[edit] Councils of Arras
In 1025 a council was held at Arras against certain Manichaean (dualistic) heretics who rejected the sacraments of the Church. The Catholic Faith in the Blessed Eucharist was proclaimed with special insistence.
In 1097, two councils, presided over by Lambert of Arras, dealt with questions concerning monasteries and persons consecrated to God.
[edit] Sights
The centre of the town is marked by three large squares, the Grande Place, the Place des Héros, and the Petite Place. These are surrounded by buildings largely restored to their pre-war World War I conditions. Most notable are the Gothic town hall (rebuilt in a slightly less grandiose style after the war) and the 19th-century cathedral.
The original cathedral of Arras, constructed between 1030 and 1396, was one of the most beautiful Gothic structures in northern France. It was destroyed in the French Revolution.
Many of Arras's most notable structures, including the museum and several government buildings, occupy the site of the old Abbaye de Saint-Vaast. The abbey's church was demolished and rebuilt in fashionable classical style in 1833, and now serves as the town's cathedral. The design was chosen by the one-time Abbot of St Vaast, the Cardinal de Rohan, and is stark in its simplicity, employing a vast number of perpendicular angles. There is a fine collection of statuary within the church and it houses a number of religious relics.
Vimy Memorial is a memorial just north of the town honouring a major World War I battle, the Battle of Vimy Ridge, which marked the first time Canada fielded an entire army of its own. Four Canadian divisions fought there on Easter weekend 1917. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was part of the broader Allied offensive in April known as the Battle of Arras. Vimy was the only victory the Allies would enjoy during their 1917 spring offensive. The Basilica of Notre Dame de Lorette, overlooking the nearby village of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, likewise stands before one of France's largest World War I necropolises.
[edit] Transport
Arras is served by the LGV Nord high speed railway.
[edit] Miscellaneous
[edit] In literature
Arras is a setting in several famous works of French literature:
Arras is also mentioned the novel Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison, Canadian soldiers are depicted looting the town during World War 1.
[edit] Births
Arras was the birthplace of:
- Audefroi le Bâtard, trouvère who flourished at the end of the 12th century
- Adam de la Halle (1237?-1288) trouvère, poet and musician, was probably born in Arras
- Matthias of Arras (1290?-1352), architect, famed for his work on St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague
- Antoine de Févin (c.1470-1511 or 1512), composer of the Renaissance.
- Charles de l'Écluse (1526-1609), doctor and pioneering botanist
- Sebastien Claude Mattheiu Montauze ([[1964-), apprentice Englishman
- Philippe Rogier (c. 1561-1596), composer
- Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), French revolutionary leader
- Joseph le Bon (1765-1795), was a politician
- Eugène François Vidocq (1775-1857), one of the first modern private investigators
- Gabriel Hanot (1889-1968), journalist (the editor of L'Équipe)
- Violette Leduc (1907–1972), author
- Jean-Christophe Novelli (born 1961), chef and restaurateur
- Benoît Assou-Ekotto (born 1984), footballer playing for Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources and external links
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