Orne

Template:Short description Template:Expand French Template:Template other Orne (; Template:Langx or ) is a département in the northwest of France, named after the river Orne. It had a population of 279,942 in 2019.

History

Orne is one of the original 83 départements created during the French Revolution, on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Normandy and Perche. It is the birthplace of Charlotte Corday, Girondist and the assassin of Jean-Paul Marat.

Geography

Orne is in the region of Normandy neighbouring Eure, Eure-et-Loir, Sarthe, Manche, Mayenne, and Calvados. It is the only department of Normandy not to border the English Channel.

Economy

The largest town by a considerable margin is the prefecture, Alençon, which is an administrative and commercial centre for what is still an overwhelmingly rural department. There are no large industrial centres, and agriculture remains the economic focus.

Demographics

The inhabitants of the department are called Ornais.

The recorded population level peaked at 443,688 in 1836. Declining farm incomes and the lure of better prospects in the overseas empire led to a sustained reduction in population levels in many rural departments. By the time of the 1936 census, the recorded population stood at just 269,331. Once motor car ownership started to surge in the 1960s, employment opportunities became less restricted and by 1982, the population level had recovered a little to 295,000, after which it slowly decreased.

Principal towns

The most populous commune is Alençon, the prefecture. As of 2019, there are 5 communes with more than 5,000 inhabitants:

Commune	Population (2019)
Alençon	25,870
Flers	14,762
Argentan	13,395
L'Aigle	7,961
La Ferté Macé	5,186

Politics

The president of the Departmental Council is Christophe de Balorre, elected in 2017.

Presidential elections 2nd round

Election		Winning Candidate	Party	%	2nd Place Candidate	Party	%
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	2022	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	55.12	Marine Le Pen	RN	44.88
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	2017	Emmanuel Macron	LREM	61.64	Marine Le Pen	FN	38.36
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	2012	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	52.89	François Hollande	PS	47.11
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	2007	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	57.66	Ségolène Royal	PS	42.34
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	2002	Jacques Chirac	RPR	81.30	Jean-Marie Le Pen	FN	18.70

Current National Assembly Representatives

Constituency		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Orne's 1st constituency	Joaquim Pueyo	Socialist Party
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Orne's 2nd constituency	Véronique Louwagie	The Republicans
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Orne's 3rd constituency	Jérôme Nury	The Republicans

Culture

Alençon is the chief town of the Orne department.

Camembert, the village where Camembert cheese is made, is located in Orne.

The local dialect is known as Augeron.

Tourism

• Château de Carrouges
  Château de Carrouges
• Château de Domfront
  Château de Domfront
• Abbey of Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois
  Abbey of Saint-Evroult-Notre-Dame-du-Bois
• Juvigny-sous-Andaine
  Juvigny-sous-Andaine
• Camembert
  Camembert
• Haras national du Pin
  Haras national du Pin
• Saint-Sauveur de Bellême Church
  Saint-Sauveur de Bellême Church
• Suisse Normande
  Suisse Normande
• Sées Cathedral
  Sées Cathedral

See also

• Cantons of the Orne department
• Communes of the Orne department
• Arrondissements of the Orne department
• Haras National du Pin, a French stud farm

External links

• Template:In lang Prefecture website
• Template:In lang Departmental Council website
• Template:In lang Orne Tourism
• Template:In lang AWOL in the Orne, in 1918 Life in the Orne, WW1 with images