Bourg-en-Bresse

Prefecture and commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

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Prefecture and commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

Bourg-en-Bresse Bôrg  (Arpitan)
Prefecture and commune
Prefecture building of the Ain department
Coat of arms
Location of Bourg-en-Bresse
Bourg-en-Bresse Show map of France Bourg-en-Bresse Show map of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Coordinates: 46°12′20″N 5°13′44″E / 46.2056°N 5.2289°E / 46.2056; 5.2289Coordinates: 46°12′20″N 5°13′44″E / 46.2056°N 5.2289°E / 46.2056; 5.2289
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Ain
Arrondissement	Bourg-en-Bresse
Canton	Bourg-en-Bresse-1 and 2
Intercommunality	CA Bassin de Bourg-en-Bresse
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Jean-François Debat[1]
Area1	23.99 km2 (9.26 sq mi)
Population (Jan. 2018)[2]	41,248
• Density	1,700/km2 (4,500/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Burgiens
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	01053 /01000
Elevation	220–273 m (722–896 ft) (avg. 240 m or 790 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Bourg-en-Bresse (French pronunciation: [buʁk‿ɑ̃ bʁɛs] (listen); Arpitan: Bôrg) is a commune in eastern France, capital of the Ain department, and the capital of the ancient province of Bresse (Arpitan: Brêsse). It is located 70 km (43 mi) north-northeast of Lyon.

Geography

Bourg-en-Bresse is located at the western base of the Jura mountains, on the left bank of the Reyssouze, a tributary of the Saône. It lies 70 kilometers (43 mi) northeast of Lyon and 50 kilometers (31 mi) south-southwest of Lons-le-Saunier.

History

Roman remains have been discovered at Bourg, but little is known of its early history. It was probably pillaged by Goths in Late Antiquity. Raised to the rank of a free town in 1250, it was at the beginning of the 15th century the capital of the dukes of Savoy in the province of Bresse. In February 1535 it was conquered by France during a full-scale invasion of Savoy, but was restored to Duke Philibert Emmanuel in 1559, when he married Henri II's sister Marguerite. The duke later built a strong citadel, which afterwards withstood a six-months' siege by the soldiers of Henry IV during the Franco-Savoyard War of 1600–1601. The town was finally ceded to France in 1601. In 1814, the inhabitants, in spite of the defenseless condition of their town, offered resistance to the Austrians, who put the place to pillage.^[3]

Population

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 6,533 —     1800 6,984 +0.96% 1806 7,417 +1.01% 1821 8,132 +0.62% 1831 8,996 +1.01% 1836 9,528 +1.16% 1841 10,219 +1.41% 1846 10,308 +0.17% 1851 12,068 +3.20% 1856 11,676 −0.66% 1861 14,052 +3.77% 1866 13,733 −0.46% 1872 14,280 +0.65% 1876 15,692 +2.39% 1881 18,233 +3.05% 1886 18,113 −0.13% 1891 18,968 +0.93% 1896 18,501 −0.50%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 18,887 +0.41% 1906 20,045 +1.20% 1911 20,545 +0.49% 1921 20,191 −0.17% 1926 20,364 +0.17% 1931 23,117 +2.57% 1936 24,746 +1.37% 1946 25,944 +0.47% 1954 26,699 +0.36% 1962 32,596 +2.53% 1968 37,887 +2.54% 1975 42,181 +1.55% 1982 41,098 −0.37% 1990 40,972 −0.04% 1999 40,666 −0.08% 2007 40,506 −0.05% 2012 40,171 −0.17% 2017 41,527 +0.67%
Source: EHESS[4] and INSEE (1968-2017)[5]

Politics

Since 2008, Jean-François Debat is the mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse. He was re-elected in the 2020 municipal elections.^[6][1]

Presidential Elections 2nd Round

Election		Winning Candidate	Party	%
	2017	Emmanuel Macron	EM	72.37
	2012	François Hollande	PS	53.96
	2007	Nicolas Sarkozy	UMP	50.83
	2002	Jacques Chirac	RPR	84.46

^[7]

Sights

The church of Notre-Dame (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Annonciation de Bourg-en-Bresse) (16th century) has a façade built in the Renaissance; other parts of the church are Gothic. In the interior there are stalls of the 16th century. The other public buildings, including a handsome prefecture, are modern. The town hall contains a library and the Lorin Museum with a collection of pictures, while another museum has a collection of old costumes and ornaments characteristic of Bresse. Among the statues in the town there is one of historian Edgar Quinet, a native of Bourg.^[3]

Stalls in the Brou Church, albumen print, c. 1865–1886

The Royal Monastery of Brou, a suburb of Bourg-en-Bresse, is of great artistic interest. Margaret of Bourbon, wife of Philip II of Savoy, had intended to found a monastery on the spot, but died before her intention could be carried into effect. The church was actually built early in the 16th century by her daughter-in-law Margaret of Austria, wife of Philibert le Beau of Savoy, in memory of her husband. The exterior, especially the façade, is richly ornamented, but the chief interest lies in the works of art in the interior, which date from 1532. The most important are the three mausoleums with the marble effigies of Marguerite of Bourbon, Philibert le Beau, and Margaret of Austria. All three are remarkable for perfection of sculpture and richness of ornamentation. The rood loft, the oak stalls, and the reredos in the chapel of the Virgin are masterpieces in a similar style.^[3] The monastery has three cloisters from the early 16th century. The church and the cloisters are listed monuments.^[8]

Economy

Interior of the church of Brou

In the early 20th century, the city manufactured iron goods, mineral waters, tallow, soap and earthenware, and there were flour mills and breweries; and there is considerable trade in grain, cattle and poultry.^[3]

Transport

The Bourg-en-Bresse station offers rail connections to Paris, Strasbourg, Lyon and Geneva by high-speed rail, and several regional destinations. The A39 motorway connects Bourg with Dole and Dijon, the A40 with Mâcon and Geneva.

Sport

Football Bourg-en-Bresse Péronnas 01 is based in the town.

On the 3rd of May 1953 a motorcycle racing meeting was held on a circuit going past the Residence Emile Pélicand and the Jardin d'Enfants Emile Pélicand.^[9]

Miscellaneous

Bourg is the seat of a prefect and of a court of assizes, and has a tribunal of first instance, a tribunal and a chamber of commerce, and a branch of the Bank of France. Its educational establishments include lycées, and training collèges.

Bourg-en-Bresse was the finish of Stage 6 and the departure of Stage 7 in the 2007 Tour de France.

Personalities

Bourg-en-Bresse was the birthplace of:

• Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac (1581–1638), mathematician
• Julien Benneteau, (born 1981), tennis player
• Georges Blanc, chef
• Raymond Chevallier (1929–2004), historian and archaeologist
• François Clerc (born 1983), football player for Olympique Lyonnais and the French national team
• Alain Giletti, (born 1939), ice skater
• Jérôme Lalande (1732–1807), astronomer
• Daniel Morelon, cyclist
• Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan (1748–1796), French officer for the Continental Army and general during the French Revolution
• Lionel Nallet, (born 1976), international rugby union player
• Jacques Pépin (born 1935), chef
• Edgar Quinet (1803–1875), historian and man of letters

Twin towns – sister cities

Twin town and partner cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Bourg-en-Bresse is twinned with:^[10]

• Bad Kreuznach, Germany
• Aylesbury, England
• San Severo, Italy
• Parma, Italy
• Namur, Belgium
• Brzeg, Poland
• El Kef, Tunesia

See also

• Bressan
• Arpitania
• Arpitan language
• Communes of the Ain department
• Pierre-Marie Poisson

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
2. "Populations légales 2018". INSEE. 28 December 2020.
3.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bourg-en-Bresse". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 330.
4. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Bourg-en-Bresse, EHESS. (in French)
5. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
6. Ville de Bourg-en-Bresse, annuaire-mairie.fr
7. http://www.lemonde.fr/data/france/presidentielle-2017/
8. Base Mérimée: Ancienne abbaye de Brou, Ministère français de la Culture. (in French)
9. "BOURG-EN-BRESSE". racingmemo.free.fr. Retrieved 26 December 2020.
10. "Relations internationales". ville-laigle.fr (in French). Bourg-en-Bresse. Retrieved 12 November 2019.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bourg-en-Bresse.

• City council website (in French)