Chartres
Encyclopedia
Chartres is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 and capital of the Eure-et-Loir
Eure-et-Loir
Eure-et-Loir is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers.-History:Eure-et-Loir is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790 pursuant to the Act of December 22, 1789...

 department in northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is located 96 km (59.7 mi) southwest of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

Geography

Chartres is built on the left bank of the Eure River
Eure River
The Eure is a river in northern France, left tributary of the Seine. It rises at Marchainville in the Orne département and joins the Seine near Pont-de-l'Arche...

, on a hill crowned by its famous cathedral, the spires of which are a landmark in the surrounding country. To the south-east stretches the fruitful plain of Beauce
Beauce
Beauce is a natural region in northern France, located between the Seine and Loire rivers. It now comprises the Eure-et-Loir département and parts of Loiret, Essonne and Loir-et-Cher. The region shared the history of the province of Orléanais and the county of Chartres, which is its only major...

, the "granary of France", of which the town is the commercial centre.

History

Chartres was one of the principal towns of the Carnutes
Carnutes
The Carnutes, a powerful Celtic people in the heart of independent Gaul, dwelled in a particularly extensive territory between the Sequana and the Liger rivers. Their lands later corresponded to the dioceses of Chartres, Orléans and Blois, that is, the greater part of the modern departments of...

, and by the Romans was called Autricum, from the river Autura (Eure), and afterwards civitas Carnutum. The name "Chartres" derives from "Carnutes". It was burnt by the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 in 858, and unsuccessfully besieged by them in 911.

During the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

 it was the chief town of Beauce, and gave its name to a countship which was held by the counts of Blois and Champagne and afterwards by the house of Châtillon, a member of which in 1286 sold it to the crown. It was raised to the rank of a duchy in 1528 by Francis I
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

. After the time of Louis XIV
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...

 the title of duke of Chartres
Duke of Chartres
Originally, the Duchy of Chartres was the comté de Chartres, an Earldom. The title of comte de Chartres thus became duc de Chartres. This duchy–peerage was given by Louis XIV of France to his nephew, Philippe II d'Orléans, at his birth in 1674...

 was hereditary in the family of Orléans
House of Orleans
Orléans is the name used by several branches of the Royal House of France, all descended in the legitimate male line from the dynasty's founder, Hugh Capet. It became a tradition during France's ancien régime for the duchy of Orléans to be granted as an appanage to a younger son of the king...

.

In 1417 it fell into the hands of the English, from whom it was recovered in 1432. It became seat of a Duchy in 1528. During the Wars of Religion
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion is the name given to a period of civil infighting and military operations, primarily fought between French Catholics and Protestants . The conflict involved the factional disputes between the aristocratic houses of France, such as the House of Bourbon and House of Guise...

, it was attacked unsuccessfully by the Protestants in 1568, and was taken in 1591 by Henry IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....

, who was crowned there three years afterwards.

In the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

 it was seized by the Germans on 2 October 1870, and continued during the rest of the Campaign to be an important centre of operations.

The city suffered heavy damage by bombing in the course of World War II, but the Cathedral of Chartres was spared by an American Army officer who challenged the order to destroy it.

Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr. questioned the strategy of destroying the cathedral and volunteered to go behind enemy lines to find out whether the German Army was occupying the cathedral and using it as an observation post. With a single enlisted soldier to assist, Col. Griffith proceeded to the cathedral and confirmed the Germans were not using it. After he returned from his reconnaissance, he reported that the cathedral was clear of enemy troops. The order to destroy the cathedral was withdrawn and the Allies later liberated the area. Col. Griffith was killed in action on August 16, 1944 in the town of Leves, near Chartres.

Following deep reconnaissance missions in the region by the 3rd Cavalry Group and units of the 1139 Engineer Combat Group, and after heavy fighting in and around the city, Chartres was liberated, on 18 August 1944, by the U.S. 5th Infantry and the 7th Armored Divisions
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...

 belonging to the XX Corps
XX Corps (United States)
The XX Corps of the United States Army fought from northern France to Austria in World War II. Constituted by redesignating the IV Armored Corps, which had been activated at Camp Young, California on 5 September 1942, XX Corps became operational in France as part of Lieutenant General George S....

 of the 3rd US Army
United States Army Central
United States Army Central is an Army Service Component Command of the United States Army and is also dual-hatted as the "United States Third Army". It is the Army Component of U.S...

 commanded by General George S. Patton
George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and controversial outspokenness.Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation from...

.

Population

Cathedrals and churches

The town is best known for the Cathedral of Chartres (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres), widely considered to be the finest Gothic cathedral
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 in France. Its historical and cultural importance is recognized by its inclusion on the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 list of World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...

s. Its construction started in 1205, following the destruction of the old cathedral of Chartres. Construction took 66 years.

The abbey church of St.Pierre, dating chiefly from the 13th century, contains, besides some fine stained glass, twelve representations of the apostles in enamel, created about 1547 by Léonard Limosin
Leonard Limousin
Leonard Limousin was a French painter, the most famous of a family of seven Limoges enamel painters, the son of a Limoges innkeeper....

. Of the other churches of Chartres also noteworthy are St Aignan (13th, 16th and 17th centuries) and St Martin-au-Val (12th century).

The surrounding city financed the stained glass windows.

Museums

  • Musée des Beaux-Arts, fine art
    Fine art
    Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....

    s museum (located near the Cathedral of Chartres) housed in the former episcopal palace.
  • Le Grenier de l'Histoire Musée, history museum specializing in military uniform
    Military uniform
    Military uniforms comprises standardised dress worn by members of the armed forces and paramilitaries of various nations. Military dress and military styles have gone through great changes over the centuries from colourful and elaborate to extremely utilitarian...

    s and accoutrements.
  • Le Centre International du Vitrail, a workshop-museum and cultural center devoted to stained glass
    Stained glass
    The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...

     art.
  • Muséum de sciences naturelles et de la préhistoire, Natural Science
    Natural science
    The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...

     and Prehistory Museum
  • Conservatoire du Machinisme et des Pratiques Agricoles, an agricultural museum

Other sights

The Eure River, which at this point divides into three branches, is crossed by several bridges, some of them ancient, and is fringed in places by remains of the old fortifications, of which the Porte Guillaume (14th century), a gateway flanked by towers, is the most complete specimen. The steep, narrow streets of the old town contrast with the wide, shady boulevards which encircle it and divide it from the suburbs. The Cbs St Jean, a pleasant park, lies to the north-west, and squares and open spaces are numerous.

The hotel de ville, a building of the 17th century, containing a museum and library, an older hotel de ville of the 13th century, and several medieval and Renaissance houses, are of interest. There is a statue of General F. S. Marceau-Desgraviers (b. 1769), a native of the town.
  • La Maison Picassiette, a house decorated inside and out with mosaics of chards of broken china and pottery

Economy

Chartres is one of the most important market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

s in the region of Beauce
Beauce
Beauce is a natural region in northern France, located between the Seine and Loire rivers. It now comprises the Eure-et-Loir département and parts of Loiret, Essonne and Loir-et-Cher. The region shared the history of the province of Orléanais and the county of Chartres, which is its only major...

 (known as "the granary of France").

The game pie
Game pie
Game pie is a form of meat pie featuring game. The dish dates from Roman times when the main ingredients were wild birds and animals such as partridge, pheasant, deer, and hare. The pies reached their most elaborate form in Victorian England, with complex recipes and specialized moulds and serving...

s and other delicacies of Chartres are well known, and the industries also include flour-milling, brewing, distilling, iron-founding, leather manufacture, perfumes, dyeing, and the manufacture of electronic equipments, car accessories, stained glass, billiard requisites and hosiery.

Transport

The Gare de Chartres
Gare de Chartres
Gare de Chartres is a railway station serving the town Chartres, Eure-et-Loir department, central France. It is situated on the Paris–Brest railway.-Services:-References:*...

 railway station offers frequent services to Paris, and a few daily connections to Le Mans
Le Mans
Le Mans is a city in France, located on the Sarthe River. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Mans. Le Mans is a part of the Pays de la Loire region.Its inhabitants are called Manceaux...

, Nogent-le-Rotrou
Nogent-le-Rotrou
Nogent-le-Rotrou is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the Huisne River, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is linked by both rail and motorway...

 and Courtalain
Courtalain
Courtalain is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.-Population:-References:*...

. The A11
A11 autoroute
The A11 autoroute is a motorway which connects Paris with Nantes via Le Mans and Angers. It is called L'Océane .- Regions crossed :The following list indexes the sites worth visiting within 14 km of the road.* Paris* Chartres* Le Mans...

 motorway connects Chartres with Paris and Le Mans.

Sport

Chartres is home to two semi-professional association football clubs; FC Chartres
FC Chartres
Football Club de Chartres is a French association football club, based in Chartres.-History:The club was founded in 1989 as the result of a merger between Vélo Sport Chartrain and Sporting Club de Chartres. They are based in the town of Chartres and their home stadium is the Stade des Grands Pres...

, who play in the French sixth division, and HB Chartres
HB Chartres
Horizon de Beaulieu Chartres is a French association football club. They are based in the town of Chartres and their home stadium is the Stade de Beaulieu. As of the 2009–10 season, the club plays in the Division d'Honneur Regionale de Centre, the seventh tier of French football.-External...

, who play in the seventh tier.

Chartres has a table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...

 club which is playing in the Pro A (French First division) and in the European Champions League
European Champions League (table tennis)
European Champions League is the seasonal table tennis competition for the highest ranked European club teams and is regarded as the most important international club competition in Europe. It is organised by the European Table Tennis Union and replaced the European Club Cup of Champions , the...

. The club won the ETTU Cup
ETTU Cup
The ETTU Cup is the second largest tournament for clubs in European table tennis, after the European Champions League. The European Table Tennis Union has organized this cup since the 1964-65 season for men and teams, and also for women a year later....

 on the season 2010 - 2011 and it finished at the second position in the French First division.

Chartres has the second most important squash
Squash (sport)
Squash is a high-speed racquet sport played by two players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball...

 club in France. In 2013, Chartres will organize the World Team Squash Championships
World Team Squash Championships
The World Team Squash Championships are an international squash competition played between teams representing different nations. Countries enter teams of three or four players to represent them in the championships. In each round of the competition, teams face each other in a best-of-three singles...

.

There is also a handball
Team handball
Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...

 club and it is playing in the French second division.

In November 2012, Chartres will organize European Short Course Swimming Championships.

Diocese

The town is the seat of a bishop, a prefecture, and a court of assizes. It has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce
Chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce is a form of business network, e.g., a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to advocate on behalf of the business community...

, training colleges, a high school for boys, a communal college for girls, and a branch of the Bank of France.

Pilgrimages

Chartres has been a site of Christian pilgrimage since the Middle Ages. The poet Charles Péguy
Charles Péguy
Charles Péguy was a noted French poet, essayist, and editor. His two main philosophies were socialism and nationalism, but by 1908 at the latest, after years of uneasy agnosticism, he had become a devout but non-practicing Roman Catholic.From that time, Catholicism strongly influenced his...

 (1873–1914) revived the pilgrimage route between Paris and Chartres before the First World War. After the war, some students carried on the pilgrimage in his memory. Since the 1980s, the association Notre-Dame de Chrétienté , with offices in Versailles, has organized the annual 100 km (62.1 mi) pilgrimage on foot from the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...

 to the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres. About 15,000 pilgrims, mostly young families from all over France, participate every year.

Bishops

Notable bishops of Chartres:
  • Fulbert of Chartres
    Fulbert of Chartres
    Fulbert of Chartres –10 April 1028) was the bishop of the Cathedral of Chartres from 1006 till 1028. He was a teacher at the Cathedral school there, he was responsible for the advancement of the celebration of the Feast day of “Nativity of the Virgin”, and he was responsible for one of the...

     (1007–1029)
  • St. Ivo of Chartres
    Ivo of Chartres
    Saint Ivo ' of Chartres was the Bishop of Chartres from 1090 until his death and an important canon lawyer during the Investiture Crisis....

     (1090–1115)
  • John of Salisbury
    John of Salisbury
    John of Salisbury , who described himself as Johannes Parvus , was an English author, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres, and was born at Salisbury.-Early life and education:...

     (1176–1180)
  • Erard de la Marck
    Erard de la Marck
    Erard de la Marck was prince-bishop of Liège from 1506 till 1538. He was the third son of Robert I de la Marck, lord of Sedan and Bouillon....

     (1472–1538)

Personalities

Chartres was the birthplace of:
  • Fulcher of Chartres
    Fulcher of Chartres
    Fulcher of Chartres was a chronicler of the First Crusade. He wrote in Latin.- Life :His appointment as chaplain of Baldwin of Boulogne in 1097 suggests that he had been trained as a priest, most likely at the school in Chartres...

     (born around 1059 in or near Chartres), chronicler of the First Crusade
    First Crusade
    The First Crusade was a military expedition by Western Christianity to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquest of the Levant, ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem...

  • Philippe Desportes
    Philippe Desportes
    Philippe Desportes was a French poet.-Biography:Philippe Desportes was born in Chartres. While serving as secretary to the bishop of Le Puy he visited Italy, where he learned Italian poetry. This experience became a good account. On his return to France he attached himself to the duke of Anjou,...

     (1546–1606), poet
  • Mathurin Régnier
    Mathurin Régnier
    Mathurin Régnier was a French satirist.-Life:Régnier was born in Chartres, current region of Centre....

     (1573–1613), satirist
    Satire
    Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

  • André Félibien
    André Félibien
    André Félibien , sieur des Avaux et de Javercy, was a French chronicler of the arts and official court historian to Louis XIV of France.-Biography:...

     (1619–1695), architect and historiographer
    Historiography
    Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...

  • Pierre Nicole
    Pierre Nicole
    Pierre Nicole was one of the most distinguished of the French Jansenists.Born in Chartres, he was the son of a provincial barrister, who took in charge his education...

     (1625–1695), Jansenist theologian
  • Philippe de Dangeau
    Philippe de Dangeau
    Philippe de Courcillon, Marquis de Dangeau was a French officer and author.Born in Dangeau, he is most remembered for keeping a diary from 1684 till the year of his death...

     (1638–1720), officer
    Officer (armed forces)
    An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...

     and member of the Académie française
    Académie française
    L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...

  • Antoine François Desrues
    Antoine François Desrues
    Antoine François Desrues was a French poisoner.He was born at Chartres, of humble parents. He went to Paris to seek his fortune, and started in business as a grocer...

     (1744–1777), poison
    Poison
    In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....

    er
  • Jacques Pierre Brissot
    Jacques Pierre Brissot
    Jacques Pierre Brissot , who assumed the name of de Warville, was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution. Some sources give his name as Jean Pierre Brissot.-Biography:...

     (1754–1793), a leading member of the Girondist movement
    Girondist
    The Girondists were a political faction in France within the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention during the French Revolution...

     (French Revolution
    French Revolution
    The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

    )
  • Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
    Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve
    Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was a French writer and politician.Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve was the son of a at Chartres. Though it is known that he was trained as a lawyer, very few specifics are known about Petion’s early life, as he was virtually unknown prior to the French Revolution...

     (1756–1794), writer and politician
  • François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers
    François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers
    François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars.-Early life:Desgraviers was born at Chartres, Eure-et-Loir. His father served as a legal officer, and Marceau received an education for a legal career, but at the age of sixteen he enlisted in the regiment of...

     (1769–1796), general
  • Achille Guénée
    Achille Guénée
    Achille Guenée was a French lawyer and entomologist.-Biography:Achille Guenée was born in Chartres and died in Châteaudun....

     (1809–1880), lawyer and entomologist
    Entomology
    Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...

  • Pierre-Jules Hetzel
    Pierre-Jules Hetzel
    Pierre-Jules Hetzel was a French editor and publisher. He is best known for his extraordinarily lavishly illustrated editions of Jules Verne's novels highly prized by collectors today...

     (1814–1886), editor and publisher
  • Jacqueline de Romilly
    Jacqueline de Romilly
    Jacqueline Worms de Romilly, née David was a French philologist, classical scholar and fiction writer. Because she was of Jewish ancestry, the Vichy government suspended her from her teaching duties during the Occupation of France. she was the first woman nominated to the Collège de France, and in...

     (born 1913), philologist
    Philology
    Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

  • Nicolas Escudé
    Nicolas Escudé
    Nicolas Jean-Christophe Escudé is a former professional tennis player from France, who turned professional in 1995. He won four singles titles and two doubles titles during his career....

     (born 1976), professional tennis player
  • Julien Escudé
    Julien Escudé
    Julien Escudé is a French footballer who plays for Sevilla FC in Spain, as a central defender.-France / Ajax:Escudé began his professional career at AS Cannes, playing one season in the second division...

     (born 1979), professional footballer for Sevilla FC
    Sevilla FC
    Sevilla Fútbol Club S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, Spain that plays in the Spanish La Liga championship.They are one of the most successful clubs in Spanish football having won a 1 La Liga title, 5 Spanish "Copa del Rey" Cups, 1 Spanish Super Cup and 2 UEFA...

     and the France national football team
    France national football team
    The France national football team represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation , the governing body of football in France, and competes as a member of UEFA, which encompasses the countries of Europe...

  • Loïc Duval
    Loïc Duval
    Loïc Duval is a French race car driver.- Career :He began his career in karting and in 2002 was the French Formula Campus champion. In 2003 he was the French Formula Renault champion. In 2004 he placed eleventh with two podiums in the Formula Three Euroseries and tested for Renault F1...

     (born 12 June 1982), professional racingdriver; currently A1 Team France
    A1 Team France
    A1 Team France is the French team of A1 Grand Prix, an international racing series. The team were the A1 Grand Prix champions for the inaugural season, 2005-06.- Management :A1 Team France's owner is Jean-Paul Driot...

    , Formula Nippon
    Formula Nippon
    Formula Nippon is a type of formula racing and the top level of single-seater racing in Japan.Formula Nippon evolved from the Japanese Formula 2000 series begun in 1973 by way of the Japanese Formula Two and Japanese Formula 3000 championships...

     and Super GT
    Super GT
    The Super GT series, formerly known as the All-Japan Grand Touring Car Championship or JGTC , is a grand touring car race series promoted by the GT-Association...

  • Julien Cetout
    Julien Cétout
    Julien Cétout is a French professional football player. Currently, he plays in the Ligue 2 for Tours FC.-External links:*...

     footballer
  • Allison Pineau
    Allison Pineau
    Allison Pineau is a French handball player. She plays for the club Metz HB and for the French national team.She participated at the 2009 World Women's Handball Championship in China, winning a silver medal with the French team, and selected into the all-star team of the tournament, as...

     handball player
  • Eric Lada
    Éric Lada
    Éric Lada is a retired French professional football player.-External links:*...

     footballer

Twin towns – Sister cities

Chartres is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with: Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...

 in Italy (since 1957) Speyer
Speyer
Speyer is a city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located beside the river Rhine, Speyer is 25 km south of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Founded by the Romans, it is one of Germany's oldest cities...

 in Germany (since 1959) Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...

 in the United Kingdom (since 1959) Bethlehem
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city in the central West Bank of the Jordan River, near Israel and approximately south of Jerusalem, with a population of about 30,000 people. It is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate of the Palestinian National Authority and a hub of Palestinian culture and tourism...

 in Palestinian Authority (since 1995) Évora
Évora
Évora is a municipality in Portugal. It has total area of with a population of 55,619 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Évora District and capital of the Alentejo region. The municipality is composed of 19 civil parishes, and is located in Évora District....

 in Portugal (since 2003) Cusco
Cusco
Cusco , often spelled Cuzco , is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region as well as the Cuzco Province. In 2007, the city had a population of 358,935 which was triple the figure of 20 years ago...

 in Peru (since 1989) Sakurai, Nara
Sakurai, Nara
is a city in Nara, Japan.As of 2007, the city had an estimated population of 63,321 with a density of 630.01 persons per km². The total area is 98.92 km².The city was founded on September 1, 1956....

in Japan (since 1989)

External links

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