors of the cubism.

The installation of the factory of Alumina Pechiney and the sinking of the vertical well of mine to Biver, at the end of the 19th century, mark the industrial turn taken by the commune. The population increases quickly (1 600 in 1809, 3.500 in 1900, 8.000 in 1946, 20.000 in 1999) and accommodates an immigrant labor come from Italy, of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Arménie, Spain and Africa of North. Driven out of their country of origin by misery and the war, these new arrivals are integrated while working into the mine, Pechiney or by opening trade.

The post-war period is marked by the construction of a thermo plant functioning with the coal. Manpower with the mine reach a maximum in 1949 (8 000 for the whole of the field) and decrease regularly until the stop of the extraction in February 2003. The city then starts a new change whose starting point is the installation of the center Microélectronique of Provence (CMP) of the 3Ecole Nationale Sup3erieure of the mines of Saint-Etienne

Equipment

Gardanne is a town of formation. It counts two colleges (Pesquier which counts 800 pupils and Gabriel Péri who accommodates 500 pupils), three colleges (general-purpose, agricultural and a professional) and a school of engineers (microelectronic center of Provence). It also has of a Médiathèque and a Cinéma of Art and Essai, where is held each year the cinematographic Festival of autumn of Gardanne.

Since 1994, it accommodates the center of palliative Soins the House . One also finds there a pole forest important with a écomusée of the Mediterranean forest and the interregional center of the Civil security (CIRCOSC).

Since the March 20th 2003, Gardanne is adherent with the French Association of the Communes, Départements and Areas for Peace (A.F.C.D.R.P). The November 20th 2004, UNICEF gave to Gardanne the label friendly Ville of the children .

Administration

External bond

http://www.ville-gardanne.fr/

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