Hyères
Encyclopedia
Hyères Provençal Occitan: Ieras in classical norm or Iero in Mistralian norm) is a commune
in the Var
department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
region
in southeastern France
.
The old town lies 4 km (2.5 mi) from the sea clustered around the Castle of Saint Bernard, which is set on a hill. Between the old town and the sea lies the pine-covered hill of Costebelle, which overlooks the peninsula of Giens. Hyères is the oldest resort on the French Riviera
and against those Ligures
who live in the Alps." Greek and Roman antiquities have been found in the area. The first reference to the town dates from 964.
Originally a possession of the Viscount of Marseilles, it was later transferred to Charles of Anjou. Louis IX
King of France (often known as "St Louis") landed at Hyères in 1254 when returning from the Crusades.
on 15 August 1944, the joint US/Canadian First Special Service Force came ashore off the coast of Hyères to take the islands of Port-Cros and Levant
. The small German garrisons offered little resistance and the whole eastern part of Port-Cros had been secured by 06.30 am. All fighting was over on Levant by the evening but on Port-Cros, the Germans withdrew into old thick-walled forts. It was only when naval guns were brought to bear that they realised that further resistance was useless.
An intense naval barrage on 18 August 1944 heralded the next phase of the operation – the assault on the largest of the Hyères islands, Porquerolles
. French forces - naval units and colonial formations, including Senegalese infantry, became involved on 22 August and subsequently occupied the island. US/Canadian Special forces landing at the eastern end of Porquerolles took large numbers of prisoners – the Germans preferring not to surrender to the Senegalese.
to the south makes it a popular location for tourism
in the winter, and facilitates the cultivation of palm trees; about 100,000 trees are exported from the area each year. As a result, the town is frequently referred to as Hyères Les Palmiers (Palmiers = palm trees).
The three islands of the Îles d'Hyères
(namely Porquerolles, Port-Cros and the Île du Levant
) are located just offshore.
The commune has a land area of 132.38 km² (51.112 sq mi).
, The British ambassador, stayed in Hyères during the winter 1767-1768, but it was the two visits of the Prince of Wales
during the winters of 1788 and 1789 which made Hyères popular with the British. The English agronomist Arthur Young
visited Hyères on the advice of Lady Craven
on 10 September 1789. He mentioned the many British living there in his book Travels in France.
The London born and Eton educated Anglo-Grison Charles de Salis
died in Hyères in July 1781 aged 45, and was buried in the Convent des Cordeliers.
In 1791, Charlotte Turner Smith
published her novel Celestina, which is set in Hyères. During the period of the French Revolution
and the Napoleonic Wars
, the British left the area, but they returned after 1815. Joseph Conrad
, who lived for a while in Hyères, wrote his novel, The Rover, which is set in Hyères during those years.
William FitzRoy, 6th Duke of Grafton
spent the winter and spring each year at Hyères because he and his wife suffered from ill health. An Edwin Lee M.D. published in 1857 a book on the virtues of the climate of Hyères for the recovery of pulmonary consumption and in November 1880 Adolphe Smith first published The Garden of Hyères .
In 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson
came to Hyères and for about two years lived first at the Grand Hotel (the building still stands in the Avenue des Iles d'Or), and then in a chalet called Solitude in the present rue Victor-Basch. He wrote then: "That spot our garden and our view are sub-celestial. I sing daily with Bunian, that great bard. I dwell next door to Heaven!". In later years he wrote from his retreat in Valima: "Happy (said I); I was only happy once; that was at Hyères."
In 1884, Elisabeth Douglas , daughter of Alfred, Lord Douglas, had a small "cottage" as she called it built on the Costebelle hill by the architect Thomas Donaldson who used to spend his winters in Hyères during those years.
The British presence culminated in the winter of 1892 (21 March - 25 April) when Queen Victoria
came for a stay of three weeks at The Albion Hotel. At that time, the British influence was so strong that shop signs were in both French and English. There was an English butcher, a chemist, two banks and two golf courses. There were also two English churches (plus one at the Grand Hôtel in Costebelle) whose buildings still exist: All Saint's Church at Costebelle and Saint Paul's English Church, Avenue Beauregard.
Some signs of this English presence have vanished like the small dell in the cemetery where once stood some hundred graves, some of which bore testimony to the aristocratic nature of the community such as that of Lord Arthur Somerset
or Richard John Meade
. Other vestiges remain, like the fountain near the new public library in a square shaded by plane tree. The inscription reads: "In loving memory of Marianne Stewart who died on 18 August 1900. She laboured many years in the cause of mercy to animals. Her last wish was that a drinking fountain should be set up for them in Hyères".
Many wounded British soldiers were sent to the town to convalesce during World War I
.
The American novelist Edith Wharton
wintered in Hyères annually from 1919 until her death in 1937. The garden of her villa, Castel Sainte-Claire
, is open to the public. The villa previously belonged to Olivier Voutier
, a French naval officer, whose grave is in the garden. It was Voutier who discovered the Venus de Milo
in 1820 on the Aegean island of Milos.
offers connections with Toulon, Marseille, Paris and several regional destinations.
The airport, which is known officially as the Toulon-Hyères International Airport, is situated 4 km (2.5 mi) to the southeast of the town centre, on a sandy plane close to the seashore. The area was first used by private aircraft at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1920, after the marsh had been drained, French naval aircraft used the field, and in 1925 it became an official base of the French Fleet Air Arm. It has been a commercial airport since 1966, but the navy maintains a presence within the perimeter.
There are currently (2009) scheduled flights to and from Stockholm, Bristol, Ajaccio, Paris, London, Brest, Brussels and Rotterdam.
(1663–1742), churchman and preacher.
, Germany
and with Koekelberg
, Belgium
.
.
The city also plays host to the annual MIDI French Riviera Festival in July, a music festival now into its sixth episode. 2010's MIDI saw around 15 acts play at the Villa Noailles
complex and brought the new 'MIDI Night' event to Alamanarre Beach in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Var
Var (département)
The Var is a French department in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur in Provence, in southeast France. It takes its name from the river Var, which used to flow along its eastern boundary, but the boundary was moved in 1860...
department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur or PACA is one of the 27 regions of France.It is made up of:* the former French province of Provence* the former papal territory of Avignon, known as Comtat Venaissin...
region
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...
in southeastern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
The old town lies 4 km (2.5 mi) from the sea clustered around the Castle of Saint Bernard, which is set on a hill. Between the old town and the sea lies the pine-covered hill of Costebelle, which overlooks the peninsula of Giens. Hyères is the oldest resort on the French Riviera
History
The Hellenic city of Olbia was refounded on the Phoenician settlement that dated to the fourth century BCE; Olbia is mentioned by the geographer Strabo (IV.1.5) as a city of the Massiliotes that was fortified "against the tribe of the SalyesSalyes
The powerful military tribal confederation of the Salyes or Salluvii in ancient geography, occupied the plain of the Druentia in southern Gaul between the Rhône River and the Alps...
and against those Ligures
Ligures
The Ligures were an ancient people who gave their name to Liguria, a region of north-western Italy.-Classical sources:...
who live in the Alps." Greek and Roman antiquities have been found in the area. The first reference to the town dates from 964.
Originally a possession of the Viscount of Marseilles, it was later transferred to Charles of Anjou. Louis IX
Louis IX of France
Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...
King of France (often known as "St Louis") landed at Hyères in 1254 when returning from the Crusades.
World War II
As part of Operation DragoonOperation Dragoon
Operation Dragoon was the Allied invasion of southern France on August 15, 1944, during World War II. The invasion was initiated via a parachute drop by the 1st Airborne Task Force, followed by an amphibious assault by elements of the U.S. Seventh Army, followed a day later by a force made up...
on 15 August 1944, the joint US/Canadian First Special Service Force came ashore off the coast of Hyères to take the islands of Port-Cros and Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
. The small German garrisons offered little resistance and the whole eastern part of Port-Cros had been secured by 06.30 am. All fighting was over on Levant by the evening but on Port-Cros, the Germans withdrew into old thick-walled forts. It was only when naval guns were brought to bear that they realised that further resistance was useless.
An intense naval barrage on 18 August 1944 heralded the next phase of the operation – the assault on the largest of the Hyères islands, Porquerolles
Porquerolles
Porquerolles , also known as the Île de Porquerolles, is an island in the Îles d'Hyères, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. Its population was about 200 inhabitants in 2004 and occupies ....
. French forces - naval units and colonial formations, including Senegalese infantry, became involved on 22 August and subsequently occupied the island. US/Canadian Special forces landing at the eastern end of Porquerolles took large numbers of prisoners – the Germans preferring not to surrender to the Senegalese.
Geography
Its position facing the MediterraneanMediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
to the south makes it a popular location for tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
in the winter, and facilitates the cultivation of palm trees; about 100,000 trees are exported from the area each year. As a result, the town is frequently referred to as Hyères Les Palmiers (Palmiers = palm trees).
Îles d'Hyères
The Îles d'Hyères is a group of three islands off Hyères in the Var département, in the south-east of France. The three mediterranean islands are named Porquerolles, Port-Cros and Île du Levant. Together, they make up an area of .-See also:...
(namely Porquerolles, Port-Cros and the Île du Levant
Île du Levant
Île du Levant , sometimes referred to as Le Levant, is a Mediterranean French island off the coast of the Riviera, near Toulon. It is one of the three that constitute the Îles d'Hyères of France. The island is 8 km long, 2 km wide, and located in the Gulf of Lion...
) are located just offshore.
The commune has a land area of 132.38 km² (51.112 sq mi).
The British presence in Hyères
Lord AlbermarleEarl of Albemarle
Earl of Albemarle is a title created several times from Norman times onwards. The word Albemarle is the Latinised form of the French county of Aumale in Normandy , other forms being Aubemarle and Aumerle...
, The British ambassador, stayed in Hyères during the winter 1767-1768, but it was the two visits of the Prince of Wales
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and also of Hanover from the death of his father, George III, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later...
during the winters of 1788 and 1789 which made Hyères popular with the British. The English agronomist Arthur Young
Arthur Young
Arthur Young was an English writer on agriculture, economics and social statistics.- Birth and early life :...
visited Hyères on the advice of Lady Craven
Elizabeth Craven
Elizabeth Craven , Princess Berkeley , previously "Lady Craven" of Hamstead Marshall, was an author, playwright, traveller, and socialite, perhaps best known for her travelogues...
on 10 September 1789. He mentioned the many British living there in his book Travels in France.
The London born and Eton educated Anglo-Grison Charles de Salis
Charles de Salis
Charles de Salis, was born 25 July 1736 in the Parish of St. James, Westminster and died sine prole, Hieres, Provence, July 1781.He was the eldest son of Jerome, Count de Salis-Soglio by his wife Mary, daughter of Charles, 1st Viscount Fane....
died in Hyères in July 1781 aged 45, and was buried in the Convent des Cordeliers.
In 1791, Charlotte Turner Smith
Charlotte Turner Smith
Charlotte Turner Smith was an English Romantic poet and novelist. She initiated a revival of the English sonnet, helped establish the conventions of Gothic fiction, and wrote political novels of sensibility....
published her novel Celestina, which is set in Hyères. During the period of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
and the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, the British left the area, but they returned after 1815. Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad was a Polish-born English novelist.Conrad is regarded as one of the great novelists in English, although he did not speak the language fluently until he was in his twenties...
, who lived for a while in Hyères, wrote his novel, The Rover, which is set in Hyères during those years.
William FitzRoy, 6th Duke of Grafton
William FitzRoy, 6th Duke of Grafton
William Henry Fitzroy, 6th Duke of Grafton , known from 1847 to 1863 by his courtesy title Earl of Euston, was a British peer and Liberal Party politician....
spent the winter and spring each year at Hyères because he and his wife suffered from ill health. An Edwin Lee M.D. published in 1857 a book on the virtues of the climate of Hyères for the recovery of pulmonary consumption and in November 1880 Adolphe Smith first published The Garden of Hyères .
In 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
came to Hyères and for about two years lived first at the Grand Hotel (the building still stands in the Avenue des Iles d'Or), and then in a chalet called Solitude in the present rue Victor-Basch. He wrote then: "That spot our garden and our view are sub-celestial. I sing daily with Bunian, that great bard. I dwell next door to Heaven!". In later years he wrote from his retreat in Valima: "Happy (said I); I was only happy once; that was at Hyères."
In 1884, Elisabeth Douglas , daughter of Alfred, Lord Douglas, had a small "cottage" as she called it built on the Costebelle hill by the architect Thomas Donaldson who used to spend his winters in Hyères during those years.
The British presence culminated in the winter of 1892 (21 March - 25 April) when Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
came for a stay of three weeks at The Albion Hotel. At that time, the British influence was so strong that shop signs were in both French and English. There was an English butcher, a chemist, two banks and two golf courses. There were also two English churches (plus one at the Grand Hôtel in Costebelle) whose buildings still exist: All Saint's Church at Costebelle and Saint Paul's English Church, Avenue Beauregard.
Some signs of this English presence have vanished like the small dell in the cemetery where once stood some hundred graves, some of which bore testimony to the aristocratic nature of the community such as that of Lord Arthur Somerset
Lord Arthur Somerset
Major Lord Henry Arthur George Somerset DL was the third son of the 8th Duke of Beaufort and his wife, the former Lady Georgiana Curzon...
or Richard John Meade
Richard John Meade
General Sir Richard John Meade, KCSI, CIE was born at Innishannon County Cork to Captain John Meade of the Royal Navy and Elizabeth Quin....
. Other vestiges remain, like the fountain near the new public library in a square shaded by plane tree. The inscription reads: "In loving memory of Marianne Stewart who died on 18 August 1900. She laboured many years in the cause of mercy to animals. Her last wish was that a drinking fountain should be set up for them in Hyères".
Many wounded British soldiers were sent to the town to convalesce during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
The American novelist Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist, short story writer, and designer.- Early life and marriage:...
wintered in Hyères annually from 1919 until her death in 1937. The garden of her villa, Castel Sainte-Claire
Castel Sainte-Claire
The Castel Sainte-Claire is a villa in the hills above Hyères, in the Var Département of France, which was the residence of Olivier Voutier, a French officer who brought the Venus de Milo to France in 1820, and later of the American novelist Edith Wharton...
, is open to the public. The villa previously belonged to Olivier Voutier
Olivier Voutier
Olivier Voutier was a French naval officer who discovered the statue of the Venus de Milo in 1820, and fought in the Greek War of Independence.- Discovery of the Venus de Milo :...
, a French naval officer, whose grave is in the garden. It was Voutier who discovered the Venus de Milo
Venus de Milo
Aphrodite of Milos , better known as the Venus de Milo, is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Created at some time between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love and beauty. It is a marble sculpture, slightly...
in 1820 on the Aegean island of Milos.
Transportation
The railway station Gare d'HyèresGare d'Hyères
Gare d'Hyères is a railway station serving the town Hyères, Var department, southeastern France.-References:*...
offers connections with Toulon, Marseille, Paris and several regional destinations.
The airport, which is known officially as the Toulon-Hyères International Airport, is situated 4 km (2.5 mi) to the southeast of the town centre, on a sandy plane close to the seashore. The area was first used by private aircraft at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1920, after the marsh had been drained, French naval aircraft used the field, and in 1925 it became an official base of the French Fleet Air Arm. It has been a commercial airport since 1966, but the navy maintains a presence within the perimeter.
There are currently (2009) scheduled flights to and from Stockholm, Bristol, Ajaccio, Paris, London, Brest, Brussels and Rotterdam.
Personalities
Hyères was the birthplace of Jean Baptiste MassillonJean Baptiste Massillon
Jean Baptiste Massillon was a French Catholic bishop and famous preacher, Bishop of Clermont from 1717 until his death.-Early years:Massillon was born at Hyères in Provence where his father was a royal notary...
(1663–1742), churchman and preacher.
Twin towns
Hyères is twinned with RottweilRottweil
Rottweil is a town in the south west of Germany and is the oldest town in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg.Located between the Black Forest and the Swabian Alb hills, Rottweil has about 25,000 inhabitants...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and with Koekelberg
Koekelberg
Koekelberg is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. On January 1, 2006 the municipality had a total population of 18,157...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
.
Culture
Hyères is home to the Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival, a huge fashion and art photography event which has taken place annually at the end of April since 1985. This festival was among the first to recognize the talents of Viktor & RolfViktor & Rolf
Viktor & Rolf is an Amsterdam-based fashion house. The company was founded in 1993 by designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren .- History :...
.
The city also plays host to the annual MIDI French Riviera Festival in July, a music festival now into its sixth episode. 2010's MIDI saw around 15 acts play at the Villa Noailles
Villa Noailles
Villa Noailles is an early modernist house, built by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens for art patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, between 1923 and 1927. It is located in the hills above Hyères, in the Var, southeastern France.- History :...
complex and brought the new 'MIDI Night' event to Alamanarre Beach in the early hours of Sunday morning.
See also
- CostebelleCostebelleCostebelle is a quarter of the town of Hyères in the southeast of France, in the Var département....
- Stade PerrucStade PerrucThe Stade Perruc is a multi-use stadium in Hyères, France. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Hyères FC. The stadium had a capacity of 1,410 when it was built in 1951.-External links:*...
- Stade Gaby RobertStade Gaby RobertThe Stade Gaby Robert is a multi-use stadium in Costebelle, Hyères, France. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Hyères FC "B" and Hyères FC "C".-External links:*...
- Communes of the Var department
External links
- Free download of The Garden of Hyères on the site of the National French Library
- English version of official town website
- Official website (in French)
- Indiscretions from Hyeres Unofficial website (in French)
- VillaNoailles- the site of Villa Noailles, an avant-garde villa turned cultural center, home of the Hyères Fashion and Photography Festival, MIDI French Riviera Festival, Design Parade and other events.
- MIDI French Riviera Festival - MIDI Music Festival