Loudun

French commune
nomcommune=Loudun
"Porte du Martray" in Loudun


image_flag_size =
image_coat_of_arms= Heraldique Blason ville fr Loudun.svg
image_coat_of_arms_size = 120px
région=Poitou-Charentes
département=Vienne
arrondissement=Châtellerault
canton=Loudun (chef-lieu)
insee=86137
cp=86200
maire=Jean Touret
mandat=2001-2008
intercomm=Communauté de Communes du Pays Loudunais (CCPL)
longitude=0.0844444444444
latitude=47.0105555556
alt moy=90 m
alt mini=47 m
alt maxi=120 m
hectares=4,377
km²=43.77
sans=7,704
date-sans=1999
dens=176
date-dens=1999

Loudun is a small town and "commune" of approximately 9,000 inhabitants in the Vienne "département" and in the Poitou-Charentes "région" of France. It is located 30 km south of the town of Chinon and 25km to the east of the town Thouars. The area south of Loudun is the place of origin of a significant portion of the Acadians, one of the early founding people of New France and Canada [ [http://philippe.caillebeau.free.fr/rappelh.htm RappelH ] ] .

Demographics

Démographie
1962= 6,214
1968= 7,094
1975= 8,035
1982= 8,120
1990= 7,854
1999= 7,704
2007= 8,111
sansdoublescomptes= 1962|source=INSEE [ [http://www.recensement.insee.fr/RP99/rp99/co_navigation.co_page?nivgeo=C&codgeo=86137&theme=ALL&typeprod=ALL&lang=FR&quelcas=LISTE Loudun sur le site de l'Insee] ]

ights

An ancient town, Loudun contains numerous old streets, and buildings and monuments of which five are Government-listed monuments. It is also the location of a vicus type archaeological site.

Loudun possessions

:"Main article: Loudun possessions"The 1952 book titled "The Devils of Loudun" by Aldous Huxley tells the story of the trial of Urbain Grandier, priest of the town who was tortured and burned at the stake in 1634. He was accused of being in league with the devil and having seduced an entire convent of nuns, in what is seen by many scholars as one of the most sensational cases of mass possession and sexual hysteria in recorded history.

Based on Huxley's book, in 1969, Krzysztof Penderecki created an opera of the same name. The following year, Ken Russell directed the film "The Devils", also based on Huxley's book, and a play by John Whiting (although the surrealistic depiction of Loudun in the film bears no resemblance to the actual town).

Miscellaneous

Famous "Loudunois"

Loudun is the birthplace of:
* Jean Salmon Macrin (1490-1557), Neo-Latin poet
* Théophraste Renaudot (1586-1653), medical practitioner, inventor of French written press, journalist, philanthropist
* Ismaël Bullialdus (1604-1694), astronomer
* Marie Besnard, accused of poisoning in the '50s in what was a very mediatized trial; her story was the subject of a successful tv movie and of several books
* René Monory, mayor of Loudun, senator of Vienne, president of the French Senate, Minister of Education, president of the Vienne General Council, fonder of the Futuroscope park of Poitiers
* Nicolas Ghesquière (born 1972), creator at the head of the French fashion house Balenciaga was born in 1972 in Comines, Nord-Pas-de-Calais but was always raised in Loudun where his parents own a golf course.

Loudun is the place of death of:
* André Andrejew (March 16, 1967), French-Russian classic film production designer, built decors for movies produced in Germany, France, England and the US.

ee also

* Lugus

References

External links

* [http://www.tourisme-vienne.com/office-tourisme-vienne.php?cle=86ABOTS100063 Tourisme Loudun] (in French)