CHOLET

'Cholet' (probably from Latin ''cauletum'', "cabbage") is a town in western France, capital of an arrondissement in the Maine-et-Loire ''département'', Pays-de-la-Loire ''région'', 41 miles south-east of Nantes. Population (1999): 54,204. In 1906, the population was 16,554.

Contents

Geography

History

Sights

Economy

Miscellaneous

Twin towns

External links

References

Geography

Cholet stands on an eminence on the right bank of the Moine, which used to be crossed by a bridge from the 15th century.

History

The town owes the rise of its prosperity to the settlement of weavers there by Édouard Colbert, count of Maulevrier, a brother of the great Jean-Baptiste Colbert. It then became an estate of Gabriel François, Count de Rougé and Marquess of Cholet, who developped the city and it's economy. The main commercial mail being built this year is named after him: The "Arcades Rougé".
It suffered severely in the War of La Vendée of 1793, insomuch that for years afterwards it was almost without inhabitants.

Sights

A public garden occupies the site of the old castle; the public buildings and churches, for example the ''Church of the Sacred Heart'' (1939), are modern.
Megalithic monuments are numerous in the neighborhood.
A textile museum (Musée du Textile, rue du Docteur-Roux, Tel 02 41 75 25 40) exists to conserve the traditional machines used to create the famous handkerchiefs made in this town, as well as the techniques used to make them and the oral and local history associated with the industry.

Economy

There are granite quarries in the vicinity of the town. The chief industry is the manufacture of linen and linen handkerchiefs, which is also carried on in the neighboring communes on a large scale. Woollen and cotton fabrics are also produced, and bleaching and the manufacture of preserved foods are carried on. Cholet is the most important centre in France for the sale of fat cattle, sheep and pigs, for which Paris is the chief market.

Miscellaneous

The public institutions include the sub-prefecture, a tribunal of first instance, a chamber of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, and a communal college.

Twin towns

Cholet is twinned with:

★ Oldenburg, Germany since 1985

★ Dorohoi, Romania

★ Solihull, United Kingdom

★ Denia, Spain

★ Sao, Burkina Faso - cooperation

★ Le Bas-Richelieu Regional County Municipality (Quebec, Canada) - twinning of the ''communauté d'agglomération''.

External links

★ Official website

References

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