Agde
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Hotel la Galiote in front of the cathedral
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 Agde
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Location within Languedoc-Roussillon region
Agde
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| Country | France | |
| Region | Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées | |
| Department | Hérault | |
| Arrondissement | Béziers | |
| Canton | Agde | |
| Intercommunality | Hérault Méditerranée | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2014–2020) | Gilles d'Ettore (UMP) | |
| Area1 | 50.81 km2 (19.62 sq mi) | |
| Population (2008)2 | 22,487 | |
| • Density | 440/km2 (1,100/sq mi) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 34003 / 34300 | |
| Elevation | 0–110 m (0–361 ft) (avg. 5 m or 16 ft) |
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| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | ||
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Agde (French pronunciation: [aɡdə]; Occitan: Agde [ˈadde, ˈate]) is a commune in the Hérault department in southern France. It is the Mediterranean port of the Canal du Midi.
Contents
Location
Agde is located on the River Hérault, 4 kilometres (2 miles) from the Mediterranean Sea, and 750 kilometres (466 miles) from Paris. The Canal du Midi connects to the Hérault at the Agde Round Lock ("L'Écluse Ronde d'Agde") just above Agde and flows into the Mediterranean at Le Grau d'Agde.
History
Foundation
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Agde (525 B.C.) is one of the oldest villages in France, right behind Béziers (575 B.C.) and Marseille (600 B.C.).[1] Agde (Agathe Tyche, "good fortune") was a 5th-century BCE Greek colony settled by Phocaeans from Massilia. The symbol of the city, the bronze Ephebe of Agde, of the 4th century BCE, recovered from the fluvial sands of the Hérault, was joined in December 2001 by two Early Imperial Roman bronzes, of a child and of Eros, which had doubtless been on their way to a villa in Gallia Narbonensis when they were lost in a shipwreck.
Development
In the history of Roman Catholicism in France, the Council of Agde was held 10 September 506 at Agde, under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles. It was attended by thirty-five bishops, and its forty-seven genuine canons deal "with ecclesiastical discipline". One of its canons (the seventh), forbidding ecclesiastics to sell or alienate the property of the church from which they derived their living, seems to be the earliest mention of the later system of benefices.[2][3]
Population
| Historical population | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
| 1793 | 6,744 | — |
| 1800 | 6,744 | +0.0% |
| 1806 | 7,639 | +13.3% |
| 1821 | 7,726 | +1.1% |
| 1831 | 8,202 | +6.2% |
| 1836 | 8,230 | +0.3% |
| 1841 | 8,251 | +0.3% |
| 1846 | 8,884 | +7.7% |
| 1851 | 9,115 | +2.6% |
| 1856 | 9,439 | +3.6% |
| 1861 | 9,747 | +3.3% |
| 1866 | 9,586 | −1.7% |
| 1872 | 8,829 | −7.9% |
| 1876 | 8,251 | −6.5% |
| 1881 | 8,170 | −1.0% |
| 1886 | 8,446 | +3.4% |
| 1891 | 7,389 | −12.5% |
| 1896 | 8,478 | +14.7% |
| 1901 | 9,533 | +12.4% |
| 1906 | 8,435 | −11.5% |
| 1911 | 9,265 | +9.8% |
| 1921 | 8,325 | −10.1% |
| 1926 | 9,360 | +12.4% |
| 1931 | 9,605 | +2.6% |
| 1936 | 9,242 | −3.8% |
| 1946 | 7,592 | −17.9% |
| 1954 | 7,897 | +4.0% |
| 1962 | 8,751 | +10.8% |
| 1968 | 10,184 | +16.4% |
| 1975 | 11,605 | +14.0% |
| 1982 | 13,107 | +12.9% |
| 1990 | 17,583 | +34.1% |
| 1999 | 20,066 | +14.1% |
| 2008 | 22,487 | +12.1% |
Its inhabitants are called Agathois.
Architecture
Agde is known for the distinctive black basalt used in local buildings, for example the cathedral of Saint Stephen, built in the twelfth century to replace a 9th-century Carolingian edifice built on the foundations of a fifth-century Roman church. Bishop Guillaume fortified the cathedral's precincts and provided it with a 35-meter donjon (keep). The Romanesque cloister of the cathedral was demolished in 1857.
Jewish community
It is assumed that a Jewish community was established in the town around the sixth century AD. During the council of Agde, assembled by the Catholic church in 506 AD, Christian laymen and ecclesiastics were prohibited from eating with Jews or hosting them. This prohibition suggests that the town Jews held good relations with their town neighbours. It is also assumed that the Jewish community was never large, since it did not own a cemetery and buried their dead in Béziers, 3 miles away.[5] The Jewish name of the city was Agdi, or Akdi (אגדי).[6] During World War II, about 2000 Jews from Germany and Austria were sent to a labour camp near the town; most were deported on 24 August 1942.[7]
Sport and leisure
Agde has a football club RCO Agde who play at the Stade Louis Sanguin.[8] They are currently playing in the Championnat de France amateur 2.
See also
- Cap d'Agde, the seaside resort of Agde
- Ancient Diocese of Agde
- List of traditional Greek place names
- Communes of the Hérault department
References
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- ↑ The sculpture rebaptised Amphitrite formerly stood on the façade of the Palais du Trocadéro, built for the Exposition Universelle (1878) and demolished to make way for the Exposition of 1937. She was preserved and offered to the city, where she now symbolizes Agde's maritime vocation. (Patrimoine français; Hérault Tribune Découvrir Agde)
- ↑ AGDE - JewishEncyclopedia.com
- ↑ Agde - Encyclopaedia Judaica | Encyclopedia.com
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agde. |
- (French) Agde (official site)
- (French) Agde has one of the biggest naturist centres of Europe
- Richard Stillwell, ed. Princeton Encyclopædia of Classical Sites, 1976: "Agatha (Agde) Hérault, France"
- Recent undersea find of bronzes
