Vierzon

A medium-sized town by the banks of the river Cher with some light industry and an area of forestry and farming to the north. It is situated some {{convert|33|km|0|abbr=off}} northwest of Bourges, at the junction of the D2020, D2076 and the D918 roads.

Motorways encircle the town on three sides: the A85 and A71 on the north and east and the A20 on the north and west. Railways reached Vierzon in 1847 and the central SNCF hub Vierzon-Ville station, serving local and nation rail traffic, has been developed here ever since.

Little evidence remains of any pre-Roman occupation, and the Romans themselves didn't leave much trace of their occupation. Not until 926, when a Benedictine monastery was built (on the site of the current Town Hall) are there any records. The monks came from the abbey of Deuvre, at Saint-Georges-sur-la-Prée, after the abbey was sacked by the Normans in 903. They brought with them the relics of St. Perpetua. These relics were again transferred to the church of Notre-Dame de Vierzon in 1807, where they remain today.

Also in the 10th century, the Normans built a castle atop a feudal motte. They became the seigneurs of Vierzon and the city developed within the western ramparts of the castle.

The Plantagenets, under Richard I Lionheart in 1196, and later Edward, the Black Prince, burned the town and took the castle. Bertrand du Guesclin drove the Plantagenets out in 1370 and restored Vierzon to the crown of France. It became a logistics centre for the armies of Joan of Arc.

Vierzon suffered during the wars of religion, but remained Catholic. The French Revolution of 1789 saw no major shocks except that the parish of Vierzon was divided into two communes: the urban part and the rural (Vierzon-Village), at the request of the rural inhabitants of the parish. In 1887, the part of town on the southern bank of the river was split into Vierzon-Bourgneuf. In 1937, following a public inquiry and a prefectoral decision, the four municipalities were united as one commune.

Vierzon has not been too troubled by more recent wars. In 1870-1871, a vanguard of Uhlan soldiers marched through the city but withdrew quickly. If Vierzon was spared by the First World War, it was sorely tried during World War II. The Cher river was the border that divided the city into two, the south of the city being in the "Free" French zone whilst the north was in the German-occupied area. In July 1944, a massive Allied bombardment destroyed a large portion of the city.

From the late 18th century until the middle of the twentieth century, the town became industrialised. Iron and steel farming tools were produced here, then glasswork and ceramics and later, agricultural machinery, notably tractors. With the demise of many factories in the town during the 1970s and 1980s, the unemployment rate was very high. This has since been reduced to the national average.

The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Vierzon proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Vierzon absorbed the former communes of Vierzon-Village, Vierzon-Bourgneuf and Vierzon-Forges in 1937.

{{Historical populations

| align = none

| cols = 2

| percentages = pagr

| source = EHESS{{Cassini-Ehess|39847|Vierzon}} and INSEE (1968-2017)[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-18279#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE

| graph-pos = bottom

|1793 |4193

|1800 |3984

|1806 |3887

|1821 |4159

|1831 |4706

|1836 |4980

|1841 |5679

|1846 |6685

|1851 |6730

|1856 |6836

|1861 |7740

|1866 |8224

|1872 |8296

|1876 |8995

|1881 |9969

|1886 |10514

|1891 |10559

|1896 |11392

|1901 |11796

|1906 |12080

|1911 |11856

|1921 |11378

|1926 |11682

|1931 |11314

|1936 |10039

|1946 |26017

|1954 |28627

|1962 |31549

|1968 |33775

|1975 |35699

|1982 |34209

|1990 |32235

|1999 |29719

|2007 |27723

|2012 |27081

|2017 |25903

}}

File:Eglise Notre-Dame de Vierzon 1.jpg

• The church dating from the twelfth century.
• The 18th-century château of La Noue.
• The 15th-century château of Chaillot.
• The manorhouse of La Gaillardière.

• Félix Pyat (1810–1889), politician and journalist
• Édouard Vaillant (1840–1915), politician
• Eugène Baudin (1853–1918), porcelain worker and left-wing politician
• Jacques Brel (1929–1978), a Belgian singer, mentions Vierzon in his song "Vesoul" (1968)
• Damien Robin (born 1989), professional footballer
• Josman (born 1992), hip-hop artist

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

Vierzon is twinned with:{{cite web |title=Jumelages|url=http://www.ville-vierzon.fr/jumelages.html|website=ville-vierzon.fr|publisher=Vierzon|language=fr|access-date=2021-04-13}}

{{div col|colwidth=20em}}

• {{flagicon|POR}} Barcelos, Portugal
• {{flagicon|GER}} Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Germany
• {{flagicon|TUR}} Develi, Turkey
• {{flagicon|CHN}} Dongxihu (Wuhan), China
• {{flagicon|ENG}} Hereford, England, United Kingdom
• {{flagicon|MAR}} El Jadida, Morocco
• {{flagicon|LIB}} Kahale, Lebanon
• {{flagicon|POL}} Kamienna Góra, Poland
• {{flagicon|ESP}} Miranda de Ebro, Spain
• {{flagicon|GER}} Rendsburg, Germany
• {{flagicon|ALG}} Sig, Algeria

{{div col end}}

{{Weather box|width=auto

|metric first=y

|single line=y

|collapsed = Y

|location = Vierzon (1991–2010 normals, extremes 1991–2014)

|Jan record high C = 17.2

|Feb record high C = 20.6

|Mar record high C = 25.2

|Apr record high C = 30.1

|May record high C = 33.7

|Jun record high C = 38.3

|Jul record high C = 37.4

|Aug record high C = 40.4

|Sep record high C = 34.4

|Oct record high C = 28.9

|Nov record high C = 21.9

|Dec record high C = 17.7

|Jan record low C = -11.8

|Feb record low C = -13.1

|Mar record low C = -11.4

|Apr record low C = -2.5

|May record low C = 0.2

|Jun record low C = 4.2

|Jul record low C = 6.7

|Aug record low C = 5.0

|Sep record low C = 3.0

|Oct record low C = -3.8

|Nov record low C = -9.5

|Dec record low C = -11.8

|Jan high C = 7.2

|Feb high C = 8.8

|Mar high C = 12.9

|Apr high C = 16.0

|May high C = 20.2

|Jun high C = 23.6

|Jul high C = 25.9

|Aug high C = 25.9

|Sep high C = 21.4

|Oct high C = 16.6

|Nov high C = 10.6

|Dec high C = 7.1

| year high C = 16.4

|Jan mean C = 4.4

|Feb mean C = 5.2

|Mar mean C = 8.4

|Apr mean C = 10.9

|May mean C = 15.0

|Jun mean C = 18.2

|Jul mean C = 20.2

|Aug mean C = 20.2

|Sep mean C = 16.2

|Oct mean C = 12.5

|Nov mean C = 7.5

|Dec mean C = 4.5

| year mean C = 12.0

|Jan low C = 1.6

|Feb low C = 1.6

|Mar low C = 3.9

|Apr low C = 5.9

|May low C = 9.7

|Jun low C = 12.8

|Jul low C = 14.5

|Aug low C = 14.4

|Sep low C = 11.0

|Oct low C = 8.4

|Nov low C = 4.4

|Dec low C = 1.9

| year low C = 7.5

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 65.4

|Feb precipitation mm = 54.7

|Mar precipitation mm = 58.2

|Apr precipitation mm = 68.7

|May precipitation mm = 69.0

|Jun precipitation mm = 50.4

|Jul precipitation mm = 63.7

|Aug precipitation mm = 68.3

|Sep precipitation mm = 72.2

|Oct precipitation mm = 74.7

|Nov precipitation mm = 74.7

|Dec precipitation mm = 75.9

|year precipitation mm = 795.9

|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

| Jan precipitation days = 11.3

| Feb precipitation days = 9.9

| Mar precipitation days = 10.0

| Apr precipitation days = 10.7

| May precipitation days = 9.5

| Jun precipitation days = 7.9

| Jul precipitation days = 8.6

| Aug precipitation days = 7.8

| Sep precipitation days = 8.9

| Oct precipitation days = 10.9

| Nov precipitation days = 12.2

| Dec precipitation days = 12.1

| year precipitation days =119.7

|source 1 = Meteociel{{cite web

|url=https://www.meteociel.fr/obs/clim/normales_records.php?code=18279005

|title=Normales et records pour Vierzon (18)

|publisher=Meteociel

|access-date=21 November 2024}}}}

• Communes of the Cher department

{{reflist}}

{{Commons category|Vierzon}}

• [http://www.ville-vierzon.fr Official website] {{in lang|fr}}

{{Cher communes}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Subprefectures in France

Category:Communes of Cher (department)

Category:Berry, France