Sainte-Menehould
Sainte- Menehould [ ˌ sɛtmənu ] is a commune with 4390 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the department of Marne, in the Champagne -Ardenne region. It is the administrative seat for the district of Sainte- Menehould and Canton of Sainte- Menehould.
The official spelling is without accents ( INSEE ), unofficially Ménehould is spelled. The inhabitants, however, say Menou or rare Sainte- Menou and write Ménéhould.
Geography
The city lies on the River Aisne, at the confluence of the left tributary Auve. Sainte- Menehould has a station on the railway from Paris to Metz, between Chalons-en -Champagne and Verdun.
History
The well-known in Gallo-Roman period under the name Castrum Conthense place came in 1200n to Count Theobald III. Champagne. His widow, Blanche of Navarre, had the castle hill fix (the " Butte "). This attachment was reinforced at the time of King Francis I by Girolamo Marini. The completely built of wood city burned down in 1719. The reconstruction led from the royal engineer Philippe de la Force.
At the time of the French Revolution was Sainte- Menehould a staging post on the road from Paris to Verdun, where the overland mail coaches changed their horses.
On the evening of June 22, 1792 made postmaster Jean Baptiste Drouet from a travel company, which consisted of a Berline, one -horse carriage and several riding couriers and it seems to be very hurry. Although the passports were issued to a real existing Baroness von Korff, Drouet recognized the travelers shortly after her departure on pictures: It was King Louis XVI. of France and Queen Marie -Antoinette in her flight abroad. Drouet had the following coaching and alert garrisons, so that the royal couple could still be arrested at night in Varennes -en- Argonne.
Demographics
Attractions
The church of Notre -Dame in the upper town dates from the 13th century. She is a three-aisled basilica. The nave of the choir and the polygonal apse are from the beginning of this century, while the side chapels of the choir were added only in the middle of the century. The ship with five bays was altered in the 15th and 18th centuries.
The city hall (hotel de ville) on the Place du Général Leclerc was built after the fire of 1719 in 1730 by Philippe de La Force. The front is considered a good example of the style of the royal agency of Jules Hardouin -Mansart, Robert de Cotte and Jacques Gabriel.
10 km west of Sainte- Menehould is the village of Valmy. This place is known by the cannonade of Valmy, the turning point of the first coalition war. From standing on a hill windmill you have a good panoramic view of the otherwise flat land. The windmill was built in 1634 was burned down by Kellermann on September 20, 1792 because he needed this highest point for watching the enemy positions. Since then, the windmill was built or restored again four times, the last time after the destruction caused by hurricane Lothar on 26 December 1999.
Only 400 meters east of the windmill stands the monument Kellermann, reminiscent of one of the two French commander of the battle of 1792.
Personalities
- Menehould, canonized in 1379
- Dom Pérignon (~ 1638-1715 ), a monk of the Benedictine Order
- Jean Baptiste Drouet (1763-1824), Revolutionary
- Michel Crozier (1922-2013), sociologist