Cholet

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Cholet
Subprefecture and commune
Coat of arms
show Location of Cholet Wikimedia | © OpenStreetMap
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Coordinates: 47°03′36″N 0°52′42″W / 47.060000°N 0.8783°W / 47.060000; -0.8783Coordinates: 47°03′36″N 0°52′42″W / 47.060000°N 0.8783°W / 47.060000; -0.8783
Country	France
Region	Pays de la Loire
Department	Maine-et-Loire
Arrondissement	Cholet
Canton	Cholet-1 and 2
Intercommunality	CA Choletais
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Gilles Bourdouleix (CNIP)
Area 1	87.47 km2 (33.77 sq mi)
Population  (Jan. 2018)[1]	54,186
• Density	620/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	49099 /49300
Elevation	63–184 m (207–604 ft) (avg. 124 m or 407 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Cholet (French: [ʃɔlɛ] (listen), local pronunciation: [ʃɔ(ː)ɫe], probably from Latin cauletum, "cabbage") is a commune of western France in the Maine-et-Loire department. It was the capital of military Vendée.

Demographics[]

The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Cholet proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Cholet absorbed the former commune of Le Puy-Saint-Bonnet in 1973.^[2]

Geography[]

Cholet stands on an eminence on the right bank of the river , which used to be crossed by a bridge from the fifteenth century. It is about 50 km southeast of Nantes.

History[]

The town owes the rise of its prosperity to the settlement of weavers there by  [Wikidata], count of Maulévrier, a brother of the great Jean-Baptiste Colbert. It then became an estate of  [Wikidata] and marquess of Cholet, who developed the town and its economy. The main commercial mall being built this year^[when?] is named after him: The "".

During the early years of the French revolutionary wars, the town found itself at the heart of the counter-revolutionary struggle in the Vendée, culminating in October 1793 with the Battle of Cholet which was won by the republicans and followed by a period of brutal government repression.

According to the Jan. 10th 1885 edition of Corbett's Herald, a temporary theatre had collapsed on an audience of 1000, causing 150 fatalities.

Sights[]

The Jardin du Mail

A public garden occupies the site of the old castle; the public buildings and churches, for example the (église du Sacré-Cœur, 1939), are modern. The Church of the Sacred Heart is in the Byzantine Romanesque style and was the work of the local architect Maurice Laurentin.^[4] The Church of Our Lady (église Notre-Dame) is listed as a "monument historique"^[5]

Megalithic monuments are numerous in the neighborhood.^{[citation needed]}

The church of Our Lady

A textile museum (Musée du Textile) 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. Woolen and cotton fabrics are also produced, and bleaching and the manufacture of preserved foods are carried on. Cholet is the most important center in France for the sale of fat cattle, sheep and pigs, for which Paris is the chief market.

Transport[]

serves Cholet. The Gare de Cholet railway station offers regional services towards Nantes and Angers.

Education[]

• École supérieure des sciences commerciales d'Angers

Sport[]

SO Cholet is based in the commune as is Cholet Basket.

Cholet hosted Stage 4 (Individual Time Trial) and was the departure of Stage 5 in the 2008 Tour de France. It was scheduled to host a Team Time Trial stage in the 2018 Tour de France and Stage 3 of the 2018 Tour de France started and finished in Cholet.

Twin towns - sister cities[]

Cholet is twinned with:^[6]

• Oldenburg, Germany, since 1985
• Dorohoi, Romania
• Solihull, United Kingdom
• Dénia, Spain

Notable people[]

• Gilbert Prouteau (1917–2012), poet and film director.
• François Morellet (1926–2016), painter, sculptor and light artist
• Antoine Rigaudeau (b. 1971), basketball player

See also[]

• Communes of the Maine-et-Loire department

References[]

• INSEE commune file
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cholet". Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 267.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cholet.

• Official website

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