Bar-le-Duc

French commune
nomcommune=Bar-le-Duc
Bar-le-Duc Clock-tower
région=Lorraine
département=Meuse ("préfecture")
arrondissement=Bar-le-Duc
canton=Chief town of 2 cantons
insee=55029
cp=55000
maire=Martine Huraut
mandat=2001-2008
intercomm=Communauté
de communes
de Bar-le-Duc
longitude=05.160278
latitude=48.771944
alt moy=240 m |alt mini=175 m |alt maxi=327 m | hectares=2,362
km²=23.62
sans=16,944
date-sans=1999 |dens=717 |date-dens=1999

Bar-le-Duc is a town in northeastern France, in the Meuse "département", of which it is the "préfecture" (capital).

History

Bar-le-Duc was at one time the seat of the countship, later duchy, of Bar. Though probably of ancient origin, the town was unimportant till the 10th century when it became the residence of the counts.

Originally part of the early medieval duchy of Upper Lorraine. At some stage in the early modern period it was acquired by the neighbouring dukes of Lorraine.

Population (1906): 14,624.

See also: Counts and dukes of Bar

Geography

The lower, more modern and busier part of the town extends along a narrow valley, shut in by wooded or vine-clad hills, and is traversed throughout its length by the Ornain, which is crossed by several bridges. It is limited towards the north-east by the Marne-Rhine Canal, on the south-west by a small arm of the Ornain, called the "Canal des Usines", on the left bank of which the upper town ("Ville Haute") is situated.

ights

The "Ville Haute", which is reached by staircases and steep narrow thoroughfares, is intersected by a long, quiet street, bordered by houses of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. In this quarter are the remains (16th century) of the chateau of the dukes of Bar, dismantled in 1670, the old clock-tower, and the college, built in the latter half of the 16th century. Its church of St Stephen (14th and 15th centuries) contains a skillfully-carved effigy in white stone of a half-decayed corpse, the work of Ligier Richier (1500-1572), a pupil of Michelangelo erected to the memory of René of Châlon (d. 1544).

The lower town contains the official buildings and two or three churches, but these are of little interest. Among the statues of distinguished natives of the town is one to Charles Nicolas Oudinot, whose house serves as the "hotel-de-ville".

Economy

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica "Eleventh Edition" (1911)::Bar-le-Duc has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a board of trade arbitrators, a lycee, a training-college for girls, a chamber of commerce, a branch of the Banque de France and an art museum. The industries of the town include ironfounding and the manufacture of machinery, corsets, hosiery, flannel goods, jam and wall-paper, and brewing, cotton spinning and weaving, leather-dressing and dyeing. Wine, timber and iron are important articles of commerce.

Miscellaneous

Bar-le-Duc was the birthplace of:
* Francis, Duke of Guise (1519-1563), soldier and politician
* Nicolas Oudinot (1767-1847), marshal of France
* Edmond Laguerre (1834-1886), mathematician
* Raymond Poincaré (1860-1934), statesman

A great silk factory was established here by Jean-François Jacqueminot.

References

*1911

External links

* [http://www.barleduc.fr/ Town counsil website]
* [http://www.tourisme.fr/office-de-tourisme/bar-le-duc.htm Tourism Office website]
* [http://www.barleduc55.net/ Pictures]