Gravelines

Gravelines ( Dutch: Greve Lingen ) is a commune with 11,470 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Nord, in the Nord -Pas -de -Calais. It lies at the mouth of the river Aa in the North Sea and has a marina.

History

The city belonged from 1159 to 1659 to the County of Flanders. On July 13, 1558 a battle between the troops of Philip II and those of the French King Henry II took place in the city. The French lost the battle and were thus the Peace of Cateau- Cambrésis ( April 3, 1559 ) forced. This peace has paved the Catholic Philip II the way to the persecution of the Protestants in the Netherlands, leading to the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648) led.

On 29 Julijul. / August 8 1588greg. also it came to the Battle of Gravelines, when the English fleet under Francis Drake and the Spanish Armada faced each other.

Between 1639 and 1658 the city was conquered several times alternately by the French and the Spanish and recaptured until the town in the Pyrenees Treaty of 1659 finally fell to France.

Only in the 19th century, the French language sat down opposite the previously spoken Dutch in the city by.

Attractions

Gravelines has a picturesque old town, 2 km from the sea on the east bank of the Aa. The city's fortifications, partly invested in the late 17th century by the famous fortress builder Vauban is well preserved. The City Council has, as. Many other cities of Flanders, a belfry, a UNESCO World Heritage belfries in Belgium and France

Economy

In the town is connected to the Gravelines nuclear power plant is one of the largest in Europe.

Twinning

Gravelines is twinned with Biblis in Hesse, with Fáskrúðsfjörður, a town in the municipality Fjarðabyggð in Iceland and with Dartford in Kent, England.

Personalities

The painter Georges Seurat captured in 1890 and 1891 in Gravelines, where he also died. It was here that some of his famous paintings.

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