Bordeaux facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Bordeaux Bordèu  (Occitan)
Prefecture and commune
From top to bottom, left to right: Place de la Bourse, Cité du Vin, Monument aux Girondins, Tour Pey-Berland, Grosse Cloche, Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, Saint-André Cathedral and Pont de pierre on the Garonne
Flag Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Lilia sola regunt lunam undas castra leonem. "The fleur-de-lis alone rules over the moon, the waves, the castle, and the lion" (in French: "Les lys règnent seuls sur la lune, les ondes, la forteresse et le lion.")
Bordeaux Location in France Show map of France Bordeaux Location in Nouvelle-Aquitaine Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Gironde
Arrondissement	Bordeaux
Canton	5 cantons
Intercommunality	Bordeaux Métropole
Area 1	49.36 km2 (19.06 sq mi)
• Urban  (2020)	1,287.3 km2 (497.0 sq mi)
• Metro  (2020)	6,315.6 km2 (2,438.5 sq mi)
Population  (2021)	261,804
• Rank	9th in France
• Density	5,304.0/km2 (13,737.2/sq mi)
• Urban  (Jan. 2020)	994,920
• Urban density	772.87/km2 (2,001.73/sq mi)
• Metro  (Jan. 2020)	1,376,375
• Metro density	217.9326/km2 (564.443/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	Bordelais
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	33063 /
Website
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Bordeaux, Port of the Moon
Criteria	Cultural: ii, iv
Inscription	2007 (31st Session)
Area	1,731 ha
Buffer zone	11,974 ha
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Bordeaux (/bɔːrˈdoʊ/ BOR-doh; French: [bɔʁdo]; Gascon Occitan: Bordèu [buɾˈðɛw]; Basque: Bordele) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called "Bordelais" (masculine) or "Bordelaises" (feminine). The term "Bordelais" may also refer to the city and its surrounding region.

The city of Bordeaux proper had a population of 259,809 in 2020 within its small municipal territory of 49 km² (19 sq mi), but together with its suburbs and exurbs the Bordeaux metropolitan area had a population of 1,376,375 that same year (Jan. 2020 census), the sixth-most populated in France after Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, and Toulouse.

Bordeaux and 27 suburban municipalities form the Bordeaux Metropolis, an indirectly elected metropolitan authority now in charge of wider metropolitan issues. The Bordeaux Metropolis, with a population of 819,604 at the January 2020 census, is the fifth most populated metropolitan council in France after those of Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Lille.

Bordeaux is a world capital of wine: many châteaux and vineyards stand on the hillsides of the Gironde, and the city is home to the world's main wine fair, Vinexpo. Bordeaux is also one of the centers of gastronomy and business tourism for the organization of international congresses. It is a central and strategic hub for the aeronautics, military and space sector, home to international companies such as Dassault Aviation, Ariane Group, Safran and Thalès. The link with aviation dates back to 1910, the year the first airplane flew over the city. A crossroads of knowledge through university research, it is home to one of the only two megajoule lasers in the world, as well as a university population of more than 130,000 students within the Bordeaux Metropolis.

Bordeaux is an international tourist destination for its architectural and cultural heritage with more than 362 historic monuments, making it, after Paris, the city with the most listed or registered monuments in France. The "Pearl of Aquitaine" has been voted European Destination of the year in a 2015 online poll. The metropolis has also received awards and rankings by international organizations such as in 1957, Bordeaux was awarded the Europe Prize for its efforts in transmitting the European ideal. In June 2007, the Port of the Moon in historic Bordeaux was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, for its outstanding architecture and urban ensemble and in recognition of Bordeaux's international importance over the last 2000 years. Bordeaux is also ranked as a Sufficiency city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

History

5th century BC to 11th century AD

Around 300 BC, the region was the settlement of a Celtic tribe, the Bituriges Vivisci, named the town Burdigala, probably of Aquitanian origin.

In 107 BC, the Battle of Burdigala was fought by the Romans who were defending the Allobroges, a Gallic tribe allied to Rome, and the Tigurini led by Divico. The Romans were defeated and their commander, the consul Lucius Cassius Longinus, was killed in battle.

The city came under Roman rule around 60 BC, and it became an important commercial centre for tin and lead. During this period were built the amphitheatre and the monument Les Piliers de Tutelle.

In 276, it was sacked by the Vandals. The Vandals attacked again in 409, followed by the Visigoths in 414, and the Franks in 498, and afterwards the city fell into a period of relative obscurity.

In the late sixth century the city re-emerged as the seat of a county and an archdiocese within the Merovingian kingdom of the Franks, but royal Frankish power was never strong. The city started to play a regional role as a major urban center on the fringes of the newly founded Frankish Duchy of Vasconia. Around 585 Gallactorius was made Count of Bordeaux and fought the Basques.

In 732, the city was plundered by the troops of Abd er Rahman who stormed the fortifications and overwhelmed the Aquitanian garrison. Duke Eudes mustered a force to engage the Umayyads, eventually engaging them in the Battle of the River Garonne somewhere near the river Dordogne. The battle had a high death toll, and although Eudes was defeated he had enough troops to engage in the Battle of Poitiers and so retain his grip on Aquitaine.

In 737, following his father Eudes's death, the Aquitanian duke Hunald led a rebellion to which Charles responded by launching an expedition that captured Bordeaux. However, it was not retained for long, during the following year the Frankish commander clashed in battle with the Aquitanians but then left to take on hostile Burgundian authorities and magnates. In 745 Aquitaine faced another expedition where Charles's sons Pepin and Carloman challenged Hunald's power and defeated him. Hunald's son Waifer replaced him and confirmed Bordeaux as the capital city (along with Bourges in the north).

During the last stage of the war against Aquitaine (760–768), it was one of Waifer's last important strongholds to fall to the troops of King Pepin the Short. Charlemagne built the fortress of Fronsac (Frontiacus, Franciacus) near Bordeaux on a hill across the border with the Basques (Wascones), where Basque commanders came and pledged their loyalty (769).

In 778, Seguin (or Sihimin) was appointed count of Bordeaux, probably undermining the power of the Duke Lupo, and possibly leading to the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. In 814, Seguin was made Duke of Vasconia, but was deposed in 816 for failing to suppress a Basque rebellion. Under the Carolingians, sometimes the Counts of Bordeaux held the title concomitantly with that of Duke of Vasconia. They were to keep the Basques in check and defend the mouth of the Garonne from the Vikings when they appeared in c. 844. In Autumn 845, the Vikings were raiding Bordeaux and Saintes, count Seguin II marched on them but was captured and executed.

Although the port of Bordeaux was a buzzing trade center, the stability and success of the city was threatened by Viking and Norman incursions and political instability. The restoration of the Ramnulfid Dukes of Aquitaine under William IV and his successors (known as the House of Poitiers) brought continuity of government.

12th century to 15th century, the English era

From the 12th to the 15th century, Bordeaux flourished once more following the marriage of Eléonore, Duchess of Aquitaine and the last of the House of Poitiers, to Henry II Plantagenêt, Count of Anjou and the grandson of Henry I of England, who succeeded to the English crown months after their wedding, bringing into being the vast Angevin Empire, which stretched from the Pyrenees to Ireland. After granting a tax-free trade status with England, Henry was adored by the locals as they could be even more profitable in the wine trade, their main source of income, and the city benefited from imports of cloth and wheat. The belfry (Grosse Cloche) and city cathedral St-André were built, the latter in 1227, incorporating the artisan quarter of Saint-Paul. Under the terms of the Treaty of Brétigny it became briefly the capital of an independent state (1362–1372) under Edward, the Black Prince, but after the Battle of Castillon (1453) it was annexed by France.

15th century to 17th century

In 1462, Bordeaux created a local parliament.

Bordeaux adhered to the Fronde, being effectively annexed to the Kingdom of France only in 1653, when the army of Louis XIV entered the city.

18th century, the golden era

The 18th century saw another golden age of Bordeaux. The Port of the Moon supplied the majority of Europe with coffee, cocoa, sugar, cotton and indigo, becoming France's busiest port and the second busiest port in the world after London. Many downtown buildings (about 5,000), including those on the quays, are from this period.

Bordeaux was also a major trading centre for slaves. In total, the Bordeaux shipowners deported 150,000 Africans in some 500 expeditions.

French Revolution: political disruption and loss of the most profitable colony

At the beginning of the French Revolution (1789), many local revolutionaries were members of the Girondists. This Party represented the provincial bourgeoisie, favorable towards abolishing aristocracy privileges, but opposed to the Revolution's social dimension. The Gironde valley's economic value and significance was satiated by the city's commercial power which was in dire contrast to the emerging widespread poverty affecting its inhabitants. Trade and commerce were the driving factors in the region's economic prosperity, still this resulted in a significant number of locals struggling to survive on a daily basis due to lack of food and resources. This socioeconomic disparity served as fertile ground for discontent, sparking frequent episodes of mass unrest well before the tumultuous events of 1783. [1]

In 1793, the Montagnards led by Robespierre and Marat came to power. Fearing a bourgeois misappropriation of the Revolution, they executed a great number of Girondists. During the purge, the local Montagnard Section renamed the city of Bordeaux "Commune-Franklin" (Franklin-municipality) in homage to Benjamin Franklin.

At the same time, in 1791, a slave revolt broke out at Saint-Domingue (current Haiti), the most profitable of the French colonies.In the lively era of the 18th century, Bordeaux emerged as a center of economic activity, particularly known at first for its successful wine trade. The city's placement along the Gironde River was very strategic, helping to facilitate the transportation of produce to markets both internationally and domestically, which led to an increase in exports and Bordeaux's economic prosperity. There was a significant transformation to the economic landscape of Bordeaux in 1785, which was spurred by the attraction of large profits, traders and merchants in Bordeaux began to turn their attention to the slave trade. This was a very important moment in the city's economic history seeing as it diversified its commercial expansion, at a serious moral cost. This introduced a new layer of difficulty to Bordeaux's economic activities. Even though it brought along significant wealth to certain segments of society, it complicated the socio-economic inconsistencies within the region. The entry into the slave trade brought even more tension within Bordeaux society. The trade exacerbated the divide between an elite with growing wealth and those living in poverty. This economic divide laid out the foundation for the mass unrest that would break out in the French Revolution. [2]

Three years later, the Montagnard Convention abolished slavery. In 1802, Napoleon revoked the manumission law but lost the war against the army of former slaves. In 1804, Haiti became independent. The loss of this "Pearl" of the West Indies generated the collapse of Bordeaux's port economy, which was dependent on the colonial trade and trade in slaves.

Towards the end of the Peninsular War of 1814, the Duke of Wellington sent William Beresford with two divisions and seized Bordeaux, encountering little resistance. Bordeaux was largely anti-Bonapartist and the majority supported the Bourbons. The British troops were treated as liberators. Distinguished historian of the French revolution Suzanne Desan explains that "examining intricate local dynamics" is essential to studying the Revolution by region. [3]

19th century, rebirth of the economy

From the Bourbon Restoration, the economy of Bordeaux was rebuilt by traders and shipowners. They engaged to construct the first bridge of Bordeaux, and customs warehouses. The shipping traffic grew through the new African colonies.

Georges-Eugène Haussmann, a longtime prefect of Bordeaux, used Bordeaux's 18th-century large-scale rebuilding as a model when he was asked by Emperor Napoleon III to transform the quasi-medieval Paris into a "modern" capital that would make France proud. Victor Hugo found the town so beautiful he said: "Take Versailles, add Antwerp, and you have Bordeaux".

In 1870, at the beginning of the Franco-Prussian war against Prussia, the French government temporarily relocated to Bordeaux from Paris. That recurred during World War I and again very briefly during World War II, when it became clear that Paris would fall into German hands.

20th century

During World War II, Bordeaux fell under German occupation.

In May and June 1940, Bordeaux was the site of the life-saving actions of the Portuguese consul-general, Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who illegally granted thousands of Portuguese visas, which were needed to pass the Spanish border, to refugees fleeing the German occupation.

From 1941 to 1943, the Italian Royal Navy established BETASOM, a submarine base at Bordeaux. Italian submarines participated in the Battle of the Atlantic from that base, which was also a major base for German U-boats as headquarters of 12th U-boat Flotilla. The massive, reinforced concrete U-boat pens have proved impractical to demolish and are now partly used as a cultural center for exhibitions.

21st century, listed as World heritage

In 2007, 40% of the city surface area, located around the Port of the Moon, was listed as World Heritage Site. UNESCO inscribed Bordeaux as "an inhabited historic city, an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble, created in the age of the Enlightenment, whose values continued up to the first half of the 20th century, with more protected buildings than any other French city except Paris".

Geography

Bordeaux is located close to the European Atlantic coast, in the southwest of France and in the north of the Aquitaine region. It is around 500 km (310 mi) southwest of Paris. The city is built on a bend of the river Garonne, and is divided into two parts: the right bank to the east and left bank in the west. Historically the left bank is more developed because when flowing outside the bend, the water makes a furrow of the required depth to allow the passing of merchant ships, which used to offload on this side of the river. But, today, the right bank is developing, including new urban projects. In Bordeaux, the Garonne River is accessible to ocean liners through the Gironde estuary. The right bank of the Garonne is a low-lying, often marshy plain.

Climate

Bordeaux's climate can be classified as oceanic (Köppen climate classification Cfb), bordering on a humid subtropical climate (Cfa). However, the Trewartha climate classification system classifies the city as solely humid subtropical, due to a recent rise in temperatures related – to some degree or another – to climate change and the city's urban heat island.

The city enjoys cool to mild, wet winters, due to its relatively southerly latitude, and the prevalence of mild, westerly winds from the Atlantic. Its summers are warm and somewhat drier, although wet enough to avoid a Mediterranean classification. Frosts occur annually, but snowfall is quite infrequent, occurring for no more than 3–4 days a year. The summer of 2003 set a record with an average temperature of 23.3 °C (73.9 °F), while February 1956 was the coldest month on record with an average temperature of −2.00 °C at Bordeaux Mérignac-Airport.

Economy

Bordeaux is a major centre for business in France as it has the sixth largest metropolitan population in France. It serves as a major regional center for trade, administration, services and industry.

Wine

The vine was introduced to the Bordeaux region by the Romans, probably in the mid-first century, to provide wine for local consumption, and wine production has been continuous in the region since.

Bordeaux wine growing area has about 116,160 hectares (287,000 acres) of vineyards, 57 appellations, 10,000 wine-producing estates (châteaux) and 13,000 grape growers. With an annual production of approximately 960 million bottles, the Bordeaux area produces large quantities of everyday wine as well as some of the most expensive wines in the world. Included among the latter are the area's five premier cru (First Growth) red wines (four from Médoc and one, Château Haut-Brion, from Graves), established by the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855:

Both red and white wines are made in the Bordeaux region. Red Bordeaux wine is called claret in the United Kingdom. Red wines are generally made from a blend of grapes, and may be made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit verdot, Malbec, and, less commonly in recent years, Carménère.

White Bordeaux is made from Sauvignon blanc, Sémillon, and Muscadelle. Sauternes is a sub-region of Graves known for its intensely sweet, white, dessert wines such as Château d'Yquem.

Because of a wine glut (wine lake) in the generic production, the price squeeze induced by an increasingly strong international competition, and vine pull schemes, the number of growers has recently dropped from 14,000 and the area under vine has also decreased significantly. In the meantime, the global demand for first growths and the most famous labels markedly increased and their prices skyrocketed.

The Cité du Vin, a museum as well as a place of exhibitions, shows, movie projections and academic seminars on the theme of wine opened its doors in June 2016.

Others

The Laser Mégajoule will be one of the most powerful lasers in the world, allowing fundamental research and the development of the laser and plasma technologies.

Some 15,000 people work for the aeronautic industry in Bordeaux. The city has some of the biggest companies including Dassault, EADS Sogerma, Snecma, Thales, SNPE, and others. The Dassault Falcon private jets are built there as well as the military aircraft Rafale and Mirage 2000, the Airbus A380 cockpit, the boosters of Ariane 5, and the M51 SLBM missile.

Tourism, especially wine tourism, is a major industry. Globelink.co.uk mentioned Bordeaux as the best tourist destination in Europe in 2015. Gourmet Touring is a tourism company operating in the Bordeaux wine region.

Access to the port from the Atlantic is via the Gironde estuary. Almost nine million tonnes of goods arrive and leave each year.

Major companies

This list includes indigenous Bordeaux-based companies and companies that have major presence in Bordeaux, but are not necessarily headquartered there.

• Arena
• Groupe Bernard
• Groupe Castel
• Cdiscount
• Dassault
• Jock
• Marie Brizard
• McKesson Corporation
• Oxbow
• Ricard
• Sanofi Aventis
• Smurfit Kappa
• Snecma
• Solectron
• Thales Group

Population

Largest groups of immigrants living in the Bordeaux metropolitan area
Country of birth	Population (2019)
Portugal	15,551
Morocco	15,207
Algeria	10,006
Spain	7,756
Turkey	4,231
Tunisia	2,875
Italy	2,683
Senegal	2,373
Romania	2,197
Madagascar	1,784
Cameroon	1,759
China	1,724
United Kingdom	1,603
Côte d'Ivoire	1,589

In January 2020, there were 259,809 inhabitants in the city proper (commune) of Bordeaux. The commune (including Caudéran which was annexed by Bordeaux in 1965) had its largest population of 284,494 at the 1954 census. The majority of the population is French, but there are sizable groups of Italians, Spaniards (Up to 20% of the Bordeaux population claim some degree of Spanish heritage), Portuguese, Turks, Germans.

The built-up area has grown for more than a century beyond the municipal borders of Bordeaux due to the small size of the commune (49 km² (19 sq mi)) and urban sprawl. By January 2020 there were 1,376,375 people living in the overall 6,316 km² (2,439 sq mi) metropolitan area (aire d'attraction) of Bordeaux, only a fifth of whom lived in the city proper.

Population of Bordeaux (commune) (incl. Caudéran annexed in 1965)
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 107,198 —     1800 93,570 −1.92% 1806 94,214 +0.11% 1821 91,161 −0.22% 1831 101,965 +1.13% 1836 101,769 −0.04% 1841 108,176 +1.23% 1846 129,217 +3.56% 1851 135,308 +0.93% 1856 154,394 +2.81% 1861 168,422 +1.73% 1866 198,112 +3.30% 1872 199,174 +0.09% 1876 220,446 +2.28% 1881 227,736 +0.63% 1886 248,545 +1.94% 1891 261,085 +1.02% 1896 267,369 +0.48%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 268,186 +0.06% 1906 264,835 −0.25% 1911 275,468 +0.79% 1921 283,394 +0.28% 1926 273,840 −0.68% 1931 283,374 +0.69% 1936 281,338 −0.14% 1946 279,128 −0.08% 1954 284,494 +0.23% 1962 278,403 −0.28% 1968 266,662 −0.72% 1975 223,131 −2.53% 1982 208,159 −0.98% 1990 210,336 +0.13% 1999 215,363 +0.26% 2009 236,725 +0.97% 2014 246,586 +0.82% 2020 259,809 +0.87%
Source: EHESS and INSEE

Education

University

During Antiquity, a first university had been created by the Romans in 286. The city was an important administrative centre and the new university had to train administrators. Only rhetoric and grammar were taught. Ausonius and Sulpicius Severus were two of the teachers.

In 1441, when Bordeaux was an English town, the Pope Eugene IV created a university by demand of the archbishop Pey Berland. In 1793, during the French Revolution, the National Convention abolished the university, and replace them with the École centrale in 1796. In Bordeaux, this one was located in the former buildings of the college of Guyenne. In 1808, the university reappeared with Napoleon. Bordeaux accommodates approximately 70,000 students on one of the largest campuses of Europe (235 ha).

Schools

Bordeaux has numerous public and private schools offering undergraduate and postgraduate programs.

Engineering schools:

• Arts et Métiers ParisTech, graduate school of industrial and mechanical engineering
• ESME-Sudria, graduate school of engineering
• École nationale supérieure d'électronique, informatique, télécommunications, mathématique et mécanique de Bordeaux (ENSEIRB-MATMECA)
• École supérieure de technologie des biomolécules de Bordeaux
• École nationale supérieure des sciences agronomiques de Bordeaux Aquitaine
• École nationale supérieure de chimie et physique de Bordeaux
• École pour l'informatique et les nouvelles technologies
• Institut des sciences et techniques des aliments de Bordeaux
• Institut de cognitique
• École supérieure d'informatique
• École privée des sciences informatiques

Business and management schools:

• The Bordeaux MBA (International College of Bordeaux)
• IUT Techniques de Commercialisation of Bordeaux (business school)
• INSEEC Business School (Institut des hautes études économiques et commerciales)
• KEDGE Business School (former BEM – Bordeaux Management School)
• Vatel Bordeaux International Business School
• E-Artsup
• Institut supérieur européen de gestion group
• Institut supérieur européen de formation par l'action

Other:

• École nationale de la magistrature (National school for the judiciary)
• École d'architecture et de paysage de Bordeaux
• École des beaux-arts de Bordeaux
• École française des attachés de presse et des professionnels de la communication (EFAP)
• Conservatoire national des arts et métiers d'Aquitaine (CNAM)
• École des Avocats ALIENOR de Bordeaux (law school)

Weekend education

The École Compleméntaire Japonaise de Bordeaux (ボルドー日本語補習授業校, Borudō Nihongo Hoshū Jugyō Kō), a part-time Japanese supplementary school, is held in the Salle de L'Athénée Municipal in Bordeaux.

Main sights

Heritage and architecture

Bordeaux is classified "City of Art and History". The city is home to 362 monuments historiques (only Paris has more in France) with some buildings dating back to Roman times. Bordeaux, Port of the Moon, has been inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble".

Bordeaux is home to one of Europe's biggest 18th-century architectural urban areas, making it a sought-after destination for tourists and cinema production crews. It stands out as one of the first French cities, after Nancy, to have entered an era of urbanism and metropolitan big scale projects, with the team Gabriel father and son, architects for King Louis XV, under the supervision of two intendants (Governors), first Nicolas-François Dupré de Saint-Maur then the Marquis de Tourny.

Saint-André Cathedral, Saint-Michel Basilica and Saint-Seurin Basilica are part of the World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France. The organ in Saint-Louis-des-Chartrons is registered on the French monuments historiques.

Buildings

Main sights include:

• Place de la Bourse (1735–1755), designed by the Royal architect Jacques Gabriel as landscape for an equestrian statue of Louis XV, now replaced by the Fountain of the Three Graces.
• Grand Théâtre (1780), a large neoclassical theater built in the 18th century.
• Allées de Tourny
• Cours de l'Intendance
• Place du Chapelet
• Place du Parlement
• Place des Quinconces, the largest square in France.
• Monument aux Girondins
• Place Saint-Pierre
• Pont de pierre (1822)
• Bordeaux Cathedral (Saint André), consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1096 and dedicated to the Apostle Saint Andrew. Of the original Romanesque edifice only a wall in the nave remains. The Royal Door is from the early 13th century, while the rest of the construction is mostly from the 14th and 15th centuries.
• Tour Pey-Berland (1440–1450), a massive, quadrangular Gothic tower annexed to the cathedral.
• Sainte-Croix church: This church, dedicated to the Holy Cross, stands on the site of a seventh-century abbey destroyed by the Saracens. Rebuilt under the Carolingians, it was again destroyed by the Normans in 845 and 864. The present building was erected and was built in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. The façade is in Romanesque style.
• The Gothic Saint Michel Basilica, constructed between the end of the 14th century and the 16th century.
• Basilica of Saint Severinus, the oldest church in Bordeaux, built in the early sixth century on the site of a palaeo-Christian necropolis. It has an 11th-century portico, while the apse and transept are from the 12th. The 13th-century nave has chapels from the 11th and the 14th centuries. The ancient crypt houses tombs of the Merovingian family.
• Église Saint-Pierre, Gothic church
• Église Saint-Éloi, Gothic church
• Église Saint-Bruno, baroque church decorated with frescoes
• Église Notre-Dame, baroque church
• Église Saint-Paul-Saint-François-Xavier, baroque church
• Palais Rohan, once the archbishop's residence, now city hall
• Palais Gallien [fr], the remains of a late second-century Roman amphitheatre
• Porte Cailhau, a medieval gatehouse in the old city walls.
• La Grosse Cloche (15th century), the second remaining gate in the medieval walls. It was the belfry of the old Town Hall. It consists of two 40-metre-high (131-foot) circular towers and a central bell tower housing a bell weighing 7,800 kilograms (17,200 lb). The clock is from 1759.
• Grande Synagogue, completed 1882
• Rue Sainte-Catherine, the longest pedestrian street in France
• Darwin ecosystem, alternative place into former military barracks
• The BETASOM submarine base

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  Palais Gallien

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  Bordeaux Cathedral (Saint André)

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  Porte Cailhau

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  Grand Théâtre

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  The Notre Dame church

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  Pont de Pierre

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  Basilica of Saint Michel

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  Grosse cloche

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  Palais Rohan (town hall)

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  Sainte-Croix church

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  Place du Parlement

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  The Grand Synagogue

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  Facades of the Art déco district

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  Darwin district

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  Submarine Pen

Contemporary architecture

• Cité Frugès, district of Pessac, built by Le Corbusier, 1924–1926, listed as UNESCO heritage
• Fire Station, la Benauge, Claude Ferret/Adrien Courtois/Yves Salier, 1951–1954
• Mériadeck district, 1960–70's
• Court of first instance, Richard Rogers, 1998
• CTBA, wood and furniture research center, A. Loisier, 1998
• Hangar 14 on the Quai des Chartrons, 1999
• The Management Science faculty on the Bastide, Anne Lacaton/Jean-Philippe Vassal, 2006
• The Jardin botanique de la Bastide, Catherine Mosbach/Françoise Hélène Jourda/Pascal Convert, 2007
• The Nuyens School complex on the Bastide, Yves Ballot/Nathalie Franck, 2007
• Seeko'o Hotel on the Quai de Bacalan, King Kong architects, 2007
• Matmut Atlantique stadium, Herzog & de Meuron, 2015
• Cité du Vin, XTU architects, Anouk Legendre & Nicolas Desmazières, 2016
• MECA, Maison de l'Économie Créative et de la culture de la Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bjarke Ingels, 2019

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  Mériadeck district

• 

  Court of first instance

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  Seeko'o hotel

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  Cité du Vin

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  MECA

Museums

• Musée des Beaux-Arts (Fine arts museum), one of the finest painting galleries in France with paintings by painter such as Tiziano, Veronese, Rubens, Van Dyck, Frans Hals, Claude, Chardin, Delacroix, Renoir, Seurat, Redon, Matisse and Picasso.
• Musée d'Aquitaine (archeological and history museum)
• Musée du Vin et du Négoce (museum of the wine trade)
• Musée des Arts Décoratifs et du Design (museum of decorative arts and design)
• Musée d'Histoire Naturelle (natural history museum)
• Musée Mer Marine (Sea and Navy museum)
• Cité du Vin
• CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux (modern art museum)
• Musée national des douanes (history of French customs)
• Bordeaux Patrimoine Mondial (architectural and heritage interpretation centre)
• Musée d'ethnologie (ethnology museum)
• Institut culturel Bernard Magrez, modern and streetart museum into an 18th-century mansion
• Cervantez Institute (into the house of Goya)
• Cap Sciences
• Centre Jean Moulin

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  Musée des Beaux-Arts

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  Musée d'Aquitaine

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  Musée des Arts Décoratifs et du Design

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  CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux

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  Musée du vin et du négoce de Bordeaux

Memory of slavery

Slavery was part of a growing drive for the city. Firstly, during the 18th and 19th centuries, Bordeaux was an important slave port, which saw some 500 slave expeditions that cause the deportation of 150,000 Africans by Bordeaux shipowners. Secondly, even though the "Triangular trade" represented only 5% of Bordeaux's wealth, the city's direct trade with the Caribbean, that accounted for the other 95%, concerns the colonial stuffs made by the slave (sugar, coffee, cocoa). And thirdly, in that same period, a major migratory movement by Aquitanians took place to the Caribbean colonies, with Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) being the most popular destination. 40% of the white population of the island came from Aquitaine. They prospered with plantations incomes, until the first slave revolts which concluded in 1848 in the final abolition of slavery in France.

A statue of Modeste Testas, an Ethiopian woman who was enslaved by the Bordeaux-based Testas brothers was unveiled in 2019. She was trafficked by them from West Africa, to Philadelphia (where one of the brothers coerced her to have two children by him) and was ultimately freed and lived in Haiti. The bronze sculpture was created by the Haitian artists Woodly Caymitte.

A number of traces and memorial sites are visible in the city. Moreover, in May 2009, the Museum of Aquitaine opened the spaces dedicated to "Bordeaux in the 18th century, trans-Atlantic trading and slavery". This work, richly illustrated with original documents, contributes to disseminate the state of knowledge on this question, presenting above all the facts and their chronology.

The region of Bordeaux was also the land of several prominent abolitionists, as Montesquieu, Laffon de Ladébat and Elisée Reclus. Others were members of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks as the revolutionaries Boyer-Fonfrède, Gensonné, Guadet and Ducos.

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  African face mascaron on the place de la Bourse

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  Allegory of Bordeaux and her wealth, including two African slaves, ceiling of the Grand-Théâtre de Bordeaux

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  Spaces dedicated to slave trade, Musée d'Aquitaine

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  Fon fetish, Musée d'Aquitaine

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  Bronze bust of Toussaint Louverture

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  Bronze Statue of Modeste Testas, Ethiopian woman enslaved by two Bordeaux plantation owners

Parks and gardens

• Jardin public de Bordeaux, with inside the Jardin botanique de Bordeaux
• Jardin botanique de la Bastide
• Parc bordelais
• Parc aux Angéliques
• Jardin des Lumières
• Parc Rivière
• Parc Floral

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  Jardin public

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  Jardin botanique

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  Jardin des Lumières

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  Parc floral, Casablanca pavilion

Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas

Europe's longest-span vertical-lift bridge, the Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas, was opened in 2013 in Bordeaux, spanning the River Garonne. The central lift span is 117-metre-long (384-foot), weighs 4,600 tons and can be lifted vertically up to 53 metres (174 feet) to let tall ships pass underneath. The €160 million bridge was inaugurated by President François Hollande and Mayor Alain Juppé on 16 March 2013. The bridge was named after the late Jacques Chaban-Delmas, who was a former Prime Minister and Mayor of Bordeaux.

Shopping

Bordeaux has many shopping options. In the heart of Bordeaux is Rue Sainte-Catherine. This pedestrian-only shopping street has 1.2 kilometers (0.75 mi) of shops, restaurants and cafés; it is also one of the longest shopping streets in Europe. Rue Sainte-Catherine starts at Place de la Victoire and ends at Place de la Comédie by the Grand Théâtre. The shops become progressively more upmarket as one moves towards Place de la Comédie and the nearby Cours de l'Intendance is where one finds the more exclusive shops and boutiques.

Culture

Bordeaux is also the first city in France to have created, in the 1980s, an architecture exhibition and research centre, Arc en rêve. Bordeaux offers a large number of cinemas, theatres, and is the home of the Opéra national de Bordeaux. There are many music venues of varying capacity. The city also offers several festivals throughout the year. In October 2021, Bordeaux was shortlisted for the European Commission's 2022 European Capital of Smart Tourism award along with Copenhagen, Dublin, Florence, Ljubljana, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia.

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  Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux

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  Théâtre Femina

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  MECA, Maison de l'Économie Créative et de la Culture en Aquitaine

Transport

Road

Bordeaux is an important road and motorway junction. The city is connected to Paris by the A10 motorway, with Lyon by the A89, with Toulouse by the A62, and with Spain by the A63. There is a 45 km (28 mi) ring road called the "Rocade" which is often very busy. Another ring road is under consideration.

Bordeaux has five road bridges that cross the Garonne, the Pont de pierre built in the 1820s and three modern bridges built after 1960: the Pont Saint Jean, just south of the Pont de pierre (both located downtown), the Pont d'Aquitaine, a suspension bridge downstream from downtown, and the Pont François Mitterrand, located upstream of downtown. These two bridges are part of the ring-road around Bordeaux. A fifth bridge, the Pont Jacques-Chaban-Delmas, was constructed in 2009–2012 and opened to traffic in March 2013. Located halfway between the Pont de pierre and the Pont d'Aquitaine and serving downtown rather than highway traffic, it is a vertical-lift bridge with a height in closed position comparable to that of Pont de pierre, and to the Pont d'Aquitaine when open. All five road bridges, including the two highway bridges, are open to cyclists and pedestrians as well. Another bridge, the Pont Jean-Jacques Bosc, is to be built in 2018.

Lacking any steep hills, Bordeaux is relatively friendly to cyclists. Cycle paths (separate from the roadways) exist on the highway bridges, along the riverfront, on the university campuses, and incidentally elsewhere in the city. Cycle lanes and bus lanes that explicitly allow cyclists exist on many of the city's boulevards. A paid bicycle-sharing system with automated stations was established in 2010.

Rail

The main railway station, Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean, near the center of the city, has 12 million passengers a year. It is served by the French national (SNCF) railway's high speed train, the TGV, that gets to Paris in two hours, with connections to major European centers such as Lille, Brussels, Amsterdam, Cologne, Geneva and London. The TGV also serves Toulouse and Irun (Spain) from Bordeaux. A regular train service is provided to Nantes, Nice, Marseille and Lyon. The Gare Saint-Jean is the major hub for regional trains (TER) operated by the SNCF to Arcachon, Limoges, Agen, Périgueux, Langon, Pau, Le Médoc, Angoulême and Bayonne.

Historically the train line used to terminate at a station on the right bank of the river Garonne near the Pont de Pierre, and passengers crossed the bridge to get into the city. Subsequently, a double-track steel railway bridge was constructed in the 1850s, by Gustave Eiffel, to bring trains across the river direct into Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean. The old station was later converted and in 2010 comprised a cinema and restaurants.

The two-track Eiffel bridge with a speed limit of 30 km/h (19 mph) became a bottleneck and a new bridge was built, opening in 2009. The new bridge has four tracks and allows trains to pass at 60 km/h (37 mph). During the planning there was much lobbying by the Eiffel family and other supporters to preserve the old bridge as a footbridge across the Garonne, with possibly a museum to document the history of the bridge and Gustave Eiffel's contribution. The decision was taken to save the bridge, but by early 2010 no plans had been announced as to its future use. The bridge remains intact, but unused and without any means of access.

The LGV Sud Europe Atlantique became fully operational in July 2017, shortening the journey time from Bordeaux city to Paris to 2hrs 4mins.

Air

Bordeaux is served by Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, located 8 km (5.0 mi) from the city centre in the suburban city of Mérignac.

Trams, buses and boats

Bordeaux has an important public transport system called Transports Bordeaux Métropole (TBM). This company is run by the Keolis group. The network consists of:

• Four tram lines (A, B, C and D)
• 75 bus routes, all connected to the tramway network (from 1 to 96)
• 13 night bus routes (from 1 to 16)
• An electric bus shuttle in the city centre
• A boat shuttle on the Garonne river

This network is operated from 5 am to 2 am.

There had been several plans for a subway network to be set up, but they stalled for both geological and financial reasons. Work on the Tramway de Bordeaux system was started in the autumn of 2000, and services started in December 2003 connecting Bordeaux with its suburban areas. The tram system uses Alstom APS a form of ground-level power supply technology developed by French company Alstom and designed to preserve the aesthetic environment by eliminating overhead cables in the historic city. Conventional overhead cables are used outside the city. The system was controversial for its considerable cost of installation, maintenance and also for the numerous initial technical problems that paralysed the network. Many streets and squares along the tramway route became pedestrian areas, with limited access for cars.

The Bordeaux Tramway system reached the Mérignac airport on April 29th 2023 with the opening of a 5-km extension of Line A.

Taxis

There are more than 400 taxicabs in Bordeaux.

Public transportation statistics

The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Bordeaux, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 51 min. 12.% of public transit riders, ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 13 min, while 15.5% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 7 km (4.3 mi), while 8% travel for over 12 km (7.5 mi) in a single direction.

Sport

The 41,458-capacity Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux is the largest stadium in Bordeaux. The stadium was opened in 2015 and replaced the Stade Chaban-Delmas, which was a venue for the FIFA World Cup in 1938 and 1998, as well as the 2007 Rugby World Cup. In the 1938 FIFA World Cup, it hosted a violent quarter-final known as the Battle of Bordeaux. The ground was formerly known as the Stade du Parc Lescure until 2001, when it was renamed in honour of the city's long-time mayor, Jacques Chaban-Delmas.

There are two major sport teams in Bordeaux, Girondins de Bordeaux is the football team who, following administrative relegation, currently play in Championnat National 2, the fourth tier of French football. They are one of the most successful clubs in France, with six Division 1/Ligue 1 titles. Union Bordeaux Bègles is a rugby team in the Top 14 in the Ligue Nationale de Rugby. Skateboarding, rollerblading, and BMX biking are activities enjoyed by many young inhabitants of the city. Bordeaux is home to a quay which runs along the Garonne river. On the quay there is a skate-park divided into three sections. One section is for Vert tricks, one for street style tricks, and one for little action sports athletes with easier features and softer materials. The skate-park is very well maintained by the municipality.

Other sports clubs include top flight ice hockey team Boxers de Bordeaux and third-tier basketball team JSA Bordeaux Basket

Bordeaux is also the home to one of the strongest cricket teams in France and are champions of the South West League.

There is a 250 m (820 ft) wooden velodrome, Vélodrome du Lac, in Bordeaux which hosts international cycling competition in the form of UCI Track Cycling World Cup events.

The 2015 Trophee Eric Bompard was in Bordeaux. But the Free Skate was cancelled in all of the divisions due to the Paris bombing(s) and aftermath. The Short Program occurred hours before the bombing. French skaters Chafik Besseghier (68.36) in tenth place, Romain Ponsart (62.86) in 11th. Mae-Berenice-Meite (46.82) in 11th and Laurine Lecavelier (46.53) in 12th. Vanessa James/Morgan Cipres (65.75) in second.

Between 1951 and 1955, an annual Formula 1 motor race was held on a 2.5-kilometre circuit which looped around the Esplanade des Quinconces and along the waterfront, attracting drivers such as Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, Jean Behra and Maurice Trintignant.

Notable people

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  Ausonius

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  Eleanor of Aquitaine

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  Richard II of England

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  Michel de Montaigne

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  Sainte Jeanne de Lestonnac

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  Montesquieu

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  Rosa Bonheur

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  Odilon Redon

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  Albert Marquet

International relationships

Twin towns – sister cities

Bordeaux is twinned with:

Partnerships

See also

In Spanish: Burdeos para niños