Sisteron

Sisteron (in Vivaro-alpine Occitan and in Occitan Of Provence: Sisteron according to the traditional standard or Sisteroun according to the Norme mistralienne) is a common French, located in the department of the Alp-of-High-Provence and the area Provence-Alp-Coast of Azure.

Its inhabitants is called the Sisteronais - ses (ref. Larousse dictionaries and the Petit Robert).

The name of Sisteron decides with a dumb man as in “venir”.

Geography and general information

Sisteron is located at 485 m of altitude, on banks of the Durance, at 133 km of Marseilles, at 145 km of Grenoble and at 180 km of Nice.

Called “the Door of Provence”, it confines with the Dauphiné. It has many monuments of which its citadel vis-a-vis the rock of the Balsam whose layers are almost vertical, a Cathédrale of the 12th century, Notre-Dame of the Apple trees, and five turns. It is a city which accommodates many tourists attracted by his Mediterranean climate, with a 300 days annual average of sun, its rich and varied inheritance, its water level or its aerodrome.

A tunnel, delivered to circulation in 1957, was bored under the hillock carrying the citadel. While facilitating crossed this town of passage, it made it possible to preserve all its old seal.

History

Prehistoric village 4.000 years ago, locality important at the time Roman - Segustero - on the Domitienne way (Via Domitia) which connected the Italy to Spain by the delta of the the Rhone, Languedoc and Roussillon, évêché with the 6th century, fortified town of the counts de Forcalquier at the 11th century, property of the counts de Provence, she is for the latter the border of north.

It is in Sisteron, with the convent of Cordeliers, that Bérenger V, count de Provence, sign in XIIIe century the will by which it allots the county of Provence to the one of his four daughters, Béatrix, future woman of Charles of Anjou, brother of Saint Louis. From there date the rights of kings de France on Provence.

Bequeathed in 1483 to Louis XI, Provence joined the kingdom of France. Of 1562 with 1594 the wars of religion see the Protestants and the catholics to dispute the city and its fortress. The city is taken by the catholics in 1562, and the Protestants expelled: they take refuge in Lyon. After the edict of pacification of Amboise (March 1563), they are renewed under armed escort. (count de Tende, governor of Provence, and Paulon de Mauvans, Protestant captain). At this point in time Jehan Sarrazin reinforces and imagines the current citadel. On the order of Richelieu, prince Jean Casimir of Poland is locked up there in 1639. The citadel is displaced in 1889.

The August 15th 1944, at the time of the unloading of Provence, Anglo-American aviation bombards the city, killing a hundred Sisteronais (a bomb falls into the church in full mass mariale) and destroying houses and monuments.

List of the bishops of Sisteron

Heraldic

Blasonnement of the traditional weapons of the town of Sisteron:

Places and Monuments

the Citadel : The Fortification S are the work of a precursor of Vauban, Jehan Érard, engineer of Henri IV. Of his high position one discovers a superb panorama on the city and the valley of the Durance.

the tower of the Clock was used as prison. The sight plunges on the low city and goes, in North, to the mountains of Laup and Aujour which close the basin of Laragne.

the ruins of the old vault (13th century), left oldest the citadel, destroyed by the allied bombardment of the August 15th 1944 (day of the Unloading combined in Provence), are still visible.

Église Notre-Dame of the Apple trees This old Cathédrale, which is attached to the school Romance of Provence, is remarkable for its beautiful very dark vessel, deprived of Transept. As in the majority of the provençaux buildings, a cupola on horns rises at the entry of the chorus.

Vestiges of the three turns : vestiges of the enclosure of the 14th century.

Famous people related to the city

Jean-Baptiste d' Ornano (1581-1626) , Marshal of France, Gouverneur of Gaston of Orleans (brother of Louis XIII) had agitated an enough political life and most probably died poisoned whereas he was imprisoned with the keep of Vincennes. It was, moreover, the son of the Marshal Alphonse d' Ornano and grandson of the famous Corsican captain San-Piétro. During the birth of his son, Jean-Baptiste, colonel Alphonse d' Ornano held garrison with the Castle of Sisteron.
Joseph Philippe François Deleuze (1753-1835) , famous naturalist, he was especially the creator of the Royal Natural history museum of Paris (which became, thereafter, the Muséum of natural history) and of which he wrote the history. He also impassioned himself for animal magnetism and philosophy, and one owes him several works on these questions.
Jean Aime Edouard de Laplane (1774-1870) , member of the Institute and several French and foreign Learned societies, wrote several works over the company and the time. But its masterpiece is without question its " History of Sisteron" , rich person and powerful evocation of the life of the city, the Roman epoch to the Revolution.
Paul Arena (1843 - 1896) , poet and writer of Provence, author of Jean of the Figs and the gold Goat was born in Sisteron and died in Antibes. It rests with the cemetery of Sisteron, in the family tomb, between an almond tree and a olivier.

The most known collections are:
Contes of Paris and Provence, midday moves, With the good sun, ingenuous Paris, Twenty days in Tunisia, Contes of Christmas, the ogresses, Friquettes and Friquets, the clay vein, Towards the creek, the scented Pig mould (in this work, one finds his autobiographical novel Jean of the Figs ), Domnine, the chêvre of or.
Il also wrote, in collaboration with Alphonse Daudet, part of the " Letters of my moulin" and a comic opera, " The char".
Grand friendly of Frederic Mistral, félibre of the first hour, its poetries of Provence was worth the " to him; Cicada of or". Unfortunately scattered in various reviews (Armana prouvençau, the Garlic mayonnaise, the Félibréenne Review, the Cicada, the Farandole, Viro-Souléou, the Cigalier Month, etc…), they were never gathered, with share Li Souléiado.

Gustave Tardieu (1851-1932) , pharmacist, physicist, geologist, archeologist and local historiographer, was impassioned for the geological, geographical investigation and history of the area on which he wrote several works.
Louis-Antoine Julien (1812-1860) was a leader (and type-setter of music of Danse) among most media, eccentric and popular of the Années 1840. The first biography relating to it ( Louis Julien, music, spectacle and madness at the 19th century ), written by Michel Faul, is appeared in 2006.

Administration

Demography

Economy

The city has an aerodrome managed by the Chamber of commerce and of industry of the Alpes de Haute-Provence.

Twinning

Sisteron is twinned at three towns of Europe:

See too

Common of Alp-of-High-Provence

External bonds

Official site of the town of Sisteron
Sisteron on the site of the national geographical Institute
Sisteron on the site of INSEE
Sisteron on the site of Quid
Localization of Sisteron on a chart of France and communes bordering
Plane on Sisteron on Mapquest

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