Saint-Étienne - Gorges de la Loire Nature Reserve

Saint-Étienne

[san-tey-tyen]

Saint-Étienne (Sant-Etiève in Arpitan) is a city in the central eastern part of France, 60 km (40 miles) southwest of Lyon. Located in the Rhône-Alpes région, Saint-Étienne is the préfecture (capital) of the Loire département. It is situated in the Massif Central.

Geography

The town is situated on the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon through the Massif Central.

History

In the 16th century, Saint-Étienne possessed an arms factory, and it was this industry which accounted for the town's importance, though it engaged also in the manufacture of ribbons and passementerie from the 17th century. (During the French revolution Saint-Étienne was renamed Armeville ("Arms town") because of this activity.) Later still it became a coal-mining centre and more recently has been known for the manufacture of bicycles. Saint-Étienne was the seat of a post office in 1825 and in 1832, and a relay station in 1832. It did not really develop to any degree until the 19th century.

In the first half of the 19th century, it was only a chief town of an arrondissement in the département of the Loire, with a population in 1832 numbering 19,672 in the east canton and 13,392. Concentration of industry locally prompted these numbers to rise rapidly to 110,000 by about 1880. It was this growing importance of Saint-Étienne that led to its being made seat of the prefecture and the departmental administration on 25 July 1855, Saint-Étienne became the chief town in the département and seat of the prefect, usurping the position which had hitherto belonged to Montbrison. This latter was reduced to the status of a chief town of an arrondissement. Saint-Étienne had absorbed the commune of Valbenoîte and several other neighbouring localities on 31 March 1855.

Starting from 1990 it is the place of biennale Massenet Festivals (the place of birth of the composer), devoted mainly to perform his operas.

Demographics

Population of the city (commune) at the 1999 census was 180,210 inhabitants (177,300 inhabitants as of February 2004 estimates). Population of the whole metropolitan area (in French: aire urbaine) at the 1999 census was 321,703 inhabitants.

Inhabitants of Saint-Étienne are called stéphanois in French. They are named so because "Étienne" is French equivalent of the Greek Stephanos (Stephen in English).

The Church in Saint-Étienne

Before the French Revolution the town comprised only two parishes: Saint-Étienne (or the mother church of St. Stephen, 13th century) and Notre-Dame (17th century). After the Revolutionary terror, three chapels of ease were set up: Saint-Louis and Saint-Ennemond, which had a priest in charge from February 1803, and Saint-Marie whose church, under the old regime, had been that of the convent of the same name. All the other parishes in the town are later than 1840, with the exception of Valbenoîte. A significant event in the history of the Church in Saint-Étienne was the mission that was preached there from 25 March to 21 May 1821 by the diocesan missioners of Lyons, lead by the abbé Jean-Marie Mioland, and including the abbé Ferdinand Donnet. This mission made a considerable stir and was the subject of an article in the newspaper L'Ami de la Religion (t. 28, 106-107) as well as of a famous satirical poem in the regional language, Arpitan.

The Saint-Étienne diocese was erected only in the 1970s, formed by the arrondissements of Saint-Étienne and Montbrison, constituting thus the greater part of the department of the Loire. Hitherto the entire Loire had been part of the Lyon diocese since 1801. There were consequently no united and no significant obsolete jurisdictions nor any diocese resulting from the system set up by the 1790 Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

Sport

The Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne is a football club based in this area.

St. Étienne used to be the capital of the French bicycle industry. A major bicycle wheel manufacturer Mavic is based in the city, and at some point frame manufacturers such as Motobécane and Vitus were also based here. The city often hosts a stage of the Tour de France.

In summer 2005, the Tour de France passed through St. Étienne. Lance Armstrong won the time trial (contre-la-montre) stage, his only stage win of his 7th and final Tour win.

Tourism

The city is home to three museums, of which the Musée d'Art Moderne, has one of the finest collections of Modern Art in the world. It is surpassed only by the equivalent museum in Paris and New York's MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in terms of content. The other museums are Musée de la Mine, and Musée des Ponts et Chaussées.

Transport

Saint-Étienne is notable also for its tramway. During the , almost all other French cities got rid of their tramways, only Saint-Étienne and Lille kept their systems. This went full circle as gradually many French cities began to realise the benefits and reinstall their networks, whilst Saint-Étienne simply bought new trams and helped other cities with its experience.

Bus and tram transport is regulated and provided by the STAS, a public transport executive type organisation.

Colleges and universities

Jean Monnet University
École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne (EMSE or ENSMSE)
École nationale d'ingénieurs de Saint-Étienne (ENISE)
Institut supérieur des techniques avancées de Saint-Étienne (ISTASE)
Saint-Étienne School of Management

Births

Saint-Étienne was the birthplace of:

Claude Fauriel (1772-1844), historian, philologist and critic.
Saint Marcellin Champagnat (1789-1840), a Catholic priest and founding members of the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers) who founded the Marist Brothers and was canonised in 1999.
Jules Janin (1804-1874), writer and critic.
Francis Garnier (1839-1873), officer and explorer who explored the Mekong River, much to the surprise of the inhabitants.
Jules Massenet (1842-1912), composer best known for his operas.
Paul de Vivie, aka Velocio (1853-1930) publisher of Le Cycliste, early champion of the dérailleur and father of French cycle touring.
Bernard Lavilliers (b. 1946) (Bernard Ouillon), singer.
Orlan (1947-), internationally famous modern artist
Willy Sagnol (b. 1977) French International Soccer Player
Muriel Robin (b. 1955 in Montbrison) French stand-up humorist