Thecommune of Beauvais had a population of 56,020 as of 2016[update], making it the most populous town in the Oise department, and third most populous in Picardy. Together with its suburbs and satellite towns, the metropolitan area of Beauvais has a population of 128,020.
The region around Beauvais is called the Beauvaisis.
Beauvais was known to theRomans by the Gallo-Roman name ofCaesaromagus (magos isCommon Celtic for "field"). The post-RenaissanceLatin rendering isBellovacum from theBelgic tribe theBellovaci, whose capital it was. In the ninth century, it became a county (comté), which about 1013 passed to the bishops of Beauvais, who became peers of France from the twelfth century.[5] At the coronations of kings, theBishop of Beauvais wore the royal mantle and went, with theBishop of Langres, to raise the king from his throne to present him to the people.[citation needed]
De Bello Gallico II 13 reports that asJulius Caesar was approaching a fortified town called Bratuspantium in the land of theBellovaci, its inhabitants surrendered to him when he was about 5Roman miles away. Its name isGaulish for "place where judgements are made", from *bratu-spantion. Some say that Bratuspantium is Beauvais. Others theorise that it isVendeuil-Caply or Bailleul sur Thérain.[6][7]
In 1346, the town had to defend itself against the English, who again besieged it in 1433. Thesiege that it endured in 1472 at the hands of theDuke of Burgundy was rendered famous by the heroism of the town's women, under the leadership ofJeanne Hachette, whose memory is still celebrated by a procession on 27 June (the feast ofSainte Angadrême), during which women take precedence over men.[5]
A significant hoard of coins from theHigh Middle Ages became known as theBeauvais Hoard because some of the English and European coins found with the lot were from the French abbey located in Beauvais. The hoard, which contained a variety of rare and extremely rareAnglo-Norman pennies, English and foreign coins, was reputed to have been found in or near Paris.[8][9]
Beauvais was extensively damaged during World War I, and again in World War II during the German advance on Paris in June 1940. Much of the older part of the city was all but destroyed, and the cathedral was badly damaged before being liberated by British forces on 30 August 1944.[10]
Beauvais lies at the foot of wooded hills on the left bank of theThérain at its confluence with the Avelon. Its ancient ramparts have been destroyed, and it is now surrounded by boulevards, outside of which run branches of the Thérain. In addition, there are spacious promenades in the north-east of the town.[5]
Beauvais experiences anoceanic climate (Köppen climate classificationCfb). The average annual temperature is 9.9 °C (1961–1990), and thesunlight annual average of 1669 hours (1991–2010). HillsBray is provided for the precipitation of Beauvais. The precipitation is 669 mm on average per year (1981–2010), while it is 800 mm on average per year in Bray. However, the frequency of rainfall is high. The average number of days per year above the precipitation of 1 mm is 116 days or every third day. Thefog is often present, it is estimated at 55 days a year. The department is affected by 41 days of average wind year, usually, it comes from the west to the south.
The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Beauvais proper in its geography at the given years. The commune of Beauvais absorbed the former communes of Marissel, Saint-Just-des-Marais and Voisinlieu and part of Notre-Dame-du-Thil in 1943.[14]
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The city's cathedral, dedicated toSaint Peter (Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais), in some respects, the most daring achievement ofGothic architecture, consists only of atransept andquire withapse and seven apse-chapels. The vaulting in the interior exceeds 46 m or 150 feet in height.[5] The cathedral underwent a major repair and restoration process in 2008.
The smallRomanesque church of the 10th century known as theBasse Oeuvre occupies the site destined for the nave; much of its east end was demolished to make room for the new cathedral.
Begun in 1247, under Bishop William of Grès (Guillaume de Grès, Guillaume de Grez), an extra 5 metres (16 feet) were added to the height, to make it the tallest cathedral in Europe: the work was interrupted in 1284 by the collapse of the vaulting of the choir, a disaster that produced a temporary failure of nerve among the masons working in Gothic style. The transept was built from 1500 to 1548. In 1573 the fall of a too-ambitious central tower stopped work again, after which little addition was made.[5]
Its façades, especially that on the south, exhibit all the richness of the late Gothic style. The carved wooden doors of both the north and the south portals are masterpieces respectively of Gothic andRenaissance workmanship. The church possesses an elaborateastronomical clock (1866) andtapestries of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries; but its chief artistic treasures arestained glass windows of the thirteenth, fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, the most beautiful of them from the hand of the Renaissance artist, Engrand Le Prince, a native of Beauvais. To him also due to some of the stained glass in St. Etienne, the second church of the town, and an interesting example of the transition stage between the Romanesque and Gothic styles.[5]
During the Middle Ages, on 14 January, theFeast of Asses was celebrated in the Beauvais Cathedral, in commemoration of the Flight into Egypt.
In the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville and the old streets near the cathedral, several houses are dating from the 12th to the 16th centuries. TheHôtel de Ville, close to which stands the statue ofJeanne Hachette, was built in 1753.[16]
The episcopal palace, now housing theMusée départemental de l'Oise, was built in the 16th century, partly upon theGallo-Roman fortifications.[5] The church ofSaint-Étienne is a Romanesque-Gothic building (early 12th-late 16th centuries), including, in one of its transept's portals, a sculpture of the "Wheel of fortune".[17]
Beauvais–Tillé Airport, dating from the 1930s, lies in the north of the city, inTillé. It is used as a gateway to Paris by several low-cost carriers. Traffic growth is significant: in 1997, 200,000 passengers used it annually, but by 2006, it was more than 1.8 million. Airport usage increased by 40% a year on average between 2001 and 2005. The airport is mainly used for passenger traffic (only 2 to 3 flights involvefreight each month) and serves 48 destinations.
On 5 October 1930, the British airshipR101 crashed just outside Beauvais on its maiden overseas voyage, killing 48 of the 54 people on board.
Public transport in Beauvais is provided byCorolis (formerlyThe Urban Transport network of BeauvaisisFrench:Transports Urbains du Beauvaisis orTUB). Thetransit bus (commuter bus) network consists of 25 regular lines which serve Beauvais and its suburbs, including:
To promote cleaner urban transportation and protect the environment, the city began to develop a "Green Plan" (Plan vert). Ultimately, the goal is to have a network of 20 km (12 mi) bicycle paths.
The mayor of Beauvais is Franck Pia, elected in September 2022. He succeededCaroline Cayeux, who stepped down to become a deputy minister in theBorne government.[1]
The industry of Beauvais comprises, besides the state manufacture oftapestry, which dates from 1664, the manufacture of various kinds of cotton and woollen goods, brushes, toys, boots and shoes, and bricks and tiles.[citation needed] Market-gardening flourishes in the vicinity and an extensive trade is carried on in grain and wine.
The town is the seat of a bishop, a prefect and aCourt of Assizes; it hasTribunals of First Instance and commerce, together with aChamber of Commerce, a branch of theBank of France, a higher ecclesiastical seminary, alycée and training colleges.[5]
Amongst the major companies operating in the town are Nestle and Agco (Massey Ferguson). Also present since 1986 isRS Components, founded by Jerry Vaughan, and now operating from a purpose-built distribution centre to the east of the town
Beauvais also has a small airport,Beauvais Tillé, which is used by severallow-cost carriers and charter airlines such asRyanair as a terminal for nearby Paris, to which frequent shuttle buses run.
20 preschools: Four in Argentine, five in Centre-Ville, one in Marissel, one in Notre Dame du Thil, five in Saint-Jean, one in Saint Just des Marais, two in Saint Lucien, and one in Voisinlieu[18]
24 public elementary schools: Five in Argentine, six in Centre-Ville, two in Marissel, two in Notre Dame du Thil, five in Saint-Jean, one in Saint Just des Marais, two in Saint-Lucien, and one in Voisinlieu[19]
Five junior high schools: Collège Henri Baumont, Collège Charles Fauqueux, Collège Jules Michelet, Collège Jean Baptiste Pellerin, and Collège George Sand[20]
Four general high schools: Lycée Félix Faure, Lycée Jeanne Hachette, Lycée Paul Langevin, and Lycée François Truffaut[21]
Four vocational high schools: Lycée Professionnel Paul Langevin, Lycée Professionnel Jean-Baptiste Corot, Lycée Professionnel Les Jacobins, and Lycée Agricole de l'Oise[21]
^abcdefghOne or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Beauvais".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 599. This cites V. Lhuillier,Choses du vieux Beauvais et du Beauvaisis (1896).
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