Port-Vendres
Encyclopedia
Port-Vendres is a commune
in the Pyrénées-Orientales
department in southern France.
A typical Mediterranean
fishing port, situated near the Spanish border on the cote Vermeille
in south west France, Port-Vendres is renowned for its numerous fish and sea food restaurants. You can watch the fishing boats arriving with their daily catch. It is also a major marina in the region.
Port-Vendres is one of the few deep-water ports in this part of the French Mediterranean coast. It takes freighters and cruise ships, as well as large and small fishing boats.
The geomorphology
of Port-Vendres meant that it developed in a different way from the nearby port of Collioure
. Whereas Collioure has two sandy beaches which slowly descend into a relatively shallow sandy-bottomed harbour, Port-Vendres is deeper and rockier. Collioure and Port-Vendres have therefore been used for different purposes - Collioure for small commercial ship and Port-Vendres for larger vessels and military transports. During the 20th century, this made it a main point of embarkation for French troops going to serve in Algeria
.
times, when it was used as a harbour connected with the Iberian
settlement of Illiberis (modern Elne
). It was later developed by the Romans
, who called it Portus Veneris after the goddess Venus
; there was probably a temple of Venus nearby for the good fortune of mariners. During the Middle Ages, Port-Vendres was expanded by the rulers of the Kingdom of Majorca
and served as a key point of connection between the mainland and the Balearic Islands
. It passed to France along with the rest of Rousillon in 1659, as a result of the Treaty of the Pyrenees
. Vauban
carried out work to fortify the port between 1673 and 1700, building three redoubts and fortresses.
Under Louis XVI
, a major expansion of the port was carried out under the supervision of Count Joseph Augustin De Mailly d'Haucourt, the lieutenant general for Roussillon and commander in chief of the province. He was the driving force behind the modernisation of Port-Vendres as a port, and followed plans originally conceived by Vauban
to open up and enlarge the existing facilities. From 1776–78, land was dug out and quays were created. A fourth fortress, the Redoute Mailly, was also built at this time to guard the harbour.
Charles De Wailly
, architect and painter to the king, was commissioned to build a 98 feet (29.9 m)-high marble obelisk
which has now become a focal point of Port-Vendres. The first stone was placed on 28 September 1780, by Mailly's wife, Felicite de Narbonne Pelet, and witnessed by much of the Roussillon nobility. The obelisk is adorned by four bronze bas-reliefs representing the newly independent United States of America, which France had supported during the American War of Independence; the abolition of serfdom
in France; free trade and the strengthened French Navy. In commemoration of the building of the obelisk, the Fete de Mailly takes place every September. The day begins with a fancy dress parade through the streets followed by a re-enactment of the placing of the first stone, circus workshops, historical games, rides in a carriage, Xim Xim concert (featuring traditional dance music of central France), Catalan ballet, enactment of a pirate fight, jeu de foulard (bandana game), and so on.
During the Second World War, the town was part of a heavily fortified coastal zone established by the occupying forces of Nazi Germany
. Coastal artillery batteries were built at Cap Béar just south of the town, but the Germans abandoned the area in August 1944 a few days after the Allied landings on the Côte d'Azur during Operation Dragoon
.
Yorktown, Virginia, United States
Zweibrücken, Germany
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 Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales
Pyrénées-Orientales is a department of southern France adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish enclave of Llívia, and thus has two distinct borders with Spain.- History :...
department in southern France.
A typical Mediterranean
Mediterranean 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...
fishing port, situated near the Spanish border on the cote Vermeille
Côte Vermeille
The Côte Vermeille is a region in the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales, near the border with Spain. The Côte Vermeille stretches from Argelès-sur-Mer to the border village of Cerbère, quaint and relatively quiet seaside hideaway in the valley of Cervera...
in south west France, Port-Vendres is renowned for its numerous fish and sea food restaurants. You can watch the fishing boats arriving with their daily catch. It is also a major marina in the region.
Port-Vendres is one of the few deep-water ports in this part of the French Mediterranean coast. It takes freighters and cruise ships, as well as large and small fishing boats.
The geomorphology
Geomorphology
Geomorphology is the scientific study of landforms and the processes that shape them...
of Port-Vendres meant that it developed in a different way from the nearby port of Collioure
Collioure
Collioure is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It lies on the Mediterranean and was a part of the ancient Roussillon province....
. Whereas Collioure has two sandy beaches which slowly descend into a relatively shallow sandy-bottomed harbour, Port-Vendres is deeper and rockier. Collioure and Port-Vendres have therefore been used for different purposes - Collioure for small commercial ship and Port-Vendres for larger vessels and military transports. During the 20th century, this made it a main point of embarkation for French troops going to serve in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
.
History
Port-Vendres has been in existence since Iron AgeIron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
times, when it was used as a harbour connected with the Iberian
Iberians
The Iberians were a set of peoples that Greek and Roman sources identified with that name in the eastern and southern coasts of the Iberian peninsula at least from the 6th century BC...
settlement of Illiberis (modern Elne
Elne
Elne is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.It lies in the former province of Roussillon, of which it was the first capital, being later replaced by Perpignan...
). It was later developed by the Romans
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, who called it Portus Veneris after the goddess Venus
Venus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...
; there was probably a temple of Venus nearby for the good fortune of mariners. During the Middle Ages, Port-Vendres was expanded by the rulers of the Kingdom of Majorca
Kingdom of Majorca
The Kingdom of Majorca was founded by James I of Aragon, also known as James The Conqueror. After the death of his first-born son Alfonso, a will was written in 1262 which created the kingdom in order to cede it to his son James...
and served as a key point of connection between the mainland and the Balearic Islands
Balearic Islands
The Balearic Islands are an archipelago of Spain in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.The four largest islands are: Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. The archipelago forms an autonomous community and a province of Spain with Palma as the capital...
. It passed to France along with the rest of Rousillon in 1659, as a result of the Treaty of the Pyrenees
Treaty of the Pyrenees
The Treaty of the Pyrenees was signed to end the 1635 to 1659 war between France and Spain, a war that was initially a part of the wider Thirty Years' War. It was signed on Pheasant Island, a river island on the border between the two countries...
. Vauban
Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...
carried out work to fortify the port between 1673 and 1700, building three redoubts and fortresses.
Under Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, a major expansion of the port was carried out under the supervision of Count Joseph Augustin De Mailly d'Haucourt, the lieutenant general for Roussillon and commander in chief of the province. He was the driving force behind the modernisation of Port-Vendres as a port, and followed plans originally conceived by Vauban
Vauban
Sébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them...
to open up and enlarge the existing facilities. From 1776–78, land was dug out and quays were created. A fourth fortress, the Redoute Mailly, was also built at this time to guard the harbour.
Charles De Wailly
Charles De Wailly
Charles De Wailly was a French architect and urbanist, and furniture designer, one of the principals in the Neoclassical revival of the Antique. His major work was the Théâtre de l'Odéon for the Comédie-Française...
, architect and painter to the king, was commissioned to build a 98 feet (29.9 m)-high marble obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
which has now become a focal point of Port-Vendres. The first stone was placed on 28 September 1780, by Mailly's wife, Felicite de Narbonne Pelet, and witnessed by much of the Roussillon nobility. The obelisk is adorned by four bronze bas-reliefs representing the newly independent United States of America, which France had supported during the American War of Independence; the abolition of serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
in France; free trade and the strengthened French Navy. In commemoration of the building of the obelisk, the Fete de Mailly takes place every September. The day begins with a fancy dress parade through the streets followed by a re-enactment of the placing of the first stone, circus workshops, historical games, rides in a carriage, Xim Xim concert (featuring traditional dance music of central France), Catalan ballet, enactment of a pirate fight, jeu de foulard (bandana game), and so on.
During the Second World War, the town was part of a heavily fortified coastal zone established by the occupying forces of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Coastal artillery batteries were built at Cap Béar just south of the town, but the Germans abandoned the area in August 1944 a few days after the Allied landings on the Côte d'Azur during Operation Dragoon
Operation 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...
.
Twins
Port-Vendres is twinned with:Yorktown, Virginia, United States
Zweibrücken, Germany
See also
- Banyuls AOCBanyuls AOCBanyuls is a French appellation d'origine contrôlée for a fortified apéritif or dessert wine made from old vines cultivated in terraces on the slopes of the Catalan Pyrenees in the Roussillon county of France, bordering, to the south, the Empordà wine region in Catalonia in Spain.The AOC...
- PaulillesPaulillesPaulilles is a protected area on the Mediterranean Sea, located between the towns of Port-Vendres, and Banyuls-sur-Mer in Pyrénées-Orientales, North Catalonia, France.- The Dynamite Factory :...
- Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department