Lilia sola regunt lunam undas castra leonem. "Thefleur-de-lis alone rules over the moon, the waves, the castle, and the lion" (in French: "Les lys règnent seuls sur la lune, les ondes, la forteresse et le lion.")[1]
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Bordeaux (/bɔːrˈdoʊ/,bor-DOH;French:[bɔʁdo]ⓘ;GasconOccitan:Bordèu[buɾˈðɛw];Basque:Bordele) is a city on the riverGaronne in theGirondedepartment, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of theNouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as theprefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called "Bordelais" (masculine) or "Bordelaises" (feminine). The term "Bordelais" may also refer to the city and its surrounding region.
The city of Bordeaux proper had a population of 259,809 in 2020 within its small municipal territory of 49 km2 (19 sq mi),[8] but together with itssuburbs andexurbs the Bordeauxmetropolitan area had a population of 1,376,375 that same year (Jan. 2020 census),[7] the sixth-most populated in France afterParis,Lyon,Marseille,Lille, andToulouse.
Bordeaux and 27 suburban municipalities form theBordeaux Metropolis, anindirectly electedmetropolitan authority now in charge of wider metropolitan issues. The Bordeaux Metropolis, with a population of 819,604 at the January 2020 census,[9] is the fifth most populated metropolitan council in France after those ofParis,Marseille,Lyon andLille.
Bordeaux is a world capital of wine:[10] manychâteaux andvineyards stand on the hillsides of theGironde, and the city is home to the world's main wine fair,Vinexpo. Bordeaux is also one of the centers of gastronomy[11] and business tourism for the organization of international congresses. It is a central and strategic hub for the aeronautics, military and space sector, home to major companies such asDassault Aviation,ArianeGroup,Safran andThales. The link with aviation dates back to 1910, the year the first airplane flew over the city. A crossroads of knowledge through university research, it is home to one of the only twomegajoule lasers in the world, as well as a university population of more than 130,000 students within the Bordeaux Metropolis.[12]
Bordeaux is an international tourist destination for its architectural and cultural heritage with more than 362 historicmonuments,[13] making it, after Paris, the city with the most listed or registered monuments in France. The "Pearl of Aquitaine" has been voted European Destination of the year in a 2015 online poll.[14] The metropolis has also received awards and rankings by international organizations such as in 1957, Bordeaux was awarded theEurope Prize for its efforts in transmitting the European ideal. In June 2007, thePort of the Moon in historic Bordeaux was inscribed on theUNESCOWorld Heritage List, for its outstanding architecture and urban ensemble and in recognition of Bordeaux's international importance over the last 2000 years.[15] Bordeaux is also ranked as a Sufficiency city by theGlobalization and World Cities Research Network.
The city came underRoman rule around 60 BC, and it became an important commercial centre fortin andlead.[17] During this period were built the amphitheatre and the monumentLesPiliers de Tutelle.
In 276 AD, it was sacked by theVandals. The Vandals attacked again in 409, followed by theVisigoths in 414, and theFranks in 498, and afterwards the city fell into a period of relative obscurity.
In the late 6th century AD the city re-emerged as the seat of a county and an archdiocese within theMerovingiankingdom of the Franks, but royal Frankish power was never strong. The city started to play a regional role as a major urban center on the fringes of the newly founded FrankishDuchy of Vasconia. Around 585 Gallactorius was madeCount of Bordeaux and fought theBasques.
In 732, the city was plundered by the troops ofAbd er Rahman who stormed the fortifications and overwhelmed theAquitanian garrison.Duke Eudes mustered a force to engage theUmayyads, eventually engaging them in theBattle of the River Garonne somewhere near the riverDordogne. The battle had a high death toll, and although Eudes was defeated he had enough troops to engage in theBattle of Poitiers and so retain his grip on Aquitaine.
In 737, following his father Eudes's death, the Aquitanianduke Hunald led a rebellion to whichCharles responded by launching an expedition that captured Bordeaux. However, it was not retained for long, during the following year the Frankish commander clashed in battle with the Aquitanians but then left to take on hostile Burgundian authorities and magnates. In 745 Aquitaine faced another expedition where Charles's sons Pepin and Carloman challenged Hunald's power and defeated him. Hunald's sonWaifer replaced him and confirmed Bordeaux as the capital city (along with Bourges in the north).
During the last stage of thewar against Aquitaine (760–768), it was one of Waifer's last important strongholds to fall to the troops of KingPepin the Short. Charlemagne built the fortress ofFronsac (Frontiacus,Franciacus) near Bordeaux on a hill across the border with the Basques (Wascones), where Basque commanders came and pledged their loyalty (769).
In 778,Seguin (or Sihimin) was appointed count of Bordeaux, probably undermining the power of the DukeLupo, and possibly leading to theBattle of Roncevaux Pass. In 814, Seguin was made Duke ofVasconia, but was deposed in 816 for failing to suppress a Basque rebellion. Under theCarolingians, sometimes theCounts of Bordeaux held the title concomitantly with that ofDuke of Vasconia. They were to keep the Basques in check and defend the mouth of the Garonne from theVikings when they appeared in c. 844. In Autumn 845, the Vikings were raiding Bordeaux and Saintes, countSeguin II marched on them but was captured and executed.
From the 12th to the 15th century, Bordeaux flourished once more following the marriage ofEléonore, Duchess ofAquitaine and the last of theHouse of Poitiers, toHenry II Plantagenêt,Count of Anjou and the grandson ofHenry I of England, who succeeded to the English crown months after their wedding, bringing into being the vastAngevin Empire, which stretched from thePyrenees to Ireland.[19] After granting a tax-free trade status with England, Henry was adored by the locals as they could be even more profitable in the wine trade, their main source of income, and the city benefited from imports of cloth and wheat.[20] The belfry (Grosse Cloche) andcity cathedral St-André were built, the latter in 1227, incorporating the artisan quarter of Saint-Paul.[21] Under the terms of theTreaty of Brétigny it became briefly the capital of an independent state (1362–1372) underEdward, the Black Prince, but after theBattle of Castillon (1453) it was annexed by France.
The 18th century saw another golden age of Bordeaux.[22] ThePort of the Moon supplied the majority of Europe with coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton and indigo, becoming France's busiest port and the second busiest port in the world after London.[20] Many downtown buildings (about 5,000), including those on the quays, are from this period.
Bordeaux was also a major trading centre for slaves.[23] In total, the Bordeaux shipowners deported 150,000 Africans in some 500 expeditions.[24]
French Revolution: political disruption and loss of the most profitable colony
At the beginning of theFrench Revolution (1789), many local revolutionaries were members of theGirondists. This Party represented the provincial bourgeoisie, favorable towards abolishing aristocracy privileges, but opposed to the Revolution's social dimension. The Gironde valley's economic value and significance was satiated by the city's commercial power which was in dire contrast to the emerging widespread poverty affecting its inhabitants. Trade and commerce were the driving factors in the region's economic prosperity, still this resulted in a significant number of locals struggling to survive on a daily basis due to lack of food and resources. This socioeconomic disparity served as fertile ground for discontent, sparking frequent episodes of mass unrest well before the tumultuous events of 1783. [1]
In 1793, theMontagnards led byRobespierre andMarat came to power. Fearing a bourgeois misappropriation of the Revolution, they executed a great number of Girondists. During the purge, the local Montagnard Section renamed the city of Bordeaux "Commune-Franklin" (Franklin-municipality) in homage toBenjamin Franklin.
At the same time, in 1791, aslave revolt broke out atSaint-Domingue (currentHaiti), the most profitable of the French colonies. In the lively era of the 18th century, Bordeaux emerged as a center of economic activity, particularly known at first for its successful wine trade. The city's placement along the Gironde River was very strategic, helping to facilitate the transportation of produce to markets both internationally and domestically, which led to an increase in exports and Bordeaux's economic prosperity. There was a significant transformation to the economic landscape of Bordeaux in 1785, which was spurred by the attraction of large profits, traders and merchants in Bordeaux began to turn their attention to the slave trade. This was a very important moment in the city's economic history seeing as it diversified its commercial expansion, at a serious moral cost. This introduced a new layer of difficulty to Bordeaux's economic activities. Even though it brought along significant wealth to certain segments of society, it complicated the socio-economic inconsistencies within the region. The entry into the slave trade brought even more tension within Bordeaux society. The trade exacerbated the divide between an elite with growing wealth and those living in poverty. This economic divide laid out the foundation for the mass unrest that would break out in the French Revolution. [2]
Three years later, the Montagnard Convention abolished slavery. In 1802, Napoleon revoked the manumission law but lost the war against the army of former slaves. In 1804, Haiti became independent. The loss of this "Pearl" of the West Indies generated the collapse of Bordeaux's port economy, which was dependent on the colonial trade and trade in slaves.
Towards the end of thePeninsular War of 1814, theDuke of Wellington sentWilliam Beresford with two divisions and seized Bordeaux, encountering little resistance. Bordeaux was largely anti-Bonapartist and the majority supported theBourbons. The British troops were treated as liberators. Distinguished historian of the French revolution Suzanne Desan explains that "examining intricate local dynamics" is essential to studying the Revolution by region. [3]
From theBourbon Restoration, the economy of Bordeaux was rebuilt by traders and shipowners. They engaged to construct the first bridge of Bordeaux, and customs warehouses. The shipping traffic grew through the newAfrican colonies.
Georges-Eugène Haussmann, a longtime prefect of Bordeaux, used Bordeaux's 18th-century large-scale rebuilding as a model when he was asked by EmperorNapoleon III to transform the quasi-medieval Paris into a "modern" capital that would make France proud.Victor Hugo found the town so beautiful he said: "TakeVersailles, addAntwerp, and you have Bordeaux".
In 1870, at the beginning of theFranco-Prussian war againstPrussia, the French government temporarily relocated to Bordeaux from Paris.[18] That recurred duringWorld War I and again very briefly duringWorld War II, when it became clear that Paris would fall into German hands.
In May and June 1940, Bordeaux was the site of the life-saving actions of the Portuguese consul-general,Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who illegally granted thousands of Portuguese visas, which were needed to pass the Spanish border, to refugees fleeing the German occupation.
From 1941 to 1943, theItalian Royal Navy establishedBETASOM, a submarine base at Bordeaux. Italian submarines participated in theBattle of the Atlantic from that base, which was also a major base for GermanU-boats as headquarters of12th U-boat Flotilla. The massive, reinforced concrete U-boat pens have proved impractical to demolish and are now partly used as a cultural center for exhibitions.[25]
In 2007, 40% of the city surface area, located around thePort of the Moon, was listed asWorld Heritage Site.UNESCO inscribed Bordeaux as "an inhabited historic city, an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, created in the age of the Enlightenment, whose values continued up to the first half of the 20th century, with more protected buildings than any other French city except Paris".[26]
Bordeaux is located close to the EuropeanAtlantic coast, in the southwest of France and in the north of the Aquitaine region. It is around 500 km (310 mi) southwest of Paris. The city is built on a bend of theriver Garonne, and is divided into two parts: the right bank to the east and left bank in the west. Historically the left bank is more developed because when flowing outside the bend, the water makes a furrow of the required depth to allow the passing of merchant ships, which used to offload on this side of the river. But, today, the right bank is developing, including new urban projects. In Bordeaux, the Garonne River is accessible toocean liners through theGironde estuary. The right bank of the Garonne is a low-lying, often marshy plain.
The city enjoys cool to mild, wet winters, due to its relatively southerlylatitude, and the prevalence of mild, westerly winds from the Atlantic. Its summers are warm and somewhat drier, although wet enough to avoid aMediterranean classification. Frosts occur annually, but snowfall is quite infrequent, occurring for no more than 3–4 days a year. Thesummer of 2003 set a record with an average temperature of 23.3 °C (73.9 °F),[28] while February 1956 was the coldest month on record with an average temperature of −2.00 °C at Bordeaux Mérignac-Airport.[29]
Climate data for Bordeaux (BOD), elevation: 47 m (154 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1920–present
Bordeaux is a major centre for business in France as it has the sixth largest metropolitan population in France. It serves as a major regional center for trade, administration, services and industry.
The vine was introduced to the Bordeaux region by the Romans, probably in the mid-first century, to provide wine for local consumption, and wine production has been continuous in the region since.[33]
Bordeaux wine growing area has about 116,160 hectares (287,000 acres) ofvineyards, 57appellations, 10,000 wine-producing estates (châteaux) and 13,000 grape growers. With an annual production of approximately 960 million bottles,[34] the Bordeaux area produces large quantities of everyday wine as well as some of the most expensive wines in the world. Included among the latter are the area's fivepremier cru (First Growth) red wines (four fromMédoc and one,Château Haut-Brion, fromGraves), established by theBordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855:
Both red and white wines are made in the Bordeaux region. Red Bordeaux wine is calledclaret in the United Kingdom. Red wines are generally made from a blend of grapes, and may be made fromCabernet Sauvignon,Merlot,Cabernet Franc,Petit verdot,Malbec, and, less commonly in recent years,Carménère.
Because of a wine glut (wine lake) in the generic production, the price squeeze induced by an increasingly strong international competition, andvine pull schemes, the number of growers has recently dropped from 14,000 and the area under vine has also decreased significantly. In the meantime, the global demand for first growths and the most famous labels markedly increased and their prices skyrocketed.[35]
TheCité du Vin, a museum as well as a place of exhibitions, shows, movie projections and academic seminars on the theme of wine opened its doors in June 2016.[36]
Tourism, especiallywine tourism, is a major industry. Globelink.co.uk mentioned Bordeaux as the best tourist destination in Europe in 2015.[38]Gourmet Touring is a tourism company operating in the Bordeaux wine region.
Access to theport from the Atlantic is via theGironde estuary. Almost nine million tonnes of goods arrive and leave each year.[39]
This list includes indigenous Bordeaux-based companies and companies that have major presence in Bordeaux, but are not necessarily headquartered there.
In January 2020, there were 259,809 inhabitants in the city proper (commune) of Bordeaux.[8] The commune (including Caudéran which was annexed by Bordeaux in 1965)[41] had its largest population of 284,494 at the 1954 census.[8] The majority of the population is French, but there are sizable groups of Italians,Spaniards,Portuguese,Turks,Germans.[42]
The built-up area has grown for more than a century beyond the municipal borders of Bordeaux due to the small size of the commune (49 km2 (19 sq mi)) andurban sprawl. By January 2020 there were 1,376,375 people living in the overall 6,316 km2 (2,439 sq mi) metropolitan area (aire d'attraction) of Bordeaux,[7] only a fifth of whom lived in the city proper.
Population of Bordeaux (commune) (incl. Caudéran annexed in 1965)
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found onPhabricator and onMediaWiki.org.
The Mayor of the city is the environmentalistPierre Hurmic.
Bordeaux is the capital of five cantons and the Prefecture of theGironde andAquitaine.
The town is divided into three districts, the first three of Gironde. The headquarters of Urban Community of Bordeaux Mériadeck is located in the neighbourhood and the city is at the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry that bears his name.
The number of inhabitants of Bordeaux is greater than 250,000 and less than 299,999 so the number of municipal councilors is 65.[44] They are divided according to the following composition:
At the 2007 presidential election, the Bordelais gave 31.37% of their votes toSégolène Royal of the Socialist Party against 30.84% toNicolas Sarkozy, president of the UMP. Then cameFrançois Bayrou with 22.01%, followed byJean-Marie Le Pen who recorded 5.42%. None of the other candidates exceeded the 5% mark. Nationally, Nicolas Sarkozy led with 31.18%, then Ségolène Royal with 25.87%, followed by François Bayrou with 18.57%. After these came Jean-Marie Le Pen with 10.44%, none of the other candidates exceeded the 5% mark. In the second round, the city of Bordeaux gave Ségolène Royal 52.44% against 47.56% for Nicolas Sarkozy, the latter being electedPresident of the Republic with 53.06% against 46.94% for Ségolène Royal. The abstention rates for Bordeaux were 14.52% in the first round and 15.90% in the second round.
In the parliamentary elections of 2007, the left won eight constituencies against only three for the right. After the partial 2008 elections, the eighth district of Gironde switched to the left, bringing the count to nine. In Bordeaux, the left was for the first time in its history the majority as it held two of three constituencies following the elections. In the first division of the Gironde, the outgoing UMP MPChantal Bourragué was well ahead with 44.81% against 25.39% for the Socialist candidateBéatrice Desaigues. In the second round, it wasChantal Bourragué who was re-elected with 54.45% against 45.55% for his socialist opponent. In the second district of Gironde the UMP mayor and all new Minister of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the SeaAlain Juppé confronted the General Counsel PS Michèle Delaunay. In the first round, Alain Juppé was well ahead with 43.73% against 31.36% forMichèle Delaunay. In the second round, it was finally Michèle Delaunay who won the election with 50.93% of the votes against 49.07% for Alain Juppé, the margin being only 670 votes. The defeat of the so-called constituency "Mayor" showed that Bordeaux was rocking increasingly left. Finally, in the third constituency of the Gironde, Noël Mamère was well ahead with 39.82% against 28.42% for the UMP candidate Elizabeth Vine. In the second round, Noël Mamère was re-elected with 62.82% against 37.18% for his right-wing rival.
In 2008 municipal elections saw the clash between mayor of Bordeaux, Alain Juppé and the President of the Regional Council of Aquitaine SocialistAlain Rousset. The PS had put up a Socialist heavyweight in the Gironde and had put great hopes in this election after the victory of Ségolène Royal andMichèle Delaunay in 2007. However, after a rather exciting campaign it was Alain Juppé who was widely elected in the first round with 56.62 percent, far ahead of Alain Rousset who garnered 34.14 percent of the vote. At present, of the eight cantons that has Bordeaux, five are held by the PS and three by the UMP, the left eating a little each time into the right's numbers.
In the European elections of 2009, Bordeaux voters largely voted for the UMP candidate Dominique Baudis, who won 31.54% against 15.00% for PS candidate Kader Arif. The candidate of Europe Ecology José Bové came second with 22.34%. None of the other candidates reached the 10% mark. The 2009 European elections were like the previous ones in eight constituencies. Bordeaux is located in the district "Southwest", here are the results:
UMP candidate Dominique Baudis: 26.89%. His party gained four seats. PS candidate Kader Arif: 17.79%, gaining two seats in the European Parliament. Europe Ecology candidate Bove: 15.83%, obtaining two seats. MoDem candidate Robert Rochefort: 8.61%, winning a seat. Left Front candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon: 8.16%, gaining the last seat. At regional elections in 2010, the Socialist incumbent president Alain Rousset won the first round by totaling 35.19% in Bordeaux, but this score was lower than the plan for Gironde and Aquitaine. Xavier Darcos, Minister of Labour followed with 28.40% of the votes, scoring above the regional and departmental average. Then came Monique De Marco, Green candidate with 13.40%, followed by the member of Pyrenees-Atlantiques and candidate of the MoDem Jean Lassalle who registered a low 6.78% while qualifying to the second round on the whole Aquitaine, closely followed by Jacques Colombier, candidate of the National Front, who gained 6.48%. Finally the candidate of the Left Front Gérard Boulanger with 5.64%, no other candidate above the 5% mark. In the second round, Alain Rousset had a tidal wave win as national totals rose to 55.83%. If Xavier Darcos largely lost the election, he nevertheless achieved a score above the regional and departmental average obtaining 33.40%. Jean Lassalle, who qualified for the second round, passed the 10% mark by totaling 10.77%. The ballot was marked by abstention amounting to 55.51% in the first round and 53.59% in the second round.
University Bordeaux 2, former faculty of medicine, now faculty of sociology
During Antiquity, a first university had been created by the Romans in 286.[48] The city was an important administrative centre and the new university had to train administrators. Onlyrhetoric andgrammar were taught.Ausonius andSulpicius Severus were two of the teachers.
In 1441, when Bordeaux was an English town, thePope Eugene IV created a university by demand of the archbishopPey Berland. In 1793, during theFrench Revolution, theNational Convention abolished the university, and replace them with theÉcole centrale in 1796. In Bordeaux, this one was located in the former buildings of the college of Guyenne. In 1808, the university reappeared withNapoleon. Bordeaux accommodates approximately 70,000 students on one of the largest campuses of Europe (235 ha).[49]
TheÉcole Compleméntaire Japonaise de Bordeaux (ボルドー日本語補習授業校,Borudō Nihongo Hoshū Jugyō Kō), apart-time Japanese supplementary school, is held in theSalle de L'Athénée Municipal in Bordeaux.[50]
Bordeaux is classified "City of Art and History". The city is home to 362monuments historiques (national heritage sites), with some buildings dating back to Roman times. Bordeaux,Port of the Moon, has been inscribed onUNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble".[citation needed]
Bordeaux is home to one of Europe's biggest 18th-century architectural urban areas, making it a sought-after destination for tourists and cinema production crews. It stands out as one of the first French cities, afterNancy, to have entered an era ofurbanism and metropolitan big scale projects, with the team Gabriel father and son, architects for KingLouis XV, under the supervision of two intendants (Governors), firstNicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur then the Marquis de Tourny.[citation needed]
Bordeaux Cathedral (Saint André), consecrated byPope Urban II in 1096 and dedicated to the Apostle Saint Andrew. Of the original Romanesque edifice only a wall in the nave remains. The Royal Door is from the early 13th century, while the rest of the construction is mostly from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Tour Pey-Berland (1440–1450), a massive, quadrangular Gothic tower annexed to the cathedral.
Sainte-Croix church: This church, dedicated to the Holy Cross, stands on the site of a seventh-century abbey destroyed by the Saracens. Rebuilt under the Carolingians, it was again destroyed by the Normans in 845 and 864. The present building was erected and was built in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. The façade is inRomanesque style.
The GothicSaint Michel Basilica, constructed between the end of the 14th century and the 16th century.
Basilica of Saint Severinus, the oldest church in Bordeaux, built in the early sixth century on the site of a palaeo-Christian necropolis. It has an 11th-centuryportico, while theapse andtransept are from the 12th. The 13th-century nave has chapels from the 11th and the 14th centuries. The ancient crypt houses tombs of the Merovingian family.
Église Saint-Pierre, Gothic church
Église Saint-Éloi, Gothic church
Église Saint-Bruno, baroque church decorated with frescoes
Église Notre-Dame, baroque church
Église Saint-Paul-Saint-François-Xavier, baroque church
Palais Rohan, once the archbishop's residence, now city hall
Porte Cailhau, a medievalgatehouse in the old city walls.
La Grosse Cloche (15th century), the second remaining gate in the medieval walls. It was thebelfry of the old Town Hall. It consists of two 40-metre-high (131-foot) circular towers and a centralbell tower housing abell weighing 7,800 kilograms (17,200 lb). The clock is from 1759.
Slavery was part of a growing drive for the city. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Bordeaux was an importantslave port, which saw some 500 slave expeditions that cause the deportation of 150,000 Africans by Bordeaux shipowners.[54] Secondly, even though the "Triangular trade" represented only 5% of Bordeaux's wealth, the city's direct trade with the Caribbean, that accounted for the other 95%, concerns the colonial stuffs made by the slave (sugar, coffee, cocoa).[55] And thirdly, in that same period, a major migratory movement by Aquitanians took place to the Caribbean colonies, withSaint-Domingue (nowHaiti) being the most popular destination. 40% of the white population of the island came fromAquitaine.[56] They prospered withplantations incomes, until thefirst slave revolts which concluded in 1848 in the final abolition of slavery in France.[57]
A statue ofModeste Testas, an Ethiopian woman who was enslaved by the Bordeaux-based Testas brothers was unveiled in 2019. She was trafficked by them from West Africa, to Philadelphia (where one of the brothers coerced her to have two children by him) and was ultimately freed and lived in Haiti. The bronze sculpture was created by the Haitian artistsWoodly Caymitte.[58]
A number of traces and memorial sites are visible in the city. Moreover, in May 2009, theMuseum of Aquitaine opened the spaces dedicated to "Bordeaux in the 18th century, trans-Atlantic trading and slavery". This work, richly illustrated with original documents, contributes to disseminate the state of knowledge on this question, presenting above all the facts and their chronology.[57]
Europe's longest-spanvertical-lift bridge, thePont Jacques Chaban-Delmas, was opened in 2013 in Bordeaux, spanning the River Garonne.[citation needed] The central lift span is 117-metre-long (384-foot), weighs 4,600 tons and can be lifted vertically up to 53 metres (174 feet) to let tall ships pass underneath. The €160 million bridge was inaugurated by PresidentFrançois Hollande and Mayor Alain Juppé on 16 March 2013. The bridge was named after the lateJacques Chaban-Delmas, who was a former Prime Minister andMayor of Bordeaux.[59]
Bordeaux has many shopping options. In the heart of Bordeaux isRue Sainte-Catherine.[citation needed] Thispedestrianised street has 1.2 kilometers (0.75 mi) of shops, restaurants and cafés; it is also one of the longest shopping streets in Europe.[citation needed] Rue Sainte-Catherine starts at Place de la Victoire and ends at Place de la Comédie by the Grand Théâtre. The shops become progressively more upmarket as one moves towards Place de la Comédie and the nearby Cours de l'Intendance is where there are the more exclusive shops and boutiques.[citation needed]
Bordeaux is the first city in France to have created, in the 1980s, an architecture exhibition and research centre,Arc en rêve.[60]
The city has a large number of cinemas, theatres, and is the home of theOpéra national de Bordeaux. There are many music venues of varying capacity. The city also offers several festivals throughout the year.
TheBordeaux International Festival of Women in Cinema (Festival international du cinéma au féminin de Bordeaux) took place in Bordeaux from 2002[61] until 2005.[62][63] The Festival international du film indépendant de Bordeaux (Fifib or FIFIB),[64] or Bordeaux International Independent Film Festival,[65][66] was established in 2012.[64]
Bordeaux is an important road andmotorway junction. The city is connected to Paris by theA10 motorway, with Lyon by theA89, with Toulouse by theA62, and with Spain by theA63. There is a 45 km (28 mi)ring road called the "Rocade" which is often very busy. Another ring road is under consideration.
Bordeaux has five road bridges that cross theGaronne, the Pont de pierre built in the 1820s and three modern bridges built after 1960: the Pont Saint Jean, just south of the Pont de pierre (both located downtown), thePont d'Aquitaine, a suspension bridge downstream from downtown, and the Pont François Mitterrand, located upstream of downtown. These two bridges are part of the ring-road around Bordeaux. A fifth bridge, thePont Jacques-Chaban-Delmas, was constructed in 2009–2012 and opened to traffic in March 2013. Located halfway between the Pont de pierre and the Pont d'Aquitaine and serving downtown rather than highway traffic, it is avertical-lift bridge with a height in closed position comparable to that of Pont de pierre, and to the Pont d'Aquitaine when open. All five road bridges, including the two highway bridges, are open to cyclists and pedestrians as well. Another bridge, the Pont Jean-Jacques Bosc, is to be built in 2018.[67]
Lacking any steep hills, Bordeaux is relatively friendly to cyclists. Cycle paths (separate from the roadways) exist on the highway bridges, along the riverfront, on the university campuses, and incidentally elsewhere in the city.Cycle lanes andbus lanes that explicitly allow cyclists exist on many of the city's boulevards. A paidbicycle-sharing system with automated stations was established in 2010.
The main railway station,Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean, near the center of the city, has 12 million passengers a year. It is served by the French national (SNCF) railway's high speed train, theTGV, that gets to Paris in two hours, with connections to major European centers such asLille, Brussels,Amsterdam,Cologne, Geneva and London. The TGV also servesToulouse andIrun (Spain) from Bordeaux. A regular train service is provided toNantes, Nice,Marseille andLyon. The Gare Saint-Jean is the major hub for regional trains (TER) operated by the SNCF toArcachon,Limoges,Agen,Périgueux,Langon,Pau, Le Médoc, Angoulême andBayonne.
Historically the train line used to terminate at a station on the right bank of the river Garonne near the Pont de Pierre, and passengers crossed the bridge to get into the city. Subsequently, a double-track steel railway bridge was constructed in the 1850s, byGustave Eiffel, to bring trains across the river direct into Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean. The old station was later converted and in 2010 comprised a cinema and restaurants.
The two-track Eiffel bridge with a speed limit of 30 km/h (19 mph) became a bottleneck and a new bridge was built, opening in 2009. The new bridge has four tracks and allows trains to pass at 60 km/h (37 mph).[68] During the planning there was much lobbying by the Eiffel family and other supporters to preserve the old bridge as a footbridge across the Garonne, with possibly a museum to document the history of the bridge and Gustave Eiffel's contribution. The decision was taken to save the bridge, but by early 2010 no plans had been announced as to its future use. The bridge remains intact, but unused and without any means of access.
TheLGV Sud Europe Atlantique became fully operational in July 2017, shortening the journey time from Bordeaux city to Paris to 2hrs 4mins.
Bordeaux has an important public transport system calledTransports Bordeaux Métropole (TBM). This company is run by the Keolis group. The network consists of:
There had been several plans for a subway network to be set up, but they stalled for both geological and financial reasons. Work on theTramway de Bordeaux system was started in the autumn of 2000, and services started in December 2003 connecting Bordeaux with its suburban areas. The tram system usesAlstom APS a form ofground-level power supply technology developed by French companyAlstom and designed to preserve the aesthetic environment by eliminating overhead cables in the historic city. Conventional overhead cables are used outside the city. The system was controversial for its considerable cost of installation, maintenance and also for the numerous initial technical problems that paralysed the network. Many streets and squares along the tramway route became pedestrian areas, withlimited access for cars.
The Bordeaux Tramway system reached the Mérignac airport on April 29th 2023 with the opening of a 5-km extension of Line A.[69]
The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Bordeaux, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 51 min. 12.% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 13 min, while 15.5% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 7 km (4.3 mi), while 8% travel for over 12 km (7.5 mi) in a single direction.[71]
There are two major sport teams in Bordeaux,Girondins de Bordeaux is thefootball team who, following administrative relegation, currently play inChampionnat National 2, the fourth tier ofFrench football. They are one of the most successful clubs in France, with sixDivision 1/Ligue 1 titles.Union Bordeaux Bègles is arugby team in theTop 14 in theLigue Nationale de Rugby. Skateboarding, rollerblading, and BMX biking are activities enjoyed by many young inhabitants of the city. Bordeaux is home to a quay which runs along the Garonne river. On the quay there is a skate-park divided into three sections. One section is for Vert tricks, one for street style tricks, and one for little action sports athletes with easier features and softer materials. The skate-park is very well maintained by the municipality.
Bordeaux is also the home to one of the strongestcricket teams in France and are champions of the South West League.
There is a 250 m (820 ft) woodenvelodrome, Vélodrome du Lac, in Bordeaux which hosts international cycling competition in the form ofUCI Track Cycling World Cup events.
The 2015 Trophee Eric Bompard was in Bordeaux. But the Free Skate was cancelled in all of the divisions due to the Paris bombing(s) and aftermath. The Short Program occurred hours before the bombing. French skaters Chafik Besseghier (68.36) in tenth place, Romain Ponsart (62.86) in 11th. Mae-Berenice-Meite (46.82) in 11th and Laurine Lecavelier (46.53) in 12th. Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres (65.75) in second.
Between 1951 and 1955, an annual Formula 1 motor race was held on a 2.5-kilometre circuit which looped around the Esplanade des Quinconces and along the waterfront, attracting drivers such asJuan Manuel Fangio,Stirling Moss,Jean Behra andMaurice Trintignant.[72]
^An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.
^"Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved22 December 2020.
^ab"Bordeaux".Encyclopaedia Britannica.Archived from the original on 28 April 2020. Retrieved30 March 2020.
^Le duché de Bretagne et la politique Plantagenêt aux XII et XIII siecles, Judith Everard. ",in Marin Aurell and Noël-Yves Tonnerre éditeurs.Plantagenêts et Capétiens, confrontations et héritages, Poitiers. Brepols, 2006, Turnhout. CollectionHistoires de famille. La parenté au Moyen Âge, p. 202
^François, Hubert; Block, Christian; de Cauna, Jacques (2018).Bordeaux in the 18th century : trans-Atlantic trading and slavery (2nd ed.). Bordeaux: Le Festin.ISBN978-2-36062-009-8.
^Centre, UNESCO World Heritage."Bordeaux, Port of the Moon".UNESCO World Heritage Centre.Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved30 October 2020.
^GHCN climate, GISS world climate averages, 1971–2000
^GISS Station Data v4 homogenized Bordeaux Mérignac Airport
^"BORDEAUX−MERIGNAC (33)"(PDF).Fiche Climatologique: Statistiques 1991–2020 et records (in French). Meteo France. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved14 July 2022."BORDEAUX−MERIGNAC (33)"(PDF).Fiche Climatologique: Statistiques 1991–2020 et records (in French). Meteo France.Archived(PDF) from the original on 1 April 2022. Retrieved14 July 2022.
^François Hubert, Christian Block and Jacques de Cauna (2010).Bordeaux in the 18th century: trans-Atlantic trading and slavery. Bordeaux: Le Festin.ISBN978-2-36062-009-8.
^"Kraków – Miasta Partnerskie" [Kraków -Partnership Cities].Miejska Platforma Internetowa Magiczny Kraków (in Polish). Archived fromthe original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved10 August 2013.
Chantal Callais and Thierry Jeanmonod (2019).Bordeaux: a history of architecture. La Crèche: La Geste.ISBN979-1-03-530188-0.
François Hubert, Christian Block and Jacques de Cauna (2018).Bordeaux in the 18th century: trans-Atlantic trading and slavery (2nd ed.). Bordeaux: Le Festin.ISBN978-2-36062-009-8.
.jpg)
_(15031012263).jpg)
_Cath%25C3%25A9drale_Saint-Andr%25C3%25A9_Tour_Pey_Berland_01.jpg)
.jpg)
.svg)
_-_50524304173.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
_-_2022-09-10_-_2.jpg)
.jpg)
