Le Havre
Encyclopedia
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime
Seine-Maritime is a French department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre...

 department of the Haute-Normandie
Haute-Normandie
Upper Normandy is one of the 27 regions of France. It was created in 1984 from two départements: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Normandy was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. This division continues to provoke controversy, and some continue to call for reuniting the two regions...

 region in 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 situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

 on the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

. Le Havre is the most populous 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...

 in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

. It is also the second largest subprefecture
Subprefecture
Subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province.-Albania:There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is subdivided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures.-Brazil:...

 in France (after Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....

). Its port is the second busiest in France (after that of Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

). Since 1974 it has been the see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

 of the diocese of Le Havre.

Le Havre was provisory renamed Franciscopolis in the documents, after King 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...

, who developed the city in 1517. A chapel known as Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ("Our Lady of Grace") existed at the site before the city was established, and the denomination lent its name to the port, to be called Le Hable de Grâce (already in 1489, "the harbor of Grace"). The shortened name Le Havre, as used in modern times, simply translates as "the port" or "the harbour".

While under German occupation, the city was devastated in 1944 during the Battle of Normandy in World War II; 5,000 people were killed and 12,000 homes destroyed, mainly by Allied air attacks. After the war, the centre was rebuilt in the modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

 style by Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret was a French architect and a world leader and specialist in reinforced concrete construction. In 2005 his post-WWII reconstruction of Le Havre was declared by UNESCO one of the World Heritage Sites....

. Le Havre was honoured with the Legion of Honor
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

 award on 18 July 1949. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.

Le Havre was once synonymous with urban gloom and greyness. The city's inhabitants have done much to change this; as a result of substantial improvements, Le Havre is now spoken of as the Brasilia
Brasília
Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...

 of France. .

Le Havre's home port
Home port
A vessel's home port is the port at which it is based, which may not be the same as its port of registry shown on its registration documents and lettered on the stern of the ship's hull...

 code is LH.

History

The name Le Havre simply means the harbour or the port. Le Havre was founded as a new port by royal command, partly to replace the historic harbours of Harfleur
Harfleur
-Population:-Places of interest:* The church of St-Martin, dating from the fourteenth century.* The seventeenth century Hôtel de Ville .* Medieval ramparts * The fifteenth century museums of fishing and of archaeology and history....

 and Honfleur
Honfleur
Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie...

 which had become increasingly impractical due to silting-up. The city was founded in 1517, when it was named Franciscopolis after Francis I of France
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...

, and subsequently named Le Havre-de-Grâce ("Harbour of Grace") after an existing chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ("our Lady of grace").

On April 20, 1564, it became the port of departure for the French expedition of René Goulaine de Laudonnière
René Goulaine de Laudonnière
René Goulaine de Laudonnière was a French Huguenot explorer and the founder of the French colony of Fort Caroline in what is now Jacksonville, Florida...

 to the New World where he created the first French colony at Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline
Fort Caroline was the first French colony in the present-day United States. Established in what is now Jacksonville, Florida, on June 22, 1564, under the leadership of René Goulaine de Laudonnière, it was intended as a refuge for the Huguenots. It lasted one year before being obliterated by the...

 near present-day Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

. Famed artist Jacques le Moyne de Morgues joined Laudonnière on this colonizing effort and created the first known artistic depictions by a European of Native Americans in the New World, specifically the Timucua
Timucua
The Timucua were a Native American people who lived in Northeast and North Central Florida and southeast Georgia. They were the largest indigenous group in that area and consisted of about 35 chiefdoms, many leading thousands of people. The various groups of Timucua spoke several dialects of the...

 tribes in the modern-day areas of northeast Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and southeast Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...

.

In the 18th century, Le Havre began to grow, as trade from the West Indies was added to that of France and Europe. In 1759 the city was the staging point for a planned French invasion of Britain
Planned French Invasion of Britain (1759)
A French invasion of Great Britain was planned to take place in 1759 during the Seven Years' War, but due to various factors including naval defeats at the Battle of Lagos and the Battle of Quiberon Bay was never launched. The French planned to land 100,000 French soldiers in Britain to end British...

 - thousands of troops, horses and ships being assembled there - only for many of the barges to be destroyed in the Raid on Le Havre
Raid on Le Havre
The Raid on Le Havre was a two-day naval bombardment of the French port of Le Havre early in July 1759 by Royal Navy forces under George Rodney during the Seven Years' War, which succeeded in its aim of destroying many of the invasion barges being gathered there for the planned French invasion of...

 and the invasion to be abandoned following the naval defeat at Quiberon
Battle of Quiberon Bay
The naval Battle of Quiberon Bay took place on 20 November 1759 during the Seven Years' War in Quiberon Bay, off the coast of France near St. Nazaire...

.

On 19 November 1793, the city changed its name to Hâvre de Marat and later Hâvre-Marat in honour of the recently deceased Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat
Jean-Paul Marat , born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution...

, who was seen as a martyr of the 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...

. By early 1795, however, Marat's memory had become somewhat tarnished, and on January 13, 1795, the town's name became simply Le Havre.

During the 19th century, it became an industrial centre.

The German-occupied city was devastated during the Battle of Normandy in World War II: 5,000 people were killed and 12,000 homes were totally destroyed, mainly by Allied air attacks. Despite this, Le Havre became the location of one of the biggest Replacement Depots, or "Repple Depples" in the European Theatre of operations in WWII. Thousands of American replacement troops poured through the city before being deployed to combat operations. After the war, the centre was rebuilt in modernist
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

 style by Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret was a French architect and a world leader and specialist in reinforced concrete construction. In 2005 his post-WWII reconstruction of Le Havre was declared by UNESCO one of the World Heritage Sites....

. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 declared the city centre of Le Havre a 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...

 on 15 July 2005, in honoring the "innovative utilization of concrete's potential." The 133-hectare space that represents, according to UNESCO, "an exceptional example of architecture and town planning of the post-war era," is one of the rare contemporary World Heritage Sites in Europe.

Reconstruction

The port city of Le Havre suffered catastrophic damage during the Second World War. Like many French coastal towns, the port fell under German-occupation in the early 1940s. Thousands of residents evacuated to refugee camps in the British zoned areas or further afield to neighbouring towns and makeshift shelters during this period. Le Havre continued to operate through the messiness of war. Much of the population opting to evacuate at dusk by foot, bicycle or wagon, only to return during daylight hours after the Allied Forces air bombardments (Dombrowski-Risser 2009, p. 63). Le Havre’s destruction culminated during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944. During the 5th and 6th days of September that year, Allied forces began their assault to liberate the city from German occupation. The majority of the 132 bombs to hit the city over the war period were employed in the days of this campaign, often described as the “storm of iron and fire” (Clout 1999, p. 187). The city was finally liberated from German-occupation on 12 September 1944.

Le Havre, France’s second largest port experienced the worst damage of any city in the country. Over 90% of the city was left in rubble; all major public buildings in the administrative centre including the stock exchange, city hall, and post office were destroyed, as well churches, the two hospitals, schools, shops and housing (Arnaud 2009). The port was rendered unusable due to the scattered wrecks blocking the channels and access docks. Major urban fires broke out in the city in the following days, destroying what little remnants left of historical significance. The city’s water mains had been obliterated by the RAF bombings, making the task of putting out the fires next to impossible (Fowle 1992). By the end of the war, a total of 5,000 civilians had been killed, 12,500 buildings destroyed and 80,000 people left homeless (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 2005). Much of the earth was heavily mined and shelled; the original road grid erased from physical memory. The majority of the housing stock in the north-eastern suburbs of Aplemont and Graville had been entirely flattened. The task of recovery and reconstruction would require immense planning; both locally and from Paris. It was now up to the planners and policy makers to restore Le Havre with a new identity of historical strength and modern character.

Structured urban planning ideas and preparations had been in the works for Le Havre long before World War Two. The French Government drew up a law in 1919, specifying that any city with a population greater than 10,000 required a “plan for urban improvement, development and beautification” (UNESCO 2005, p. 4). The port struggled with the depravities of many European cities at the time. After the booming period of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the city’s population growth spiralled out of control with no structured urban planning to speak of. Appalling standards of sanitation and living conditions led the way for cramped and gloomy courtyards, polluted air and flooded basements in the residential neighbourhoods. Planning based on property speculation resulted in low quality construction of buildings and roads (Clout 1999, p. 189). Little development took place between the wars, even with the proposal of sanitation plans provided by private companies. The wartime Vichy government enacted a master plan for redevelopment in 1941 under the CRI agency for reconstruction, led by appointed urban planner Felix Brunau. Following the height of destruction, plans were shelved until 16 November 1944, when the French government formed the Ministry of Reconstruction and Urbanism (MRU) to resurrect damaged cities (Muller 2006). Many of the problems surrounding the erection of temporary housing on private land would be ironed out beneath this administration, at the expense of the state under expropriation.

Auguste Perret (1874–1954), a formative architect-turned-town planner was commissioned to oversee the reconstruction of the city centre and town plan in January 1945 by Raoul Dautry of the MRU (Kuhl, Lowis & Thiel-Siling 2008, p. 61). The city council requested Brunau form part of the planning team, but subsequently left a short time later due to creative conflicts with Perret (UNESCO 2005, p. 5). Traditionally built on the moist soil of marshlands, Perret envisioned the new grid of Le Havre to be elevated by 3.5 metres of concrete (Collins 2004, p. 273). Though this plan was unsuccessful due to costs and shortage of materials, debris was used to raise the level of the town centre. The use of reinforced concrete throughout the city’s buildings came to impose strength of character and dominance of the port. With relatively free access to land and space, Perret and his team of 60 architects and planners had the ability to interpret the spatiality of the city as required.

The triangular axis of the Boulevard Francois I, the Avenue Foch and Rue de Paris led the traveller north, south, east and west of the town centre. The pre-war shopping precinct of Rue de Paris was redesigned with wide footpaths. A surrounding gridiron street system allowed for opened shopping areas, far from the dense and overcrowded crannies of the old (Frampton 1995, p. 145). The Place de l’Hotel de Ville; the central square, was lined with 330 apartments around the edge in varying size and permitted a 1000 person occupancy. State funds also allowed for the build of high rise apartments over six blocks leading into the residential areas. These new apartments possessed the latest innovations including central heating (Clout 1999, p. 199). The Avenue Foch stretched 80 metres wide, a little more than the Champs-Élysées in Paris. The finest apartments were built here facing the northern sunlight. Beyond the concrete formations of the inner township stretched the Saint-Francois neighbourhood, made up of red bricked residences and slate rooflines. Aplemont’s three square kilometre rebuild consisted of detached housing, double storey terraces and small apartment blocks. A church, community centre and shops also defined the new features.

Major public buildings designed by Perret himself include the Hotel de Ville, the Bourse du Commerce, and the churches of Saint Michel and Saint Joseph. Saint Joseph’s and its 110 metre tall spire holds significant value for the city as it is a built remembrance for Le Havre residents who lost their lives during the war. The inclusion of 7.7 square kilometres of green spaces with parks, gardens and woodlands added to the port’s urban renewal. This equates to an average of 41 square metres of green space per inhabitant, exceptional for any European city of its time. Le Havre’s historical significance in urban planning and revolutionary architecture culminated in the site’s addition to the World Heritage list under the UNESCO in 2005 (Global Compact Cities Program 2007).

Heraldry

Geography

Le Havre is the second largest subprefecture
Subprefecture
Subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province.-Albania:There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is subdivided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures.-Brazil:...

 in France, and the administrative center of the district bordering the Sainte-Adresse
Sainte-Adresse
Sainte-Adresse is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A coastal suburb situated some northwest of Le Havre city centre, at the junction of the D147 and the D940...

 commune.

Location

Le Havre is situated in the southwest of the Pays de Caux
Pays de Caux
The Pays de Caux is an area in Normandy occupying the greater part of the French département of Seine Maritime in Haute-Normandie. It is a chalk plateau to the north of the Seine Estuary and extending to the cliffs on the English Channel coast - its coastline is known as the Côte d'Albâtre...

 region. The city is bordered by the seashore of the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

 to the west, the mouth of the Seine to the south, and the coast to the north. Historically, the Seine marked a natural boundary between Haute-Normandie
Haute-Normandie
Upper Normandy is one of the 27 regions of France. It was created in 1984 from two départements: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Normandy was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. This division continues to provoke controversy, and some continue to call for reuniting the two regions...

 and Basse-Normandie
Basse-Normandie
Lower Normandy is an administrative region of France. It was created in 1956, when the Normandy region was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy...

; the city of Honfleur
Honfleur
Honfleur is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie...

 has often been referred to by the Havrais as being "on the other coast." As a port city on an exposed marshy coast, Le Havre has long suffered from poor land links. New road connections have been built since; among the most notable is the Pont de Normandie, which connects the two banks of the Seine and reduces traveling time between Honfleur and Le Havre to less than 15 minutes.

Geography

Le Havre is naturally separated into two areas by a cliff
Cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is a significant vertical, or near vertical, rock exposure. Cliffs are formed as erosion landforms due to the processes of erosion and weathering that produce them. Cliffs are common on coasts, in mountainous areas, escarpments and along rivers. Cliffs are usually...

.
  • The ville basse, or lower city, comprises the port, the city centre, and the peripheral regions. It was constructed on the ancient marshlands which were drained in the 16th century. The soil is composed of alluvium
    Alluvium
    Alluvium is loose, unconsolidated soil or sediments, eroded, deposited, and reshaped by water in some form in a non-marine setting. Alluvium is typically made up of a variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of sand and gravel...

     deposited by the river Seine. The city centre, reconstructed after World War II
    World War II
    World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

    , stands on approximately a metre (3.3 ft) of flattened rubble.
  • The ville haute, or upper city, is composed of "sensitive urban areas" or ZUS (Mont-Gaillard, Caucriauville, and Mare-Rouge ). The wealthy north-west region of the upper city (Sainte-Adresse
    Sainte-Adresse
    Sainte-Adresse is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A coastal suburb situated some northwest of Le Havre city centre, at the junction of the D147 and the D940...

     and Dollemard) is the highest in altitude (between 90 and 115 metere.)


A road tunnel and funicular railway ease transport between the lower and upper cities.

Climate

Demographics

The population of the Le Havre area was about 191,000 in 1999, which makes it the 12th most populous city in 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...

 and the most populous in Haute-Normandie
Haute-Normandie
Upper Normandy is one of the 27 regions of France. It was created in 1984 from two départements: Seine-Maritime and Eure, when Normandy was divided into Lower Normandy and Upper Normandy. This division continues to provoke controversy, and some continue to call for reuniting the two regions...

 (although the total population of the greater Le Havre conurbation is smaller than that of Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...

's). It has seen a drop in population, particularly from 1975 to 1982; during these years of industrial decline the population fell by 18,000. During the 1980s the population continued to decrease, though less rapidly. Le Havre's city limit had a population of around 249,000 in 1999 (25th in France) and the urban area had a population of 297,000. With 20% of the population less than 20 years old, the city of Le Havre is relatively young, the population is also shrinking. The foreign-born population is estimated at 8,200, 4% of the population. Due to the economic changes that have affected the city, the CSP
CSP
-General:* CSP * Caledonian Steam Packet Company* California Society of Printmakers* California State Parks* Carol Shea-Porter* Center for Security Policy* Civil Services of Pakistan* Certified Safety Professional...

greatly evolved in the 1980s; between 1982 and 1999, the number of blue-collar workers decreased by a third (11,000). At the same time, the number of office workers and professionals increased by 25%, which partly explains the creation and development of the University of Le Havre
University of Le Havre
The University of Le Havre is a French university, in the Academy of Rouen.-See also:* List of public universities in France by academy* Le Havre...

.

Main sights

Le Havre was heavily bombed during the Second World War. Many historic buildings were lost as a result.

Churches

  • Le Havre Cathedral
    Le Havre Cathedral
    Le Havre Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Le Havre.It was previously a parish church dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, and is the oldest of the very few buildings in central Le Havre to have survived the devastation of World War II...

     : the first stone of the building was laid in 1536. It is the seat of the Bishop of Le Havre.
  • Church of St. Joseph, one of the most recognized symbols of the city. The belltower is one of the tallest in France, rising to a height of 106 metres. It was designed by Auguste Perret
    Auguste Perret
    Auguste Perret was a French architect and a world leader and specialist in reinforced concrete construction. In 2005 his post-WWII reconstruction of Le Havre was declared by UNESCO one of the World Heritage Sites....

    .
  • Church of St. Michel
  • Church of St. Vincent [Eglise St. Vincent:
  • Church of St. François [Eglise St. François:
  • Church of St. Anne [Eglise St. Anne:
  • Church of St. Marie
  • St. Michel d'Ingouville chapel (15th century) [St. Michel Chapel:
  • Graville Abbey, a monastery dedicated to Sainte Honorine, set in grounds on the northern bank of the Seine River
    Seine
    The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

    .
  • Presbyterian Reform Church (Eglise Réformée), 47 rue Anatole France, built in 1857, bombed in 1941, the roof and ceiling was rebuilt in 1953 by two architects of the famous Auguste Perret office: Jacques Lamy and Gérard Dupasquier, Only one building in the town offering both: ancient and new Perret school architectures in the same building. Holy Office each Sunday morning at 10.30.

Museums

  • Musée des Beaux-Arts André Malraux : this museum houses a collection of art spanning the past five centuries, the impressionist paintings collections are the second most extensive in France after those of the Orsay Museum in Paris. There are paintings by Claude Monet
    Claude Monet
    Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...

     and other artists who lived and worked in Normandy
    Normandy
    Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...

    . Some of the paintings are from Eugène Boudin
    Eugène Boudin
    Eugène Boudin was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors.Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores...

    , Eugène Delacroix
    Eugène Delacroix
    Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...

    , Gustave Courbet
    Gustave Courbet
    Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...

    , Edgar Degas
    Edgar Degas
    Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...

    , Édouard Manet
    Édouard Manet
    Édouard Manet was a French painter. One of the first 19th-century artists to approach modern-life subjects, he was a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism....

    , Pierre-Auguste Renoir
    Pierre-Auguste Renoir
    Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to...

    , Georges Seurat, Raoul Dufy
    Raoul Dufy
    Raoul Dufy[p] was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted for scenes of open-air social events...

    , Alfred Sisley
    Alfred Sisley
    Alfred Sisley was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life, in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting landscape en plein air...

    . One of the museum's latest purchases is Vague, par temps d'orage by Gustave Courbet. The collection of Olivier Senn (1864–1959), given to the museum in 2004, contains more than 205 paintings.
  • Musée du Vieux Havre
  • Musée d'histoire naturelle (Museum of Natural History)

Others

  • The Shipowner home (18th century)
  • The former tribunal (18th century)
  • The town Hall : the modern belfry
    Bell tower
    A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...

     contains offices
  • The "Volcan", cultural centre built by Oscar Niemeyer
    Oscar Niemeyer
    Oscar Ribeiro de Almeida Niemeyer Soares Filho is a Brazilian architect specializing in international modern architecture...

  • Square St. Roch
  • Japanese Garden

Transportation

Le Havre has well-developed national road, rail and air links (Octeville airport
Le Havre Octeville Airport
Le Havre - Octeville Airport is an airport serving the city of Le Havre in France. The airport is located in Octeville-sur-Mer, north-northwest of Le Havre, both communes in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France....

) and is two hours by train from Paris, with services running to the Gare du Havre
Gare du Havre
Gare du Havre is the main station serving Le Havre and its suburbs in France. It is the western terminus of the Paris–Le Havre railway, opened in 1847. The station was built in 1932 by Henri Pacon for the CF de l'Etat replacing the older building along with a new clock tower. It is a terminus and...

. Local transport is based primarily on an extensive bus network. The city has plans for a tram network. A ferry service to Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...

 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 runs from the Terminal de la Citadelle. The service is operated by LD Lines
LD Lines
LD Lines is a French shipping company. It is predominantly a freight operator, with both deep-sea and ferry operations, but also operates some passenger services...

. Crossing times are from three hours and fifteen minutes. Popular alternative routes going to areas close to Le Havre include Newhaven
Newhaven, East Sussex
Newhaven is a town in the Lewes District of East Sussex in England. It lies at the mouth of the River Ouse, on the English Channel coast, and is a ferry port for services to France.-Origins:...

 to Dieppe
Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
Dieppe is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in France. In 1999, the population of the whole Dieppe urban area was 81,419.A port on the English Channel, famous for its scallops, and with a regular ferry service from the Gare Maritime to Newhaven in England, Dieppe also has a popular pebbled...

, and Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...

 to Cherbourg.

The Port of Le Havre
Port of Le Havre
The Port of Le Havre, Port Autonome du Havre, is the Port and port authority of the Normandy city of Le Havre, France.The port of Le Havre consists of a series of canal-like docks, the Canal de Tancarville and the Grand Canal du Havre, that connect Le Havre to the Seine, close to the Pont de...

 is the largest deep water ocean port of France.

Sports

The town is home to the Le Havre AC
Le Havre AC
Le Havre Athletic Club Football Association is a French association football club based in Le Havre. The club was founded originally as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, thus making it the oldest association football and rugby club registered in France...

 football team, who as of 2009-10
2009–10 Ligue 2
The Ligue 2 2009–10 season was the sixty-ninth edition since its establishment. The fixtures were announced on 5 June 2009, and the league began on 7 August and ended on 14 May 2010....

 play in Ligue 2
Ligue 2
Ligue 2 , formerly known as Division 2, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Professionnel , the other being Ligue 1, the country's top football division...

, the 2nd tier of French football. It also hosted the sailing
Sailing at the Summer Olympics
Sailing has been one of the Olympic sports since the Games of the I Olympiad, held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Despite being scheduled in the first Olympic program, the races were canceled due to severe weather conditions...

 events for the 1900
1900 Summer Olympics
The 1900 Summer Olympics, today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1900 in Paris, France. No opening or closing ceremonies were held; competitions began on May 14 and ended on October 28. The Games were held as part of...

 and 1924 Summer Olympics
1924 Summer Olympics
The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1924 in Paris, France...

, respectively.

Twin towns

Le Havre 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 :...

, or has a sister city relationship with: Dalian
Dalian
Dalian is a major city and seaport in the south of Liaoning province, Northeast China. It faces Shandong to the south, the Yellow Sea to the east and the Bohai Sea to the west and south. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Dalian is the southernmost city of Northeast China and China's...

, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 Pointe-Noire
Pointe-Noire
Pointe-Noire is the second largest city in the Republic of the Congo, following the capital of Brazzaville, and an autonomous department since 2004. Before this date it was the capital of the Kouilou region . It is situated on a headland between Pointe-Noire Bay and the Atlantic Ocean...

, Republic of the Congo
Republic of the Congo
The Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by...

 Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, since 1965 Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, since 1973 Tampa
Tâmpa
Tâmpa may refer to several villages in Romania:* Tâmpa, a village in Băcia Commune, Hunedoara County* Tâmpa, a village in Miercurea Nirajului, Mureş County* Tâmpa, a mountain in Braşov city...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Bergen
Bergen
Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 Aydın
Aydin
Aydın is a city in and the seat of Aydın Province in Turkey's Aegean Region. The city is located at the heart of the lower valley of Büyük Menderes River at a commanding position for the region extending from the uplands of the valley down to the seacoast...

, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...


People

Le Havre was the birthplace of:
  • Georges de Scudéry
    Georges de Scudéry
    Georges de Scudéry , the elder brother of Madeleine de Scudéry, was a French novelist, dramatist and poet.Georges de Scudéry was born in Le Havre, in Normandy, whither his father had moved from Provence...

     (1601–1667), novelist, dramatist
    Playwright
    A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

     and poet
    Poet
    A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

  • Madeleine de Scudéry
    Madeleine de Scudéry
    Madeleine de Scudéry , often known simply as Mademoiselle de Scudéry, was a French writer. She was the younger sister of author Georges de Scudéry.-Biography:...

     (1607–1701), writer
  • Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
    Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre
    Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre was a French writer and botanist...

     (1737–1814), writer and botanist
  • Charles Alexandre Lesueur
    Charles Alexandre Lesueur
    Charles Alexandre Lesueur was a French naturalist, artist and explorer.Pictured here is the oil portrait by Charles Willson Peale of Charles-Alexandre Lesueur...

     (1778–1846), naturalist, artist and explorer
  • Casimir Delavigne
    Casimir Delavigne
    Jean-François Casimir Delavigne was a French poet and dramatist.-Biography:Delavigne was born at Le Havre, but was sent to Paris to be educated at the Lycée Napoleon. He read extensively...

     (1793–1843), poet and dramatist
  • Gabriel Monod
    Gabriel Monod
    Gabriel Monod was a French historian, the nephew of Adolphe Monod.-Biography:Born in Ingouville, Seine-Maritime, he was educated at Le Havre then went to Paris to complete his education, lodging with the de Pressensé family...

     (1844–1912), historian
  • Alfred-Louis Brunet-Debaines
    Alfred-Louis Brunet-Debaines
    Alfred-Louis Brunet-Debaines was a French artist and printmaker who was the son of the architect Charles-Louis-Fortuné Brunet-Debaines. In 1863, he began his art studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris. Around 1870, he was invited to England by writer and critic Philip Gilbert Hamerton. From...

     (1845-c.1935), artist
  • Louis Bachelier
    Louis Bachelier
    -External links:** Louis Bachelier webpage at the Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon / France. Text in French.** also from Index Funds Advisors, this discussion of...

     (1870–1946), mathematician
  • Raoul Dufy
    Raoul Dufy
    Raoul Dufy[p] was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted for scenes of open-air social events...

     (1877–1953), painter
  • André Caplet
    André Caplet
    André Caplet was a French composer and conductor now known primarily through his orchestrations of works by Claude Debussy.-Biography:...

     (1878–1925), composer and conductor
  • René Coty
    René Coty
    René Jules Gustave Coty was President of France from 1954 to 1959. He was the second and last president under the French Fourth Republic.-Early life and politics:...

     (1882–1962), French president
    President of the French Republic
    The President of the French Republic colloquially referred to in English as the President of France, is France's elected Head of State....

     (1954–1959)
  • Arthur Honegger
    Arthur Honegger
    Arthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...

     (1892–1955), composer, a member of Les Six
    Les Six
    Les six is a name, inspired by The Five, given in 1920 by critic Henri Collet in an article titled "" to a group of six composers working in Montparnasse whose music is often seen as a reaction against the musical style of Richard Wagner and impressionist music.-Members:Formally, the Groupe des...

  • Thomas Roberts
    Thomas Roberts (archbishop)
    Thomas d'Esterre Roberts was an English Jesuit priest, who served as Archbishop of Bombay in India from 1937 to 1950.-Biography:...

     (1893–1976), Roman Catholic archbishop
  • Jean Dubuffet
    Jean Dubuffet
    Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making.-Life and work:Dubuffet was...

     (1901–1985), artist
  • Raymond Queneau
    Raymond Queneau
    Raymond Queneau was a French poet and novelist and the co-founder of Ouvroir de littérature potentielle .-Biography:Born in Le Havre, Seine-Maritime, Queneau was the only child of Auguste Queneau and Joséphine Mignot...

     (1903–1976), poet and novelist
  • Jacques Leguerney
    Jacques Leguerney
    Jacques Leguerney was a French composer especially noted for his art songs.-Biography:Jacques Leguerney has been referred to as "the latest--perhaps the last--great exponent of the mélodie"....

     (1906–1997), composer
  • Tristan Murail
    Tristan Murail
    Tristan Murail is a French composer. His father, Gérard Murail, is a poet and his mother, Marie-Thérèse Barrois, a journalist. One of his brothers, Lorris Murail, and his younger sister Elvire Murail, aka Moka, also write, and his younger sister Marie-Aude Murail is a French children's writer...

     (1947 - ), composer
  • Laurent Ruquier
    Laurent Ruquier
    Laurent Ruquier, born February 24, 1963 in Le Havre , Normandy, France is a popular French journalist, satirical comedian, and TV and radio host. He is also a columnist, lyricist, author, screenwriter, and impresario.-Biography:...

     (1963 - ), journalist
  • Jérôme Le Banner
    Jérôme Le Banner
    Jérôme "Geronimo" Le Banner , is a French kickboxer and K-1 superstar, famous for his aggressive fighting style and knockout power....

     (1972 - ), K-1 Fighter
  • Olivier Durand (1967 - ), Guitarist for Elliott Murphy
    Elliott Murphy
    Elliott James Murphy is an American rock singer-songwriter, novelist, producer and journalist living in Paris.-Biography:Elliott James Murphy, Jr. was born in Rockville Centre, New York to a show business family...

  • Eugenia DeLamare (1824–1907) - Guilherme Schüch - Wife - Baron Von Capanema
  • Vikash Dhorasoo,(1973 -), International footballer
  • Gueïda Fofana
    Gueïda Fofana
    Gueïda Fofana is a French football player who currently plays for French club Lyon in Ligue 1. He is a French youth international and has captained at all levels of youth. In 2010, Fofana captained the France team that won the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship on home soil...

    ,footballer
  • Olivier Davidas
    Olivier Davidas
    Olivier Davidas is a French defender who currently plays for Ligue 2 side Nîmes Olympique.-External links:***...

    ,footballer
  • Sylvain Poirier, mathematician
  • Julien Faubert
    Julien Faubert
    Julien Faubert is a French footballer who plays for West Ham United as a right back or midfielder in the Championship. Faubert started his footballing career in France with Cannes before moving to Bordeaux. In 2007 he moved to England to play for West Ham...

    ,footballer
  • Fouleymata Camara,handball player
  • Kevin Anin
    Kévin Anin
    Kévin Anin in Le Havre is a French footballer who currently plays for Ligue 1 side Sochaux.-Career:He began his career 1999 at Le Havre AC. A product of the famous Le Havre youth system which has helped develop the likes of Lassana Diarra and Charles N'Zogbia in recent years...

    ,footballer

Sources


External links

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