Agen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Script error: No such module "other uses". Script error: No such module "For". Template:Expand French Template:Use dmy dates Script error: No such module "Settlement short description".Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".Expression error: Unexpected < operator.Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "[".

Agen (Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA"., Script error: No such module "IPA".) is the prefecture of the southwestern French department of Lot-et-Garonne. It lies on the river Garonne, Script error: No such module "convert". southeast of Bordeaux. In 2021, the commune had a population of 32,485.

History

Agen (Latin Script error: No such module "Lang".) was the capital of the Celtic tribe of the Nitiobroges, and the discovery of extensive ruins attests its importance under the Roman Empire. In later times it was the capital of the Agenais region. Its bishopric was founded in the 4th century. Agen changed hands more than once in the course of the Albigensian wars, and at their close a tribunal of inquisition was established in the town and inflicted cruel persecution on the heretics. During the religious wars of the 16th century, Agen took the part of the Catholics and openly joined the League in 1589.[3]

File:(Agen) Hôtel de ville pavoisée aux couleurs de l'Ukraine.jpg
The Hôtel de Ville

The Hôtel de Ville was completed in around 1666.[4]

Geography

The city of Agen lies in the southwestern department of Lot-et-Garonne in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region. The city centre lies on the east bank of the river Garonne, the Canal de Garonne flows through the city, approximately halfway between Bordeaux Template:Cvt and Toulouse Template:Cvt.

Climate

Agen features an oceanic climate (Cfb) in the Köppen climate classification and according to the latest temperature numbers borders a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). According to the Trewartha climate classification the climate is now humid subtropical (Cf). Winters are mild and feature cool to cold temperatures while summers are mild and warm. Rainfall is spread equally throughout the year; however, most sunshine hours are from March–September. Script error: No such module "weather box".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Toponymy

From Occitan Agen (1197), itself from Latin Aginnum (3rd century Itinéraire d'Antonin), from a Celtic root agin- meaning "rock or height".[5]

Population

File:Alphonse de Poitiers 01.jpg
Alphonse, Count of Poitiers and Count of Toulouse, recognized the autonomy of the commune of Agen. In this illustration he takes an oath before the consuls with his right hand on the town ordinances, while sitting on a pedestal. The consul administering the oath is forced to go on his knees, symbolizing Alphonse's lordship and the town's loyalty.

<templatestyles src="Module:Historical populations/styles.css"/>Script error: No such module "Historical populations".

Economy

The town has a higher level of unemployment than the national average. Major employers include the pharmaceutical factory UPSA.

Sights

File:(Agen) Musée des Beaux-Arts vu de la place du Dr Esquirol.jpg
Museum of Fine Arts seen from the Place du Dr Esquirol.

The old centre of town contains a number of medieval buildings.

The twelfth century Agen Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Caprasius, is one of the few large churches in France with a double nave, a regional trait also found in the Church of the Jacobins in nearby Toulouse.

The Saint Hilaire church, dedicated to the theme of the Holy Trinity which the Saint in question did a lot to defend, is notable for its unusual statues in front of the Church – Moses on the right, and St Peter on the left.

The art museum, the Template:Ill, contains artefacts, furniture and sculptures from prehistoric times onwards. The art gallery contains several hundred works, including several by Goya, and others by Bonnard and Seurat. The collection also contains a large number of works by artists who lived locally. The museum is made up of twenty or so rooms.[6]

The Canal des Deux Mers, which joins the Mediterranean with the Atlantic, crosses the river Garonne at Agen via the town's famous canal bridge.

Colour photography pioneer

File:Agen1870-1871.jpg
View of Agen, 1874-1876.
File:Duhauron1877.jpg
1877: Agen showing the St Caprais Cathedral. Heliochrome (multilayer dichromated pigmented gelatin process). George Eastman House

Louis Arthur Ducos du Hauron (1837 – 1920), a pioneer of colour photography lived and worked in Agen. He developed practical processes for colour photography on the three-colour principle, using both additive and subtractive methods.[7][8][9] In 1868 he patented his ideas (French Patent No. 83061) and in 1869 he published them in Les couleurs en photographie, solution du problème.

The most widely reproduced of his surviving colour photographs is the View of Agen, an 1877 landscape, printed by the subtractive assembly method which he pioneered. Several different photographs of the view from his attic window, one dated 1874, also survive.

Entertainment

The municipal theatre "Théâtre Ducourneau" presents theatre, and occasionally classical concerts. The smaller "Théâtre du jour" has a resident theatre company presenting a variety of recent or older plays (Shakespeare, Beckett, as well as lesser known playwrights).

There are two cinemas, one a commercial multiscreened affair, the other an arts cinema run by a voluntary organization. The latter organizes film festivals every year.

Sport

Rugby is extremely popular in the town, and the local team, SU Agen, is enthusiastically supported. The town also serves as the base for the Team Lot-et-Garonne cycling team.

Transport

The Gare d'Agen connects Agen with Toulouse and Bordeaux as well as Périgueux. It is around an hour from Toulouse and around an hour from Bordeaux. The TGV train to Paris takes three hours and thirteen minutes with a stop in Bordeaux.

Agen is connected, by the A62 autoroute, to both Toulouse and Bordeaux.

The Agen Airport is serviced by Airlinair service to Paris Orly 6 days a week. It is also used for business and leisure flying.

Agen stands on the voie verte cycle path between the Mediterranean and close to Bordeaux.

Diocese

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote".

Agen is the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese that comprises the Département of Lot and Garonne. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Bordeaux.

Twin towns – sister cities

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Agen is twinned with:[10][11]

Notable people

File:(Agen) Cathédrale Saint-Caprais - Statue de Saint Caprais 1844 - Louis Rochet PalissyPM47000501.jpg
Saint Caprasius of Agen in Agen Cathedral
File:Joseph Ducreux - Portrait de Bernard-Germain de Lacépède (1756-1825), naturaliste et homme politique - P2618 - Musée Carnavalet.jpg
Portrait of Bernard Germain de Lacépède
File:Cabrel2.jpg
Francis Cabrel, 2007
As place of birth
As residence

Miscellaneous

Agen is the "capital of the prune", a local product consumed as a sweet, either stuffed with prune purée or in pastries, or as a dessert, e.g., prunes soaked in Armagnac, a type of brandy. On the last weekend of August, a prune festival comprises rock concerts, circus performances and prune tastings.

Jewish presence

The first Jews settled in the town in the twelfth century AD. They were expelled from the town in 1306. A number of Jews returned to the town in 1315, and a "Rue des Juifs" is documented ever since this period. In 1968, about 600 Jews lived in the town, though most of them had emigrated from North Africa.Script error: No such module "Unsubst". A Jewish synagogue still exists in the town.[23]

See also

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Wikisource One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Bénédicte Boyrie-Fénié, avec la collaboration d’André Bianchi, Pèire Boissière, Patrice Gentié et Maurice Romieu, Dictionnaire toponymique des communes du Lot-et-Garonne, Pau, Éditions Cairn, décembre 2012, 320 p. (Template:ISBN), p. 41.
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  14. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  15. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  16. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  17. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  18. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  19. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  20. ↑ Uria Monzon biography
  21. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  22. ↑ Template:Cite EB1911
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

External links

Template:Sister project

Template:Préfectures of départements of France Template:Lot-et-Garonne communes

Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=Agen&oldid=4979067"