Saint-Étienne#Culture

{{see also|Timeline of Saint-Étienne}}

{{unreferenced section|date=August 2012}}

File:Saint-etienne hotel de ville.JPG]]

Named after Saint Stephen, the city first appears in the historical record in the Middle Ages as {{lang|fr|Saint-Étienne de Furan}} (after the River Furan, a tributary of the Loire). In the 13th century, it was a small borough around the church dedicated to Saint Stephen. On the upper reaches of the Furan, near the Way of St. James, the Abbey of Valbenoîte had been founded by the Cistercians in 1222. In the late 15th century, it was a fortified village defended by walls built around the original nucleus.

From the 16th century, Saint-Étienne developed an arms manufacturing industry and became a market town. It was this which accounted for the town's importance, although it also became a centre for the manufacture of ribbons and passementerie starting in the 17th century.

Later, it became a mining centre of the Loire coal mining basin. The Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) was completed in 1830.{{Base Mérimée|IA42000040}}

In the first half of the 19th century, it was only a chief town of an arrondissement in the {{Lang|fr|département}} of the Loire, with a population of 33,064 in 1832. The concentration of industry 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, when it became the chief town in the {{Lang|fr|département}} and seat of the prefect, replacing Montbrison, which was reduced to the status of chief town of an {{Lang|fr|arrondissement}}. Saint-Étienne absorbed the commune of Valbenoîte and several other neighbouring localities on 31 March 1855.

During the repression of January and February 1894, the police conducted raids targeting the anarchists living there, without much success.{{Cite news |date=3 January 1894 |title=Les anarchistes |trans-title=The anarchists |work=La Dépêche |pages=2}}{{Cite journal |date=2 January 1894 |title=Deux mille perquisitions |journal=L'Estafette |pages=2}}{{Cite news |date=3 January 1894 |title=Une série générale de perquisitions : résultat négatif des recherches |trans-title=A general series of raids: negative results |work=L'Éclair}}

The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Saint-Étienne proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Saint-Étienne absorbed the former communes of Beaubrun, Montaud, Outre-Furent and Valbenoîte in 1855, ceded Planfoy in 1863, merged with the exclave Saint-Victor-sur-Loire and with Terrenoire in 1969 and Rochetaillée in 1973.

{{Historical populations

| align = none

| cols = 2

| percentages = pagr

| source = EHESS{{Cassini-Ehess|31635|Saint-Étienne}} and INSEE (1968–2017)[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-42218#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE

| graph-pos = bottom

|1793 | 25000

|1800 | 16259

|1806 | 18035

|1821 | 19102

|1831 | 33064

|1836 | 41534

|1841 | 48554

|1846 | 49614

|1851 | 56003

|1856 | 94432

|1861 | 92250

|1866 | 96620

|1872 | 110814

|1876 | 126019

|1881 | 123813

|1886 | 117875

|1891 | 133443

|1896 | 136030

|1901 | 146559

|1906 | 146788

|1911 | 148656

|1921 | 167967

|1926 | 193737

|1931 | 191088

|1936 | 190236

|1946 | 177966

|1954 | 181730

|1962 | 210311

|1968 | 223223

|1975 | 220181

|1982 | 204955

|1990 | 199396

|1999 | 180210

|2007 | 175318

|2012 | 171483

|2017 | 172565

}}

File:Vue 5 de la cathédrale Saint-Charles à Saint-Etienne.jpg]]

File:Saint Étienne-La Manufacture d'Armes-20110111.jpg

File:Chateau de Rochetaillée.jpg

Saint-Étienne became a popular stop for automobile travelers in the early 20th century.

In 1998, Saint-Étienne set up a design biennale, the largest of its kind in France.{{cite web |url=https://www.citedudesign.com//fr/biennale/ |title=La Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne |website=Cité du design |access-date=7 June 2018}} It lasts around two weeks. A landmark in the history of the importance ascribed to design in Saint-Étienne was the inauguration of La Cité du design on the site of the former arms factory in 2009.

The city also launched the Massenet Festivals, (the composer Jules Massenet hailed from the area) devoted mainly to perform Massenet's operas. In 2000, the city was named one of the French Towns and Lands of Art and History. On 22 November 2010, it was nominated as "City of Design" as part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network.[https://archive.today/20120712134526/http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=41427&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html St-Etienne and Sydney nominated UNESCO Creative Cities ], 22 November 2010.

Saint-Étienne has four museums:

1. the Musée d'Art Moderne has one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in France
2. Musée de la Mine
3. Musée d'Art et d'Industrie (fr)
4. Musée du vieux Saint-Étienne (fr)

Saint-Étienne has 38 Monuments historiques, 6 buildings labeled Architecture contemporaine remarquable (Remarkable Contemporary Architecture), 2 sites classés (Classified sites) and 5 sites patrimoniaux remarquables (Remarkable heritage sites).{{Cite web |title=Heritage, culture and terroir of Saint-Étienne from A to Z. |url=https://missionfranceguichet.fr/en/tourism-culture-heritage-commune-saint-etienne-42 |access-date=2024-03-24 |website=MFG |language=en}}

The climate is temperate at the weather station due to its low altitude, but Saint-Étienne itself is much higher, above 530 m (1,739 ft) in the centre, as well as even above 700 m (2,297 ft) in the southern parts of the city. Saint-Étienne is very close to a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb); it is generally one of the snowiest cities in France, with an average of 85 cm (2.79 ft) of snow accumulation per year.

{{Weather box

|location = Saint-Étienne–Bouthéon Airport (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1946–present), Alt: 400 m / 1312 ft

|metric first= Y

|single line= Y

|Jan record high C = 20.0

|Feb record high C = 23.2

|Mar record high C = 26.4

|Apr record high C = 28.8

|May record high C = 33.7

|Jun record high C = 37.8

|Jul record high C = 41.1

|Aug record high C = 39.3

|Sep record high C = 36.0

|Oct record high C = 29.2

|Nov record high C = 25.2

|Dec record high C = 20.2

|year record high C = 41.1

|Jan high C = 7.3

|Feb high C = 8.8

|Mar high C = 13.1

|Apr high C = 16.3

|May high C = 20.3

|Jun high C = 24.5

|Jul high C = 26.9

|Aug high C = 26.9

|Sep high C = 22.2

|Oct high C = 17.3

|Nov high C = 11.4

|Dec high C = 8.0

|year high C = 16.9

|Jan mean C = 3.8

|Feb mean C = 4.5

|Mar mean C = 7.8

|Apr mean C = 10.7

|May mean C = 14.6

|Jun mean C = 18.5

|Jul mean C = 20.7

|Aug mean C = 20.6

|Sep mean C = 16.4

|Oct mean C = 12.7

|Nov mean C = 7.6

|Dec mean C = 4.6

|year mean C = 11.9

|Jan low C = 0.3

|Feb low C = 0.2

|Mar low C = 2.6

|Apr low C = 5.0

|May low C = 9.0

|Jun low C = 12.6

|Jul low C = 14.4

|Aug low C = 14.2

|Sep low C = 10.7

|Oct low C = 8.1

|Nov low C = 3.7

|Dec low C = 1.1

|year low C = 6.9

|Jan record low C = -25.6

|Feb record low C = -22.5

|Mar record low C = -13.9

|Apr record low C = -7.4

|May record low C = -3.9

|Jun record low C = -0.6

|Jul record low C = 2.9

|Aug record low C = 1.1

|Sep record low C = -2.6

|Oct record low C = -6.2

|Nov record low C = -10.6

|Dec record low C = -18.6

|year record low C = -25.6

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 38.3

|Feb precipitation mm = 30.3

|Mar precipitation mm = 33.9

|Apr precipitation mm = 55.0

|May precipitation mm = 81.5

|Jun precipitation mm = 80.8

|Jul precipitation mm = 77.2

|Aug precipitation mm = 72.8

|Sep precipitation mm = 70.3

|Oct precipitation mm = 76.2

|Nov precipitation mm = 73.0

|Dec precipitation mm = 39.0

|year precipitation mm = 728.3

|Jan humidity = 81

|Feb humidity = 78

|Mar humidity = 73

|Apr humidity = 71

|May humidity = 72

|Jun humidity = 72

|Jul humidity = 68

|Aug humidity = 71

|Sep humidity = 75

|Oct humidity = 80

|Nov humidity = 81

|Dec humidity = 83

|year humidity = 75.4

|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

|Jan precipitation days = 7.8

|Feb precipitation days = 7.0

|Mar precipitation days = 7.1

|Apr precipitation days = 9.2

|May precipitation days = 10.1

|Jun precipitation days = 8.8

|Jul precipitation days = 7.8

|Aug precipitation days = 7.6

|Sep precipitation days = 7.5

|Oct precipitation days = 8.7

|Nov precipitation days = 8.7

|Dec precipitation days = 7.6

|year precipitation days = 97.9

|Jan snow days = 5.1

|Feb snow days = 5.8

|Mar snow days = 2.5

|Apr snow days = 1.1

|May snow days = 0.0

|Jun snow days = 0.0

|Jul snow days = 0.0

|Aug snow days = 0.0

|Sep snow days = 0.0

|Oct snow days = 0.0

|Nov snow days = 1.5

|Dec snow days = 4.6

|year snow days = 20.5

|Jan sun = 81.4

|Feb sun = 108.6

|Mar sun = 162.3

|Apr sun = 186.2

|May sun = 213.7

|Jun sun = 240.7

|Jul sun = 275.1

|Aug sun = 259.1

|Sep sun = 193.2

|Oct sun = 134.7

|Nov sun = 87.6

|Dec sun = 75.8

|year sun = 2018.4

|source 1 = Météo France

{{cite web

| url = https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/FichesClim/FICHECLIM_42005001.pdf

| title = ST ETIENNE−BOUTHEON (42)

| work = Fiche Climatologique: Statistiques 1991–2020 et records

| publisher = Meteo France

| language = fr

| access-date = 14 July 2022}}

|source 2 = Infoclimat.fr (humidity, 1961–1990){{cite web

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160408011004/http://www.infoclimat.fr/climatologie-07475-saint-etienne-boutheon.html

| archive-date = 8 April 2016

| url = http://www.infoclimat.fr/climatologie-07475-saint-etienne-boutheon.html

| title = Normes et records 1961-1990: Saint-Étienne - Bouthéon (42) - altitude 400m

| language = fr

| publisher = Infoclimat

| access-date = 26 December 2015}}

|date= December 2015

}}

File:St Etienne Stade Geoffroy Guichard.jpg

The city's football club AS Saint-Étienne has won the Ligue 1 title a joint-record ten times, achieving most of their success in the 1970s.[https://rmcsport.bfmtv.com/football/ligue-1/ligue-1-le-psg-egale-l-asse-avec-10-titres-les-records-en-europe_VN-202204250354.html "Ligue 1 : Le PSG égale l'ASSE avec 10 titres, les records en Europe"], rmcsport.bfmtv.com (in French), 25 April 2022. The British indie-dance band Saint Etienne named themselves after the club.

Saint-Étienne has many sports stadiums, the largest being Stade Geoffroy-Guichard used for football and Stade Henri-Lux for athletics. St. Étienne was the capital of the French bicycle industry.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}} The bicycle wheel manufacturer Mavic is based in the city and frame manufacturers Motobécane and Vitus are also based here. The city often hosts a stage of the Tour de France.

Saint-Étienne resident Thierry Gueorgiou is a world champion in orienteering. The local rugby union team is CA Saint-Étienne Loire Sud Rugby.

{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2020}}

File:Vélivert Intermodalité STAS.jpg

The nearest airport is Saint-Étienne–Bouthéon Airport which is located in Andrézieux-Bouthéon, {{convert|12|km|2|abbr=on}} north-northwest of Saint-Étienne. The main railway station is Saint-Étienne-Châteaucreux station, which offers high-speed services to Paris and Lyon (Saint-Étienne–Lyon railway), as well as connects to several regional lines. There are four other railway stations in Saint-Étienne (Bellevue, Carnot, La Terrasse and Le Clapier) with local services.[https://mmt.vsct.fr/sites/default/files/swt/CARA/2021-11/Carte_reseau_TER_Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes_40x60_1.pdf Réseau TER et cars Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes], TER Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, accessed 30 May 2022.

Saint-Étienne is also notable for its tramway (Saint-Étienne tramway) – which uniquely with Lille, it kept throughout the 20th century – and its trolleybus system (Saint-Étienne trolleybus system) – which is one of only three such systems currently operating in France.

Bus and tram transport is regulated and provided by the Société de Transports de l'Agglomération Stéphanoise (STAS), a public transport executive organisation.

The bicycle sharing system Vélivert with 280 short term renting bicycles has been available since June 2010.

• Jean Monnet University
• École d'Économie - Saint-Étienne School of Economics (SE²)
• École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne (EMSE or ENSMSE)
• École nationale d'ingénieurs de Saint-Étienne (ENISE)
• Telecom Saint Étienne (TSE)
• EMLYON Business School
• ENSASE (École National Supérieure d'Architecture de Saint-Étienne)

{{unreferenced section|date=May 2022}}

Saint-Étienne was the birthplace of:

• René Diaz (born 1926), French journalist and illustrator
• Augustin Dupré (1748–1833), engraver of French coins and medals, France's 14th graveur général des monnaies
• Claude Fauriel (1772–1844), historian, philologist and critic
• Saint Marcellin Champagnat (1789–1840), Catholic priest and founding members of the Society of Mary (Marist Fathers) who founded the Marist Brothers and was canonised in 1999
• Antonin Moine (1796–1849), sculptor
• Jules Janin (1804–1874), writer and critic
• Paul Jean Rigollot (1810-1873), pharmacist and inventor
• Francis Garnier (1839–1873), officer and explorer who explored the Mekong River, much to the surprise of the inhabitants
• Lucie Grange (1839–1908), medium, feminist prophet and newspaper founder
• 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
• Claudine Chomat (1915–1995), feminist and communist activist, member of the French Resistance during World War II
• Jean Bonfils (1921–2007), classical organist and composer
• André Bourgey (1936), geographer
• Jean-Michel Othoniel (1963), contemporary artist
• Bernard Lavilliers (born 1946) (Bernard Ouillon), singer
• Orlan (1947–), contemporary artist
• Willy Sagnol (born 1977), French International football player
• Jean Guitton (1901–1999), Catholic philosopher and theologian
• Thierry Gueorgiou (born 1979), Orienteering world champion
• Norma Ray (born 1970), singer
• Alexis Ajinça (born 1988), basketball player
• Sylvain Armand (born 1980), footballer
• Sliimy (born 1988), singer
• Aravane Rezai (born 1987), tennis player
• Loïc Perrin (born 1985), footballer
• Théophile Naël (born 2007), racing driver

It was also the place where Andrei Kivilev died.

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in France}}

Saint-Étienne is twinned with:

{{Portal|France}}

• André César Vermare, sculptor of Franco-Prussian war memorial
• Manufacture d'armes de Saint-Étienne
• Médiathèques de Saint-Étienne
• Saint-Étienne – Gorges de la Loire Nature Reserve
• Saint-Étienne Cathedral

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{See also|Timeline of Saint-Étienne#Bibliography|l1=Bibliography of the history of Saint-Étienne}}

{{Commons category|Saint-Étienne}}

• {{Wikivoyage inline|Saint-Étienne}}
• [http://www.mairie-st-etienne.fr/ City council website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081220102426/http://www.tourisme-st-etienne.com/index.php/site_en Tourist board official website]

{{Cities in France}}

{{Préfectures of départements of France}}

{{Loire communes}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saintetienne}}

Category:Massif Central

Category:Communes of Loire (department)

Category:Prefectures in France

Category:Forez

Category:Loire communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia

Category:Cities in France