Saint-Gilles (Gard)

Saint-Gilles , generally called semi-officially Saint-Gilles-of-Gard (in Occitan Sant Gèli ) is a common French, located in the department of the Gard and the area Languedoc-Roussillon.

Geography

Crossing by the Channel of the Rhone with Sète and the " irrigation canal of the Low-Rhone-Languedoc" , the commune, of very large surface (15 373 hectares including 1.344 of vines and 532 of wood), is divided into two distinct parts:

in north, the hills of the Costières carry vines and garrigues, and even, all with the end, the Aéroport of Nimes - Park.
in the south, the commune borders Small the the Rhone and extends in the marshes and the ponds from the Camargue (pond of Scamandre, marsh of the Pit). In edge of the Rhone are some farmhouses, and the modern lock of Saint-Gilles who puts in communication the channel and the Small Rhone.

The need for labor of agriculture attracted many populations. Saint-Gilles was a town of immigration throughout the XXe century. Nombreux Saint-Gillois of today has their origins in the Massif Central (in particular with the Puy-en-Velay and in Lozere), in Italy (in particular with the Piedmont), in Spain or in Morocco (in particular with the Rif).

History

Saint-Gilles is the aboutissemenst Regordane, road crossing the Massif Central and the the Cevennes. Today with the edge of the the Camargue, Saint-Gilles was formerly a port used by the merchants, the pilgrims and the crusaders.

The county of Saint-Gilles was a possession of the Counts de Toulouse.

The city is taken by the governor of Languedoc, Damville, then in delicacy with the king, in January 1575. It is quickly taken again by the baron d' Acier.

Saint-Gilles named Saint-Gilles-the-Butcheries until in 1837 and had as an originality to give himself some time a municipality of extreme-right-hand side, a first in France, (Charles de Chambrun, National front, elected in 1989), finally replaced in 1992 by a coalition of right-hand side and left carried out by a mayor without label, Roland Gronchi, at the time of a by-election.

Administration

Demography

Places and monuments

Saint-Gilles who owes his name to the famous abbot Gilles (holy) of which it keeps the tomb, was one of the most important places of Pèlerinage of Christendom.

Abbey of XIIe century classified with the world heritage of UNESCO. The spiral staircase gave its name to this type of work. One thus indicates a spiral staircase of saint-Gilles a revolving staircase on itself.
Museum of the Romance House.
Saint-Gilles has charming old lanes like certain masonries of most interesting for in love ones with the old stones.
a memorial, near to abbey, is due to the scissors of Henri Bouchard.

the Moslem minority (a quarter of the population is of Moroccan origin) has its mosque.

the airport of the Nimes-Arles-Camargue is located partly on the commune of Saint-Gilles.

Personalities related to the commune

Birthplace of the Pope Clement IV.
Pierre de Castelnau, papal legate, assassinated in Saint-Gilles in 1208. This event was Casus Belli of the Croisade against the Albigensians.
Georges-Jean Arnaud, writer (" the Company of the ices " ,…), born in Saint-Gilles in 1928

See too

Regordane
Common of Gard

External bonds

Official site
Regordane Info
GR700 Sees Régordane or Way of St Gilles
Saint-Gilles on the site of the national geographical Institute
Saint-Gilles on the site of INSEE
Saint-Gilles on the site of Quid
Localization of Saint-Gilles on a chart of France and communes bordering
Plan on Saint-Gilles on Mapquest

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