Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire Département, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France

Geography | Ancient and Medieval eras | Revolutionary and Imperial eras | Second World War | Sights | Parks and gardens | Transport : Public | Wine | Tourist Industry | Economy | Culture | Sports and leisure

🇫🇷 Mâcon, historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city gave its name to the nearby vineyards and wine 'appellation'.

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Geography The city lies on the western bank of the river Saône, between Bresse in the east and the Beaujolais hills in the south. Mâcon is the southernmost city in the department of Saône-et-Loire and the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is 65 km (40 miles) north of Lyon and 400 km (249 miles) from Paris. The climate is temperate with a slight continental tendency.

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Ancient and Medieval eras The agglomeration of Mâcon originates from the establishment of an oppidum and of a river port by the Celts from the Aedui, probably at the beginning of the first century BC. Known then under the name of Matisco, the town developed significantly during the age of the Roman Empire. This is demonstrated by the large Roman hoard known as the Mâcon Treasure that was discovered in the town in 1764, the remains of which is in the British Museum. During the 4th century, the town was fortified.

During the Middle Ages, Mâcon was the administrative centre of a county belonging to the Duchy of Burgundy at the extremity of the bridge over the Saône leading to the Bresse territory belonging to the Duchy of Savoy. The town controlled access to present-day Lamartinien Valley (Val Lamartinien), where the southern end of the Côte de Bourgogne joins the first foothills of the Beaujolais hills, opening the way to the rich plains of the Loire.

On 3 June 1564, Charles IX from Chalon, stopped in the town during his Royal Tour of France (1564–1566), accompanied by the Court and the nobles of his kingdom, including his brother the Duke of Anjou, Henry of Navarre, the cardinals of Bourbon and Lorraine. The town is strategically built: it was a possible entrance into the kingdom for the Swiss or German mercenaries during the French Wars of Religion. He was welcomed by the Queen Jeanne III of Navarre, nicknamed the "Queen of Protestants", and 1,500 Huguenots.

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Revolutionary and Imperial eras On 21 October 1790, the matriarch of a prominent local family gave birth to a son who remains highly visible in his hometown, the Romantic poet and historian Alphonse de Lamartine.

In 1790, the Revolutionary government designated Mâcon as the capital (chef-lieu) of Saône-et-Loire, a newly created département within the radical restructuring of national administration.

In 1814, the town was invaded by Austrian troops and then liberated twice by French troops before being permanently occupied until the fall of the Empire. After Napoléon's return and the subsequent Hundred Days, Mâcon and the Mâconnais were again captured by the Austrians.

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Second World War During World War II, Mâcon was the northernmost town in the unoccupied zone libre between Paris and Lyon. The town was liberated on 4 September 1944 as part of Operation Dragoon by troops who had landed in Provence.

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Sights • The Old Saint-Vincent in the town centre • Mâcon Cathedral (Cathédrale Saint-Vincent de Mâcon) in the town centre • Museum of Fine Arts (former Ursuline Convent) • Hôtel de Senecé (Lamartine museum) • Saint-Clément Catholic Church in the district of Saint-Clément • Church Saint-Pierre, Place Saint-Pierre, opposite the Town Hall • The Municipal Olympic Pool of Mâcon • The Maison des Vins or Maison Mâconnaise des Vins, on De-Lattre de Tassigny Avenue. • The Quai Lamartine (quay), the Vallon des Rigollettes, the Physical Activity Training Course (P.A.P.A) and the Marina: many places suitable for walking and relaxing. • The Theater of Mâcon (public theatre) close to the Maison des vins, Droits de l'Homme esplanade. • Château Saint-Jean, in the old commune of Saint-Jean-le-Priche annexed to Mâcon in 1972 • Château des Perrières, on a hill overlooking the town

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Parks and gardens In 2007, the city was awarded the Grand Prix prize and "4 flowers" in the Entente Florale competition.

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Transport Mâcon is connected to neighbouring major cities through various routes: • Roads: ◦ A6 motorway (Route: Paris-Lyon) ◦ A40 Motorway (route: Mâcon-Geneva) ◦ A406 Motorway (bypass south of Mâcon) ◦ Route nationale 6 ◦ RCEA (Center-Europe-Atlantic road) which allows a direct traffic flow from Annemasse to Nantes or Bordeaux ◦ The François Mitterrand Bridge is the second work of construction connecting Mâcon to the left bank of the Saône River • Railway Infrastructures: ◦ Gare de Mâcon Loché TGV (routes: Paris-Marseille and Paris-Geneva) ◦ Gare de Mâcon-Ville (routes Dijon–Mâcon–Lyon and Mâcon–Bourg-en-Bresse–Ambérieu-en-Bugey) • River infrastructures: ◦ The Saône river which allows access to the Mediterranean Sea via the Rhône River

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Transport: Public Mâcon uses the urban transport service Tréma, run by the organising transport authorities, the SITUM (Inter-communal City Transport Union of Mâconnais – Val de Saône). The SITUM currently consists of 3 members: CAMVAL (Agglomeration Community of Mâcon-Val de Saône) (26 communes) and the Chaintré and Crêches-sur-Saône communes. The Urban Transport Area of the SITUM extends over 28 communes in total.

On the evening of 30 June 2009, the Mâcon Bus services ceased operation. This was due to the public service delegation contract between the SITUM and the Mâcon Bus company (a subsidiary of Transdev), operating the network since 1987, not being renewed at the last call for bids. So since 1 July 2009, the company CarPostal Mâcon (CarPostal France's subsidiary) has been providing city transport services on the network renamed Tréma.

The network Tréma, restructured on 31 August 2009, made the following bid: • urban lines (A to G) going through Mâcon, Crêches-sur-Saône, Sancé, Saint-Laurent-sur-Saône, central Charnay-lès-Mâcon and Mâcon Loché TGV train station on a regular basis. • a transport service requested by TrémA'Fil to operate in the other communes of the SITUM area, to increase the frequency of the less busy regular lines (F and G) and to offer a service for each city stop in the morning before the beginning of services for scheduled lines and in the evening after the end of the services. • school lines named TrémA'Scol.

Mâcon is run by the network Buscephale of Saône-et-Loire's local council.

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Wine The area west and north of Mâcon produces well-known wines from the Chardonnay grape. The best known appellation of the Mâconnais is Pouilly-Fuissé.

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Tourist Industry In Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, you can see: • The Arboretum de Pézanin, one of the richest tree collections in France, near Mâcon, • The Rock of Solutré, • Cluny abbey of vast size and complex elevations and its medieval city of small proportions. • Charolles and its breed of cattle, "le boeuf charolais". • Paray-le-Monial with its church modelled as a smaller version of Cluny abbey, cloistered garden, basilica, museum and ornate town hall.

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Economy • Viticulture and maturing • Industrial River Port • Metallurgy • Logistics and road transport • Boating.

Mâcon holds the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Saône-et-Loire, which manages the river port of Mâcon through Aproport, the Automotive Training Center (CFA Automobile) and the Mâcon-Charnay airport. The headquarters for the Chamber of Agriculture of Saône-et-Loire is also based in Mâcon.

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Culture The "Eté frappé" Festival, a free art and music festival, takes place every summer from June to August all over the town (notably on the Lamartine esplanade alongside the river Saône) featuring many concerts of a wide range of musical styles (classical, French song, jazz, rock, folk, hip-hop, rap), many shows (dance, comedy), open air film shows, open air plays, sporting events. In 2011, 48.000 people attended the festival.

Every year in July, the Crescent Jazz Club holds a jazz festival during three days (as part of the "Eté frappé" Festival) featuring international jazz musicians.

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Sports and leisure Mâcon has 73 clubs with 55 organisations, 40 different sports to play, and 14,506 members of a sports association (42% of the population). It was elected the most sportive town in France in 2001. • The A.S Mâcon rugby club is now progressing to 'Fédérale 1' (the third division in the rugby union club championship). They reached the highest level in 1987–1988 (ASM appeared in the Pool league with Biarritz Olympique's Serge Blanco, the US Dax, Montpellier Hérault RC Montpellier and Lavelanet). • The rowing club (the Régates Mâconnaises) is a leading sport clubs in the town. Each year it organises several major events (regional, national championships) and sends many of its rowers to the biggest competitions. Similarly, each year, the Stade Nautique Mâconnais sends swimmers to the France N1 swimming championships. • A motor boating Grand Prix is held annually in late September (part of the speed championship of France in categories S2000 and S3000). • The Municipal Band of Mâcon. • The Mâcon Academy is extensive and nationally recognised. • Ski club and barefoot in Mâcon • UF Mâconnais is the football club of Mâcon.

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Europe/Paris/Saone-et-Loire 
<b>Europe/Paris/Saone-et-Loire</b>
Image: Adobe Stock JackF #234282289

Mâcon has a population of over 34,414 people. Mâcon also forms the centre of the wider Saône-et-Loire Département which has a population of over 555,023 people.

To set up a UBI Lab for Mâcon see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Mâcon has links with:

🇪🇸 Alcázar de San Juan, Spain 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Crewe, England 🇭🇺 Eger, Hungary 🇮🇹 Lecco, Italy 🇺🇸 Macon, USA 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Nantwich, England 🇩🇪 Neustadt an der Weinstraße, Germany 🇧🇪 Overijse, Belgium 🇫🇮 Pori, Finland 🇵🇹 Santo Tirso, Portugal 🇧🇬 Shumen, Bulgaria
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Mâcon is: -175.178,-46.311

Locations Near: Mâcon 4.82238,46.3105

🇫🇷 Villefranche-sur-Saône 4.717,45.983 d: 37.3  

🇫🇷 Bourg-en-Bresse 5.215,46.21 d: 32.2  

🇫🇷 Chalon-sur-Saône 4.855,46.78 d: 52.2  

🇫🇷 Vaulx-en-Velin 4.919,45.778 d: 59.7  

🇫🇷 Lyon 4.835,45.767 d: 60.4  

🇫🇷 Villeurbanne 4.88,45.767 d: 60.6  

🇫🇷 Charolles 4.275,46.434 d: 44.2  

🇫🇷 Le Creusot 4.441,46.801 d: 61.9  

🇫🇷 Beaune 4.838,47.024 d: 79.3  

🇫🇷 Vienne 4.878,45.524 d: 87.5  

Antipodal to: Mâcon -175.178,-46.311

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 17215.8  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 16428.9  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 16389.6  

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 16042.5  

🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 12399  

🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 12326.6  

🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 12314.9  

🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 12309.3  

🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 12308.6  

🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 12297.2  

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