Kattegat

Colombelles is a common French, located in the department of the Calvados and the area Basse-Normandie.

Geography

Colombelles is located in the suburbs is of Caen with 6km of the city. The commune can be divided into four great zones:

the downtown area
Lazarro
the old site of the SMN
the Plate

Localization on wikimapia

History

The first human site of establishment on the territory of Colombelles is with the site of the current ZAC of Lazzaro. It was about a large Village of ten houses dating from the beginning from the Neolithic (any end of the thousand-year-old VIe front J. - C.). The village was then abandoned with the profit of a new site downwards on Right Bank of the Orne; this last was perhaps occupied as of the top Moyen-âge, the dedication with Martin de Tours of the churches being often sign of a very great seniority.

The first reference written to Colombelles dates from 11th (Cartulaire of the Abbaye to the Ladies). Colombelles would be derived from Latin columbulus siginifiant " small pigeon". It was not whereas a small village with the outlet of the vat of the Orne on the road of Dives by Hérouville (current ways of the by-pass, street Edouard Vaillant and street Jules Guesde). The population lived Agriculture and extraction of the Pierre of Caen. The fluvio-maritime activities on the Orne (fishing, extraction of the Sand, export of the stone extracted the Careers) were in the middle of the life of Colombellois. They declined at the end of 19th because of opening in 1857 of the Canal of Caen to the sea.

The villagers concentrated mainly along the main street (current street of the Republic) parallel with the Orne. The ways of Halage were arranged on banks of the river since Caen until Ouistreham (left bank) and Sallenelles (Right Bank). At the entry of the village in the south, the parishioners built with the 11th-12th Saint Martin's day church. Although it was modified during the centuries, this church offers very an good example of the Romanesque art Norman. With 18th, small a castle of pleasure was built on the slope above the village. Its park extended between the village and the road from Ranville (current street Jules Guesde) until Longueval. This castle was rebuilt with 19th in the Style Worsens; only a tower of the enclosure, probably occupied by the guards of the field, was preserved. With the 19e' teaching in Colombelles was exempted by nuns in a dependence of the castle. In 1880, the school, made compulsory by Jules Ferry, was installed in the buildings of the town hall (street of the Republic).

In 1909, Auguste Thyssen bought grounds on the plate overhanging the village which counted then less than 200 inhabitants. It founded then the Company of the blast furnaces of Caen and made build a large iron and steel factory on the grounds of Colombelles. This establishment, which became then the metallurgical Société of Normandy, changed the face of the commune completely. Of rural small village, Colombelles became an important working city with the cosmopolitan population. working residences were built not far from the factory (quoted of the Martyrdom and especially quoted of the Plate) and an orthodoxe church was set up for the factory workers. To face the increase in population, the municipality bought the castle in 1925 to transform it into elementary school then made build in the park a new school complex (School complex Henri Sellier), inaugurated in June 1934. The center of gravity of the commune moved then on the edge of the plate above the old village and this last was quickly unobtrusive collective Conscience colombelloise.

In 1944, the city and the factory were touched hard by the bombardments. The factory was seriously deteriorated and the city, except for the old village, shaven. The castle was destroyed by the flames; only the old woman tower was saved. The rebuilding of the city on the plate lasted 12 years. As of 1948, the City Suédoise (block of houses ranging between the street of Sweden and the street Jules Guesde) was arranged in the old park of the castle; it owes its name with the fact that it is made up of 80 country cottages out of wooden offered by the Sweden. In 1963, one built the new Saint-Pierre-and-Saint-Paul church.

November 5th 1993 took place the last casting of SMN. The closing of the factory was lived like a traumatism. The old territory of the factory was cleansed and was the subject of a landscape treatment conceived by Dominique Perrault. The old principal tower of cooling was preserved like an important emblem of this working past and was clarified the night. A zone of activity, Normandial, dedicated to Agroalimentary industry , was arranged in the part close to the road of Cabourg at the end to the Années 1990. Since the beginning of the year 2007, the old site of the factory also accommodates a technological campus. A whole of residences must be built there thereafter near the city of Martyrdom (ZAC Jean Jaurès).

Administration

Demography

Its inhabitants are Colombellois and Colombelloises.

Places and monuments

Church St Martin

The Church St Martin de Colombelles was built with 11th and 12th centuries. It is a church of Romance style, whose western porch, decorated in teeth with saw, is classified. It is dedicated to St Martin, Évêque of Turns at the 4th century, apostle of Gaules. One can admire besides still nowadays, inside the church, a low-relief representing the Charity of St Martin (14th century)… The Vault dates from the 19th century. Many “maritime” graffiti decorate the walls external of the church.

Church St Serge

Orthodoxe sanctuary built in 1926 by and for the workmen of the SMN on grounds offered stalemate owners of the factory. It was destroyed in 1944 and was rebuilt in 1947. It is classified historic building (Church entirely, the bell-tower entirely, frontages and roofs of the library and the parochial enclosure entirely; ISMH, 6/23/1992)

The Tower

Vestige of the castle built with the 18th below road of Ranville (current street Jules Guesde). An association, the Friends of the Tower, takes care of its protection and its development.

" The chaudron"

Old tower of cooling of the iron and steel plant, this element of the industrial inheritance throne today in the center of the plate still not very occupied since the dismantling of the metallurgical Company of Normandy. Clarified each night, it is visible by far, in particular since the viaduct of Calix. This element headlight which symbolizes the working identity of Colombelles is probably the monument more known, in the absence of being more appreciated, of the city.

Personalities related to the commune

Born in the commune

Daniel Druda (born in 1939), footballer, then trainer.

Bound to the commune

Michel Hidalgo (born in 1933), international footballer, then national trainer, who began with the US Norman.

Events

For four years, the municipality has initiated a festival on the topic of the working culture, “the Germinal ones”, which takes place at the beginning of May and from which the audience extends well beyond the communal limits.

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