1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Sète (French pronunciation:[sɛt];Occitan:Seta,[ˈsetɔ]), also historically spelledCette (official until 1928) andSette, is aresort town andcommune in theHéraultdepartment, in theregion ofOccitania, southern France. Its inhabitants are calledSétois (male) andSétoises (female) in French, "Setòris" and "Setòria" in Occitan.
Known as theVenice of Languedoc and thesingular island (inPaul Valéry's words), it is a port and a seaside resort on the Mediterranean with its own very strong cultural identity, traditions, cuisine and dialect. It is the hometown of such artists as Paul Valéry, Maurice Elie Sarthou,Jean Vilar,Georges Brassens,Hervé Di Rosa,Manitas de Plata, andRobert Combas. Since 2001, François Commeinhes is the mayor of the city.
Virla BridgeSouthwestern part of the Île de Thau neighbourhood and the Étang de Thau
Built upon and around Mont St Clair, Sète is situated on the south-eastern end of theÉtang de Thau, an enclosed salt water lake used primarily foroyster andmussel fields. To its other side lies the Mediterranean, and the town has a network of canals which are links between the Étang de Thau and the Mediterranean Sea.
Sète has amediterranean climate (Köppen climate classificationCsa). The average annual temperature in Sète is 15.4 °C (59.7 °F). The average annual rainfall is 560.7 mm (22.07 in) with October as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 23.9 °C (75.0 °F), and lowest in January, at around 8.0 °C (46.4 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Sète was 41.0 °C (105.8 °F) on 12 August 1923; the coldest temperature ever recorded was −12.0 °C (10.4 °F) on 10 February 1956.
Climate data for Sète (1981–2010 averages, extremes 1920−present)
The name first appeared inPtolemy (Geography II.10.2.): Σήτιον ὄρος, later inAvienius' (Ora Maritima): Setius... mons and on the maps ofAniane: fiscum..qui nuncupatur Sita
On 29 July 1666, the first stone was officially set on the Saint-Louis pier. TheCanal du Midi was completed in 1681 andVauban visited the port in 1684. Saint-Louis church was consecrated in 1703.[6] From 24 to 26 July 1710, during theWar of the Spanish Succession the British attacked Sète, but were soon fought back byAdrien Maurice de Noailles, Duke of Noailles. Between 1710 and 1711, Saint-Pierre and Butte-Ronde forts were built.
TheHôtel de Ville was acquired in 1723[7] and the Richelieu citadel and the Castellas tower were built in 1744.[8]
Between 1807 and 1809 the British tried to burn the town. On 21 May 1821, the first stone of the breakwater was set (finished in 1869). On 9 June 1839 theMontpellier–Sète railway was opened. On 6 May 1872 the chamber of commerce was established. Between 1882 and 1888 construction works on the port took place. On 24 June 1894Sante Geronimo Caserio, an Italian anarchist fromLombardy and apprentice baker in Sète stabbed to death presidentSadi Carnot inLyon. In 1895, the boys' high school, later renamed the Lycée Paul Valéry, was opened.
In 1901 an electric tramway network was built (used until 1935). In 1902, the Nelson family opened Chateau Nelson. On 20 January 1928, the name of the town changed from Cette to Sète. In 1934,FC Sète 34 won theLigue 1 andCoupe de France and became the first football club to win both the same year. On 23 May 1939: theSSSinaia left the port withSpanish Republicans seeking asylum inLázaro Cárdenas's Mexico. On 12 November 1942: the town was occupied by the German troops of theWehrmacht. On 25 June 1944 Sète railway station,Balaruc-les-Bains's andFrontignan's oil refineries were bombarded by the American15th Air Force. On 20 August 1944 Sète was liberated. On 11 July 1947, thepacket steamship SSPresident Warfield leaves for Palestine with 4,530 Jews who survived theShoah. The port official M. Leboutet had authorised captainIke Aronowicz to sail to Colombia and, after five days on the Atlantic Ocean, the ship took the nameSSExodus and changed direction towards Palestine. 27 km (17 miles) from the coast, they were stopped by five Britishtorpedo boats. 75 passengers accepted asylum in France, while the others were brought toHamburg viaGibraltar. In 1960, the Théâtre de la Mer was built. In 1962, the technical college Joliot-Curie was opened. In 1966–1978 major construction works on the port took place. In 1970, the Museum Paul Valéry was opened. From 1981 to 1984, a new public hospital was built. On 31 October 1991, the espaceGeorges Brassens, a museum dedicated to the singer, opened.
In 2004, a plan to preserve theLido and prevent further coastal damage was made. In 2005 a new neighbourhood calledVilleroy was created. In 2006 the "espace Georges Brassens" was renovated. In January 2007, theLanguedoc-Roussillon manages the port of Sète. In 2014, une ville humanitaire, saw the creation of "les Anges de la Rue". In 2016, a great wine spill occurred at the Nelson Château.
In 1703, when the Saint-Louis church was consecrated,Louis IX, patron of the port, also became thepatron saint of the town. He has been celebrated every year on 25 August, withcanal jousting competitions, music and fireworks, except during wartime.
Sète is the eastern starting point of theCanal du Midi, and the ending point of theCanal du Rhône à Sète. Its train stationGare de Sète is approximately 20 minutes by train fromMontpellier, and is also served by long-distance trains to Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille and Paris. Car ferries sail between Sète and Morocco.
Sète is a centre ofwater jousting, and hosts a major tournament during the town festival, the St-Louis.[11]
Paul Valéry's poemLe Cimetière Marin, depicts the graveyard above Sète's harbour.[12] Valéry is buried in the graveyard, and the nearby Paul Valéry Museum contains a collection of his drawings and manuscripts.
%2c_S%25C3%25A8te%2c_H%25C3%25A9rault_01.jpg)
.svg)
