- Rochefort, Charente-Maritime
French commune
nomcommune=Rochefort
région=Poitou-Charentes
département=Charente-Maritime
arrondissement=Rochefort
canton=Chief town of 13 cantons
insee=17299
cp=17300
maire=Bernard Grasset
mandat=2008-2014
intercomm= Pays Rochefortais
longitude=-0.958786
latitude=45.942111
alt moy=5 m
alt mini=0 m
alt maxi=29 m
hectares=2,195
km²=21.95
sans=25,797
date-sans=1999
dens=1,175
date-dens=1999Rochefort is a commune in western
France , aseaport on theAtlantic Ocean . It is a sub-prefecture of theCharente-Maritime "département".History
In December 1665 Rochefort was chosen by
Jean-Baptiste Colbert as a place of "refuge, defense and supply" for the French navy. Its military harbour was fortified by Louis XIV's commissary of fortificationsVauban . Between 1666-1669 the king had the "Corderie Royale" (then the longest building in Europe) constructed to makecordage for French ships of war. The making of cordage ceased in 1867, and in 1926 thearsenal of Rochefort was closed. The building was burned by occupation forces in 1944 and left abandoned for twenty years. Today it has been restored for municipal and tourist purposes. Another infrastructure of early Rochefort from1766 was its "bagne", a high-securitypenal colony involvinghard labour . "Bagnes" were then common fixtures in military harbours and naval bases, such asToulon or Brest, because they provided free labour.Off Rochefort, from the island of
Île-d'Aix where he had spent several days hoping to flee to America,Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to Captain F. L. Maitland aboard HMS "Bellerophon", onJuly 17 ,1815 , ending the "Hundred Days ".Rochefort is a notable example of 17th-century "ville nouvelle" or
new town , which means its design and building resulted from a political decree. The reason for building Rochefort was to a large extent that royal power could hardly depend on rebelliousProtestant La Rochelle , whichCardinal Richelieu had to besiege a few decades earlier. Well into the 20th century, Rochefort remained primarily a garrison town. The tourist industry, which had long existed due to the town's spa, gained emphasis in the 1990s.Miscellaneous
The town gained some fleeting fame with
Jacques Demy 'smusical movie "Les demoiselles de Rochefort " ("The Young Girls of Rochefort") (1967 ), starringCatherine Deneuve , her slightly elder sisterFrançoise Dorléac ,Gene Kelly andGeorge Chakiris (Bernardo from West Side Story).It is home to a unique style of bridge called a
Transporter bridge , (built 1900) named "Pont transbordeur de Rochefort". [http://www.fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pont_transbordeur_de_Rochefort]Births
Rochefort was the birthplace of:
*Charles Rigault de Genouilly (1807-1873), French admiral, conqueror ofVietnam .
*Pierre Loti (1850-1923), author. His house has been turned into amuseum
*Pauline Réage , pseudonym of Anne Desclos (1907-1998), author
*Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961), philosopherTown Twinning
*flagicon|England
Burton upon Trent ,East Staffordshire ,England
*flagicon|SpainTorrelavega ,Cantabria ,Spain
*flagicon|GermanyPapenburg ,Lower Saxony ,Germany Points of interest
*
Conservatoire du Bégonia , the world's largestbegonia collection
*Palmyre Zoo
* "L'Hermione", a replica of a 1779 frigate being built in the townExternal links
* [http://www.ville-rochefort.fr/ Town council website]
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