Cherbourg

Location Cherbourg is located at the northern tip of the Cotentin Peninsula, in the department of Manche, of which it is a subprefecture. At the time of the 1999 census the city of Cherbourg had an area of , while the city of Octeville had an area of . The largest city in the Department of Manche, it is the result of the merger of the communes of Cherbourg and Octeville. The amalgamated city today has an area of . Cherbourg is situated at the mouth of the and at the south of the bay between to the east and Cap de La Hague to the west, Cherbourg-Octeville is from the English coast. Cherbourg and Octeville-sur-Cherbourg once belonged to the deanery of La Hague, delimited by the Divette. In 1786, a part of Equeurdreville joined Cherbourg, during the construction of the port, and then in 1802, a portion of Octeville. Since 1811, the "mielles" [dunes] of Tourlaville, commune of the deanery of Saire, are integrated into the Cherbourg territory known as the quarter of Val-de-Saire where the and the Saint-Clement Church were built. Thus, Cherbourg-Octeville lies both in La Hague and in the Val de Saire. Like all Chantereyne and the area of the Mielles, the Cherbourg territory was reclaimed from the sea. Built at the level of the sea, the town developed at the foot of the Roule mountain (highest point of the old town) and la Fauconnière. Octeville is a former rural municipality, composed of hamlets, whose settlement extended from the 19th century and whose territory is highly urbanised since 1950, especially around the of the provinces and the university campus. The bordering communes are Tourlaville to the east, Équeurdreville-Hainneville to the west, La Glacerie to the south and southeast, Martinvast to the south, and Nouainville and Sideville to the south-west. Geology Located at the end of the Armorican Massif, Cherbourg retains traces of the geologic formation, deformed granites and metamorphic schists of the Precambrian of Hercynian orogeny by the folding of the arkoses of the Cambrian and Armorican sandstone and shale of the Ordovician. These folds result in layers of sandstone tilted 45° towards the north-east on la Fauconniere (including "La Roche qui pend" ['the hanging rock']) and the . These two cliffs are due to sea erosion in the Quaternary. The retreat of the sea then gave way to sand dunes and tidal marshes, destroyed by the urbanisation of the 17th and 19th centuries, identical to those of Collignon in Tourlaville. These rocks in the soil have been used for centuries in several ways: Crushed granite extracted in Querqueville and arkoses of Becquet, have been used for the manufacture of rubble () and blocks squared for lintels. The greenschist, whose colour comes from chlorite and sericite, are used mainly for roofing in Nord-Cotentin, but also masonry in Cherbourg. The Armorican sandstone of the Montagne du Roule is used for rubble and rockfill. Most of the many quarries, which opened in the metropolitan area for building the harbour wall, are now closed. during the construction of the military port. Climate Cherbourg has a temperate oceanic climate. Its maritime character causes high humidity (84%) and a strong sea wind, commonly stormy but also low seasonal variations of temperature and few days of frost (7.3). The combined effect of the wind and the tides can generate a rapid change of weather in a single day, with sun and rain which can be a few hours apart. The influence of the Gulf Stream and the mildness of the winter allow the naturalisation of many Mediterranean and exotic plants (mimosas, palms, agaves, etc.) which are present in the public and private gardens of the city, despite average insolation. The construction work of the RN13 at the entrance of the Cherbourg agglomeration (locality Virage des Chèvres) was completed in early 2009. Sea catamaran ferry at Cherbourg Cherbourg-Octeville is a port on the English Channel with a number of regular passenger and freight ferry services operating from the large modern ferry terminal and has a major artificial harbour. The following operators currently run services from the port: • Brittany Ferries to Rosslare, Poole (1 sailing daily) and Portsmouth (up to 2 sailings daily, summer only). • Stena Line to Rosslare (3 sailings weekly). • Irish Ferries to Dublin (2 sailings weekly). Cherbourg has previously had services operated by the following operators: • Stena Line to Southampton (up to 2 sailings daily). Withdrawn in 1996. • P&O Ferries to Portsmouth (up to 2 sailings daily by conventional ferry and up to 3 by fast ferry during the summer). Withdrawn in 2005 following a business review. • P&O Irish Sea to Rosslare (up to 3 sailings weekly) and Dublin (weekends only during the summer). Dublin service was withdrawn in 2004 and Rosslare service sold to Celtic Link. • HD Ferries to Guernsey and Jersey. Operated in 2007 but cancelled in 2008 due to lack of customers. • Celtic Link Ferries to Rosslare (3 sailings weekly). Service sold to Stena Line. • Condor Ferries to Portsmouth (1 sailing weekly in summer only). The port welcomes some 30 cruise ships per year including the largest, thanks to a cruise terminal built in 2006 in the Gare Maritime de Cherbourg, which had opened in 1933 on the Quai de France next to the Cité de la Mer. Frequently, cruise ships that have planned for another destination have taken refuge in the port, for protection from the frequent storms. Conventional cargo ships berth in the eastern area of the docks on the Quai des Flamands and Quai des Mielles. During the construction of the Concorde prototypes in the 1960s, some sections built in the United Kingdom passed by ferry through Cherbourg, for transfer to Toulouse. Rail The Paris - Cherbourg railway line, operated by Réseau Ferré de France, ends at Cherbourg railway station, which opened in 1858 and welcomes a million passengers every year. This line continued, at the beginning of the 20th century, up to the resort of Urville-Nacqueville and was complemented by the which served from Cherbourg to Val de Saire between 1911 and 1950. Today, the Intercités Paris-Caen-Cherbourg line is the most profitable in its class with profit over €10 million per year despite numerous incidents and delays. Regular services operate to Paris-Saint-Lazare via Caen using Intercités stock, local TER services operate from the station to Lisieux via Caen and to Rennes via Saint-Lô. Intercités services to Paris-Saint-Lazare take three hours on average. From July 2009 to December 2010, a TGV Cherbourg – Dijon service operated, via Mantes and Roissy TGV. With one daily round-trip, it operated experimentally for three years and gave the people of Cherbourg direct access by rail to France's primary airport. The service ceased prematurely, as the minimum threshold of passenger traffic was not met. As well as a main line station there was also the Gare Maritime Transatlantique station. This now forms part of the Cité de la mer. Bus The Compagnie des transports de Cherbourg (CTC) was created in 1896, connecting the Place de Tourlaville and the Place du Château by a in Cherbourg, then to Urville. After the German occupation and bombardment of the tram depot, the use of buses took over, and it was not until 1962 that the network had several lines. From 1976, the Communauté urbaine de Cherbourg supported the jurisdiction of public transit. Management of the public service is delegated to Keolis, the CTC took the name of Zephir Bus in 1991. The network covers the whole of the metropolitan area. In recent years, a night bus service has also been created. Cherbourg-Octeville and its suburbs are also served by the Manéo departmental bus service. Air The Cherbourg – Maupertus Airport, located in Maupertus-sur-Mer, serves the city. Its runway hosts charter flights. After stopping the daily service to Paris by Twin Jet, in spring 2008, a new link with Caen and Paris started with Chalair on 27 October 2008. With 40,500 passengers in 2007, the airport had lost 30% of its commercial passengers, and 10% of its total traffic over a year. ==History==

Heraldry The origin of the coat of arms is disputed. According to Victor Le Sens, it is of religious origin: Fess argent charged of stars represents the belt of the Virgin Mary, one of the two patrons of the city and the number of stars, like the bezants, evokes the Trinity, the other patron of the city. The bezants would be the expression of the redemption of the captives, illustrating the participation of the notables of Cherbourg on the Third Crusade. The coat of arms of Cherbourg dates from the late 12th century, at the time of the Crusades. According to M. Le Poupet, which relies in particular on the works of Vulson de la Colombière and Ségoing, the content of the coat of arms evokes the maritime trade of the city, the bezants - traditional furniture of the arms of ennobled financiers - represent wealth and fortune, while the star shows peace and prudence. The sable signifies prudence and constancy in adversity, the azure denotes activity and the seas. M. Canel had explained before him that the bezants and stars respectively illustrated trade and sea port. The stars, absent from the armorial of d'Hozier in 1697, Origins and toponymy The date of Foundation of Cherbourg can not be set precisely, although several local historians, including Robert Lerouvillois, trace the origin of the city to Coriallo (for *Coriovallo) of the Unelli. According to Pierre-Yves Lambert, the Celtic element corio- means "army, troop" and the element vallo- similar to the Latin vallum, would be "rampart, fortification". Mentioned on the Tabula Peutingeriana (c. 365), in the Antonine Itinerary and the Gesta de Fontenelle ("In pago Coriovallinse", 747-753), Coriallo, Latinised then as Coriallum, hosted a Roman garrison during the late Roman Empire, and the recovered remains would be the village between Cherbourg and Tourlaville, on the Mielles. The Cotentin Peninsula was the first territory conquered by the Vikings in their ninth century invasion. They developed Cherbourg as a port. After the Anglo-Scandinavian settlement, a new name appeared there in a still Latinised form: Carusburg Castellum (1026-1027, Fauroux 58) then Carisburg (1056–1066, Fauroux 214), Chiersburg (William of Jumièges, v. 1070), Chieresburg (Wace, Roman de Rou, v. 1175). Carusburg would mean "fortress of the marsh" in Old Norse kjarr (marsh), and borg (castle, fortified town) or "city of the marais" in Old English ker (bog) and burgh (town). The element kjarr / ker is also found in Normandy in Villequier and Orcher. According to François de Beaurepaire, it comes rather from the Old English chiriche (spelled ċiriċe, Church) or [tch] is reduced to [s], as the commune of Chirbury, in the County of Shropshire, formerly also spelled Chirichburig (915) and Chiresbir (1226). It means: "the rural area of Otti", a Scandinavian male name also found in Octeville-l'Avenel, Octeville-sur-Mer and Otby (Lincolnshire, Ottebi, 11th century). Cherbourg is also the name of a Canadian township, located between Matane and Les Méchins, which gave its name to the communes of Saint-Thomas-de-Cherbourg, merged in 1954 into Les Méchins, and Saint-Jean-de-Cherbourg. This name, including the proclamation date of 7 May 1864, could be due to the impact by the local newspapers of the inauguration of the military port by Napoleon III in 1858. Cherbourg is also the name of a town in Queensland, Australia. Middle Ages The Cotentin, conquered by Quintus Titurius Sabinus in 56 BC, was divided between the pagus constantiensis ("County of Coutances") and the pagus coriovallensis ("County of Coriallo"), within Gallia Lugdunensis. Coriallo housed a small garrison and a castrum was built on the left bank of the Divette as an element of the Litus saxonicum, after Saxon raids at the beginning of the fourth century. In 870, , landing in Kent, was ordained priest of Cherbourg and established a hermitage in the surrounding forest. After several Norman raids in the ninth century, Cherbourg was attached to the Duchy of Normandy along with the Cotentin, in 933, by William Longsword. The Danish King Harold moved there in 946. In the face of English threats, Richard III of Normandy strengthened the fortifications of the castle at the same time as those of the other major strongholds of Cotentin. In 1053, the city was one of the four main cities of the duchy of William the Conqueror to receive an annuity in perpetuity for the maintenance of one hundred needy. In 1139, during the struggle for succession to the Anglo-Norman Crown, Cherbourg fell after two months of siege to the troops of Stephen of England before being retaken in 1142 by Geoffrey of Anjou, whose wife, Empress Matilda, three years later founded the . The city was of Navarre from 1354 to 1378, and Charles II stayed in Cherbourg on several occasions. In 1378, the city was besieged by Charles V of France as the rest of the Norman possessions of the King of Navarre, but in vain. Navarre troops who had dropped the County of Évreux and the Cotentin were entrenched in Cherbourg, already a difficult taking, and defended it against French attacks. In June 1378, having lost ground in Normandy, Charles II of Navarre rented Cherbourg in 1378 to Richard II of England for a period of three years. Bertrand du Guesclin besieged it for six months using many machines of war, but abandoned the siege in December 1378. The King of England then refused to return the city to the Navarrese, despite the efforts of Charles II. It was only his son Charles III of Navarre who recovered it in 1393. In 1404, it was returned to Charles VI of France, in exchange for the Duchy of Nemours. Fallen in 1418 to the hands of the English, Cherbourg, the last English possession of the Duchy of Normandy after the Battle of Formigny, was retaken by France following the Siege of Cherbourg in 1450. Cherbourg was not affected by the wind of the Reformation that divided Normandy, consolidated and heavily guarded by , Henry III thanked his defence against the troops of Montgomery, as lieutenant-general of Normandy and Governor of Cherbourg in 1578, and then marshal the following year. The bourgeois also remained loyal to Henry III and Henry IV, when Normandy was mostly held by the Catholic League. Fortifications and the castle development work began the following year but were stopped by the King in December 1688, influenced by Louvois and fear of English attacks. Louis XVI decided to relaunch the project of the port on the English Channel. After many delays, it was decided in 1779 to build a -long sea wall between île Pelée and the tip of Querqueville, using a method developed by Louis-Alexandre de Cessart, a pier of 90 wooden cones of by 20, filled with rubble, connected by iron chains. The first cone was immersed on 6 June 1784, and the King attended the on 22 June. But the technique did not withstand storms and was abandoned in 1788 in favour of scuttling old warships to backfill lost stones touted by La Bretonnière. However, the reduction of subsidies and the revolutionary events slowed work down, until its suspension in 1792. A new Hôtel de Ville (town hall) was completed in 1804. First Consul Bonaparte wanted to turn Cherbourg into a major military port, for the invasion of the United Kingdom. He charged Joseph Cachin with the resumption of the work of the sea wall, the digging of military outer harbour, and the construction of the new arsenal. After a visit in 1811, Napoleon made Cherbourg a maritime prefecture, a chef-lieu of the Arrondissements of the Manche department and the seat of a court of first instance. The work of the central sea wall, interrupted again between 1813 and 1832, ended in 1853, the east and west sea walls in 1895. The Charles X docks (begun in 1814 - 290 × 220 × 18 metres) and Napoleon III (started in 1836 - 420 × 200 × 18 m) of the military port were respectively opened on 25 August 1829, in the presence of the Dauphin, and 7 August 1858, by the Imperial couple. The work of the sea wall was concluded by the construction of the small harbour (Homet sea wall, 1899-1914 and sea wall of the Flemings, 1921–1922). The work of the port led the intensification and spread of a modernising and developing Cherbourg, while contractors, owners, and local merchants were getting richer. Rural village housing scattered in hamlets made up around large farms (La Crespiniere, La Prevallerie, Grimesnil, La Gamacherie, etc.), connected between them and the Saint-Martin Church by a network of paths, Octeville became chef-lieu of the canton in 1801 (Decree of 23 Vendémiaire, year X) and also its population, to increase by the influx of workers who came to build the port of Cherbourg and work at the Arsenal. After the creation of the Route des Pieux (current Rue Salengro and Rue Carnot), the town was formed around an homogenised street-village then urbanising at the beginning of the 20th century. After leaving Southampton, England, the RMS Titanic made its first stop at Cherbourg on 10 April 1912, during its maiden voyage, where an additional 274 passengers embarked. In 1913, Cherbourg received 500 ships and 70,000 passengers. On 31 July 1909, Tsar Nicholas II and French president Armand Fallières met officially in Cherbourg to reinforce the Franco-Russian Alliance. During the First World War, traffic was completely suspended. Cherbourg became the place of arrival for equipment and the British and American troops, and for departure on leave and injuries. The military port experienced an increase in activity, and the garrison stationed at Cherbourg was reinforced. The port infrastructures were developed to receive coal and oil required for the conflict. Traffic doubled, reaching 600,000 tons in 1918. It was also the endpoint of the gasoline which crossed the English Channel via the underwater pipeline PLUTO (Pipe Line Under The Ocean), and the starting point of the Red Ball Express, truck transport circuit to Chartres. Cherbourg was returned to France by the Americans on 14 October 1945. It was cited in the Order of the Army on 2 June 1948 and received the Croix de guerre with Palm. Postwar The wartime destruction was mainly concentrated around the military port in Cherbourg but had hit 60% of Octeville. Thanks to the urgency of the port reconstruction, economic activity resumed quickly. Cherbourg, headed by former SFIO Minister , built much social housing. The postwar boom led to the modernisation of the economy and a greater role for female employment. Under the leadership of General de Gaulle, Cherbourg became the hub of nuclear ballistic missile submarine construction from 1964, including the first, Le Redoutable, which was launched in 1967. Félix Amiot's shipyard Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie, specialised in military armaments, became famous during the Christmas of 1969 in an episode of the Cherbourg Project. Incorporated in 1970, the gathered together Cherbourg and Octeville, La Glacerie, Tourlaville, Querqueville and Équeurdreville-Hainneville. From the end of the 1960s, the nuclear industry emerged through the construction sites of the La Hague reprocessing plant and the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant in addition to submarines of the DCN. A union of trade unions, left-wing activists and environmentalists, formed around the fear of the "nuclearisation" of Nord-Cotentin, crystallised in January 1979 when the Pacific Fisher landed with the first spent nuclear waste from Japan. On the eve of the 1980s, the Cherbourg agglomeration was hit by several violent social conflicts, particularly due to the closure of the Babcock factories. Turn of the millennium The major decisions of the public authorities, on which Cherbourg has depended for many centuries, and the nuclear industry, caused a deep economic crisis in the 1990s. The Arsenal was drastically downsized, the Northern Fleet (FLONOR) moved to Brest in 1992, and the closed. UIE, Burty, CMN, Socoval and Alcatel accumulated social plans or closings. Under the auspices of the , the agglomeration developed its academic offerings with the IUT of Cherbourg-Manche, the School of Engineers of Cherbourg and a branch of the University of Caen, which complemented and the School of Fine Arts. The new millennium began with the creation of a new commune. Cherbourg-Octeville was created on 1 March 2000 through the joining of Cherbourg and Octeville, following a local referendum within "Grand Cherbourg". The city revived its tourist and maritime identity through the Cité de la Mer and the opening to the public of the Redoubtable, and became the home of stopovers for cruises and nautical events. Miscellany The Norman language writer Alfred Rossel, a native of Cherbourg, composed many songs which form part of the heritage of the region. Rossel's song "Sus la mér" ("on the sea") is often sung as a regional patriotic song. The local dialect is known as Cotentinais. La Glacerie was named for glass factory. In 1655, Louis Lucas de Néhou built a glass factory which produced windows and mirrors for such buildings as the Galerie des Glaces and Château de Versailles. The factory in La Glacerie was destroyed by Allied bombardments in 1944 during the Normandy invasion. Cherbourg was the first site outside the United States to be designated as an American Civil War Heritage Site by the Civil War Preservation Trust because a sea battle was fought nearby in 1864 by Union and Confederate warships. See the Battle of Cherbourg (1864). ==Population==

Urban fabric Cherbourg originally developed on the left bank of the mouth of the , around the castle. Traces of the ancient fortress are rare in the modern city; the fortification was located in the area bounded by the Rue de la Marine, Quai de Caligny, the Foch, Gambetta, Albert-Mahieu and François-Lavieille streets, and La République and La Trinité squares. The city had five streets: Grande Rue, Rue de la Trinité (today, Tour-Carrée), the Rue du Nouet (to the Blé), the Rue au Fourdray and Rue Onfroy (of trade), and a dozen boëls (alleys). These five medieval streets were transformed into pedestrian streets in the 1980s. Until the destruction of the city walls, the main road called rue de-devant-le-château, was built on its west (east is bordered by ditches) with several houses with arcades, called soliers. After the dismantling of the walls, inside which lived three-fifths of the population, the city extended up to its natural boundaries at the end of the 17th century: the Divette in the east, and Chantereine stream in the west. During the 19th century, it extended to the neighbouring annexed territories of Tourlaville and Équeurdreville. Its rapid growth from the end of the 18th century was spoken of by Jean Fleury, in 1839, in that it "offers almost everywhere the appearance of a new town; the old streets occupy little space, and the others are generally large and airy, the fountains numerous [...]. Cherbourg has 10 squares, 59 streets, 12 cul-de-sacs and 5 passages." Damaged during all eras, rebuilt in piecemeal, the city has no architectural unity. Shale, extracted from the quarries of the agglomeration, is the traditional material of construction. With widespread coverage in the northern Cotentin, it is also used in Cherbourg for the walls in the city, apparent or often covered with a grayish or sometimes colourful coating. The frames are then Valognes stone (limestone), pink granite of Fermanville, or brick, and the underpinnings Armorican sandstone of the Roule and the Fauconniere. The expansion of the city from the 18th century contributed to the diversity of materials. The use of Caen stone and industrial brick was necessary under the Second Empire, while vernacular architecture disappeared gradually in these years in favour of a more homogeneous and Parisian style. Port Chantereyne and the Mielles lands are reclaimed from the sea, the Place Divette and Boulevard Schuman are created at the site of the old fairground. However, at that time, the change mainly affected nearby villages that formed an agglomeration in less than forty years. Octeville, a dispersed habitat until the 18th century, and urbanised during the work of the port around a central street, This urbanisation resulted in the dilution of the geographic and sociological boundaries of the agglomeration resulting in the creation in 1970 of the until the merger of Cherbourg and Octeville in 2000. Following this merger, a plan of urban renewal named "Between Land and Sea" was launched in 2002 on the quarters of Bassins, of the Amont-Quentin and the Provinces to homogenise the territory of the newly alamgamated city. The Bassins quarter, released by the channelling of the Divette and the filling of the retaining channel, is expected to profoundly transform the commercial landscape of the city, carried by the construction of a new shopping centre and the renovation of downtown. On the heights, seven HLM tower blocks are intended for demolition to improve social housing. A 3-star hotel and the relocation of the casino is also planned. At Avenue Carnot, the former Grouard warehouses must leave room for parking and a place through from the wharf from the ''Quai de l'Entrepôt'' to the Pasteur Hospital, to 180 dwellings by Presqu'île habitat and ADIM (Vinci company) then 100 extra in a second round of development. The administrative quarters are: • Downtown, historic heart of Cherbourg, with the inner city and the districts of La Polle and the Vœu, dating from the 19th century. • The Val-de-Saire, annexed in 1811, beyond the Divette and swing-bridge. • Sud-est, corresponding to the districts of du Roule and Maupas, traditionally for workers. • The Amont Quentin-Provinces, on the heights of the city, built from the late 1950s (essentially HLM tower blocks). • Octeville-Bourg, from both sides of the Salengro and Barbusse streets. • Ouest, western part of the former municipality of Octeville. Since 1996, Cherbourg-Octeville is covered by a sensitive urban zone on the expanded area of the Provinces. Demography The construction of the dam and the military port has brought an important flow of workers and soldiers. Cherbourg and Octeville have seen their populations quadruple in a century. Cherbourg had 43,000 inhabitants at the beginning of the 20th century. During this century, Cherbourg lost some 15,000 inhabitants, while Octeville grew continuously, with an explosion in the 1960s and 1970s, during the construction of the housing estates. According to estimates from INSEE for 2018, Cherbourg-Octeville has 35,545 inhabitants. It is the largest city of the Manche department, and second of Lower Normandy (after Caen), surpassing Alençon, which had been second before the amalgamation. Cherbourg concentrated 7.7% of the departmental population, twice as much as the prefecture, Saint-Lô, while the agglomeration represents 17% and the urban area 23.5%. The depopulation of the city-centre of the agglomeration was one of the main topics of the campaign for the municipal elections of 2008. In addition to the battle of figures on the number of lost inhabitants, the three candidates, Bernard Cazeneuve (PS), Jean Lemière (UMP) and Hervé Corbin (dissident UMP) indicated a new interest in this problem. The urbanisation of the Grimesnil/Monturbet zone, provided for the coming years, should logically bring extra population, although no one knows if it will be enough to stop the demographic bleeding. Today, the neighbouring communes of the metropolitan area (Martinvast, Nouainville, Tonneville, Bretteville, etc.) are experiencing a demographic boost: The framework of life, rural and peaceful, in no way prevents the inhabitants from taking advantage of the infrastructure of the urban community. This problem, which is found in many French towns of this size, has led to the constitution of a , the urban community who wish to so participate financially in the rich and the . Since the merger between Cherbourg and Octeville, in February 2000, the inhabitants are officially called Cherbourgeois-Octevillais. Before, the inhabitants of Cherbourg was called the Cherbourgeois and those of Octeville were the Octevillais. It is likely that, with the merger, the latter disappears gradually in favour of Cherbourgeois. This would be similar to Équeurdrevillais (or sometimes Équeurdrais) for the nearby of Équeurdreville-Hainneville, which merged communes in 1965. Housing Cherbourg and Octeville have two different profiles. The first is the city centre, with varied habitat, the other a commune in suburbs, built quickly from the 1960s. Parks and green spaces The second half of the 19th century saw the creation of many English-style gardens. The first was due to Joseph Cachin created while he was responsible for the construction of the port, a private garden and a pond near the , instead of the current railway line leading to the station. The temperate oceanic climate favours the naturalisation of southern and exotic plants such as palm trees, brought back by many Cherbourg sailors and explorers. Then, under the Third Republic, public gardens opened. • The Emmanuel Liais Park is the former garden of the Mayor of Cherbourg's house, designed in 1881 and opened in 1885. Bequeathed to the city upon his death, it is very wooded and has an observation tower, a plan of water containing water lilies and other aquatic plants and two greenhouses sheltering rare plants, including a rich collection of South American plants brought back from his travels and acclimated by Liais. It is labelled as a Remarkable Garden. • The Montebello garden, opened in 1872 in the street of the same name, within the Napoleon III Quarter, was created at the initiative of the Horticultural Society of Cherbourg for its members. Open to the public since its inception, it contains bamboos, camellias and magnolias, and offers a chalet of bricks with beams. • The Park of the , a Cherbourg-Octeville property on the territory of Tourlaville, was developed by the Vicomte René de Tocqueville from 1872, with an English garden and a woodland. The park and the greenhouse built between 1872 and 1875, which is home to palm, banana, cactus and lianas have been open since the acquisition by the city of Cherbourg in 1935, and are classified as historical monuments since 4 March 1996. Several water bodies welcome Black Swans and the aviaries are home to rare birds. An artificial waterfall was created in 1921. Established in 1873, it was embellished over generations by the Favier family. The beautification policy, which dates from 1995, resulted in obtaining a first flower, followed by a second in 2000 and third in 2002. It relies on public gardens, heirs to a local botanical heritage of over a century, of flower beds and of green space on events such as Le Mois des Jardins et Presqu’île en Fleurs [The Month of Gardens and Peninsula in Flowers], and the annual distribution of geraniums to the resident volunteers. ==Economy==

Historic At the instigation of Colbert, the guild of drapers was founded on 16 April 1668, the manufacture of cloth produced two thousand pieces per year. In the 18th century, the economic resources came mainly through maritime trade, the preparation of cured meats and the harbour and breakwater works, plus a moribund textile industry. On the eve of the French Revolution, salt was imported from Le Croisic along with British grain, and Littry coal. Exports were mainly to Britain (sheets and clothes) and the West Indies (cattle and mules, fat and salted butter, salted meats, cod, linens and canvas), but also to Le Havre and La Rochelle for wood and coal. Lawful or otherwise exchanges also took place with the Channel Islands (tanbark, grain and wool). Cherbourg shipowners were absent from significant fishing, including that of cod on the banks of Newfoundland, which was a specialty of Granville. 361 workers (1764) and 69 skilled workers (1778) of the factory annually produced (1760) 2,000 fine linens in green and white strip. Cherbourg also had seven producers of starch. But its use as a place of war hampered the development of Cherbourg as major commercial port, compared to Le Havre. Ten years later, for these exchanges, counted 225 to 230 both French and foreign, from 30 to 800 tons, ships each carrying 6 to 18 crew. He added the maritime buildings and armaments and the export of butter of La Hague, and the total annual trade was estimated at between 4 or 5 million francs, of which one million for the export of eggs to the United Kingdom, and 850 tons of salted meat. In 1916, Nestlé introduced its first French factory in Cherbourg. The 1960s saw a revival of the local economy through the increase in the female workforce and the decline of agricultural employment in favour of diversification of jobs and a high-tech industry. In 1960, under the leadership of Mayor Jacques Hébert, Hortson was established in the Maupas quarter. One hundred employees manufactured projectors and film cameras, particularly for the ORTF and Russian television. Redeemed, the factory specialised under the name of Thomson-CSF audiovisual in surveillance and medical cameras, then in the production of electronic circuits of computer terminals on behalf of Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie and the Arsenal. Since 1976, it has been dedicated to the production of microwave electronic devices, employing 260 workers in 1979 contracted for radars of the Mirage F1 Army Air and of the Navy Super Etendards, rising to 400 employees at the end of the 1980s, after moving in 1987 into a new modernised factory in Tourlaville. For a decade, the electronic workshop expanded, adding a production line for mobile television relays, and a workshop for mechanical surface treatment. As part of the internal restructuring of Alcatel, the site, which has 300 employees, was sold in 2002 to Sanmina-SCI, which ceased its activity in March 2008. The Compagnie industrielle des télécommunications (CIT), merged the following decade with Alcatel, it also opened an assembly plant for electronic telephone exchanges, at Querqueville in the 1960s. The unit, seen as a flagship of French industry by the new president of the Republic in 1981, was considered unnecessary after the integration of Thomson's telephony division with Alcatel in 1984 and suffered heavy redundancies from the end of the 1980s, before closing in 1997 at the end of a difficult social conflict. Between the 1970s and 1990s, the two major projects of northern Cotentin, the La Hague reprocessing plant and the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant, accentuated the industrial development of a city that saw a golden age Cherbourg-Octeville supports an unemployment rate (19.6% in 1999), double that of its job base (9.3% in 2006, a decrease of 1.1% in one year) which itself has the highest unemployment of the basins of employment of the department. At 31 December 2004, there were 3,700 jobseekers. Therefore, the annual average household income is lower than the national average (€13,730 for the city, compared with €15,027 in France) despite an average monthly salary (€1,590 in 2001) highest job growth of the department and higher than that of Caen-Bayeux (€1,550). • Maritime sector The Cherbourg economy derives a large part of its activities from its maritime position. Cherbourg indeed has : A military port, a fishing port, a port of commerce (passenger traffic and cross-border goods) and a marina. Weakened since the 1990s, the commercial port sees the transit of 110,000 trucks to or from Ireland and Great Britain. Project Fastship, involving container transport from Philadelphia (United States) by high-speed vessels and oped for fifteen years, has been forgotten in favour of the Motorways of the Sea in the context of the Ena (Eurocoast Network Association), with Cuxhaven (Germany), Ostend (Belgium), Rosslare (Ireland) and Ferrol (Spain), with no more effect at the moment. Property, with the Port of Caen-Ouistreham, of the joint association Ports Norman Associates, involving the and the Departmental Councils of Manche and Calvados, port trade is managed by a joint company of the and . The construction of a terminal dedicated to the traffic of coal from South America and destined for the United Kingdom will put an end to the haemorrhage of the activity of the port. The fishing industry is affected by the crisis affecting the entire industry, and the port has seen its fleet decline. A tradition of local industry, shipbuilding is based on the two pillars of the DCNS Cherbourg for submarines and Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN), famous for their speedboats. This sector has been widely restructured over the past twenty years. The military arsenal saw the end of the construction of the Redoutable-class submarines and expanded its customer base, until then exclusively of the Navy, prior to being privatised in 2007. With diesel Agosta submarines, developed since 1994 for Pakistan, and the Scorpène, in collaboration with the shipyards of Cartagena, sold to Malaysia, Chile and India, 25% of the total turnover of the establishment is of foreign origin. Partnerships with Pakistan and India have concluded to make the construction term at home. The CMN, which employed 1,200 people at the beginning of the 1980s, modernised and automated, and now has 500 employees. The company diversified into large luxury yachts, without abandoning the military market, and has signed such contracts with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar through the Franco-Lebanese businessman Iskandar Safa, owner since 1992. The Navy employs nearly 3,000 officials in the agglomeration, especially in the context of administration (maritime prefecture), maritime safety (customs, CROSS, Abeille), logistical support of the French Navy and foreign passage, and of training. • Metallurgy Metallurgy has long represented a large source of employment in the agglomeration. Around the Arsenal and its boilermakers, several metalworking and mechanical industries were formed from the early 1900s. This is the case of the oldest business the city, the Simon Brothers company, founded in 1856, which went from being a mechanical workshop to a steam agricultural machinery manufacturer and then to an agribusiness in a half a century. Manufacturing guns in 1870 and 1939, the company became a world leader in churns and mixers for the butter industry. Similarly, the Babcock boiler manufacturer was implanted in Cherbourg in the interwar period and closed its doors after a protracted labour dispute, in 1979. Later, the began business in Cherbourg in 1973, for the construction of oil platforms, but closed in 1985. • Other industries Socoval, a manufacturer of menswear of the Cantoni Group from Italy, is the last textile factory of the Cotentin and employs about 100 employees, since the social plan of 2001, which resulted in the loss of about 40 employees. Economic partners now rely on the "mastery of atmosphere", i.e. the control of contamination from industrial processes, through the created in 2001. Having experience of work involving nuclear risk, it wants to transfer these skills to the food, electronics and pharmaceutical industries. Two courses have been designed for this purpose: A BTS in nuclear maintenance at the Lycee Tocqueville and a DESS in mastery of atmosphere at the Cherbourg School of Engineering. • Commerce The urban community, the main commercial centre of the Cotentin, has four hypermarkets covering • Services Cherbourg-Octeville, the largest city of the department, is the main centre for administration and services for the Cotentin. Health is an important provider of jobs with the (470 beds, second of Lower Normandy, merged since 2006 with the Hospital of Valognes) and the Cotentin Polyclinic. The same goes for the education sector with four public and four private schools, a marine high school and aquaculture, a university campus and several graduate schools. The branches of public enterprises are also located there (EDF, with 120 officers and SNCF, with 50 officers). Public employment represents an important part with, in addition to the hospital and schools, municipal and community staff. Business service companies are also present in computer science (Euriware, 85 employees), cleanliness (Onet, 240 employees, and Sin&Stes, 100 employees) and advertising (Adrexo, 50 employees). Cherbourg-Octeville hosts the headquarters of public radio, and the departmental daily La Presse de la Manche (120 employees with his CES press), successor to the Libération de , and subsidiary of the since 1990. France 3 Normandie boasts a local editorial office in the city; Cherbourg's edition of covers the agglomeration, La Hague and the Val de Saire; local television has installed its headquarters and its main studio in the area. Jobs in the construction sector are divided between Faucillion (80 employees), Eiffage (75 employees) and Colas (60 employees). Since its opening, the Cité de la Mer is the tourist engine of Nord-Cotentin. The cruise terminal also attracts liners each year. The marina of 1,500 spaces is the first French port of call (11,000 per year). The capacity of the city was, as of 1 January 2007, 15 hotels and 429 rooms. The casino, owned by the Cogit Group is the 109th in France, with a turnover of €6.7 million. ==Politics and administration==

In 2010, the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville was awarded a 3-star equivalent "" label and was upgraded to a 4-star equivalent rating in 2012. Administrative divisions The city has the of two cantons: Canton of Cherbourg-Octeville-1 (to the west) and Cherbourg-Octeville-2 (in the east, which also includes the town of La Glacerie). are the Socialists Frédéric Bastian, Anna Pic, Karine Duval and Sébastien Fagnen. The arrondissement of Cherbourg has 189 municipalities and 190,363 inhabitants. The sub-prefect is Jacques Troncy, former sub-prefect of Montbéliard, appointed 17 March 2014. Since 1986, the , known as Cherbourg, covered the three cantons of Cherbourg-Octeville, and those of Equeurdreville-Hainneville, and Tourlaville. In the context of the legislative redistricting of 2010, the two cantons of Beaumont-Hague and Quettehou integrated the constituency of Cherbourg-Octeville, becoming the 4th constituency. Despite this redistribution often perceived as advantageous for the right, the outgoing Socialist deputy of the 5th constituency, Bernard Cazeneuve, was re-elected in the first round with 55% of the vote. Cherbourg-Octeville also has the headquarters of the maritime prefecture of the English Channel and the North Sea, whose authority extends from the Bay of Mont Saint-Michel to the Belgian border. The is the Vice Admiral of the Squadron, Bruno Nielly. The maritime quarter of Cherbourg (initials: CH) is restricted to the limits of the department. Since 1971, Cherbourg-Octeville has belonged to the , presided over by André Rouxel since 2012, Mayor of Tourlaville, to which the municipality delegates urban transport, management of space and the quality of life, the environment and development strategies (higher education, research, major projects, and Cité de la Mer, etc.). The postal codes from prior to the merger of 2000 have been preserved: 50130 for addresses of the former territory of Octeville, 50100 for Cherbourg. Political trends and results Cherbourg is historically, with the Arsenal and the port, the main focus of labour and trades unions of the department of Manche. However, the Cherbourg workers do not lean towards radical or revolutionary movements, nor to yellow unionism, traditionally preferring the reformist tendencies. These choices are reflected politically into a strong center-left anchor, dominated by Socialist-radicals and independent Socialists, before whom the SFIO and the Socialist Party are not imposed. Since the Liberation, with the exception of a Gaullist period of 18 years with Jacques Hébert following death, the city of Cherbourg has voted in favour Socialist forces. Similarly, the right won the town hall of Octeville in 1989, for a term, by the division of the left. Since the redrawing of the electoral district of Cherbourg in 1986, covering the urban population of the agglomeration and the rural district of the , the left-right alternation is the rule in every legislative election. Presidential elections, results of the second rounds • Election of 2012 (77.28% participation): 60.00% for François Hollande (PS, elected), 40.00% for Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP). • Election of 2007 (83.27% participation): 52.03% for Ségolène Royal (PS), 47.97% for Nicolas Sarkozy (UMP, elected). • Election of 2002 (76.82% participation): 86,81% for Jacques Chirac (RPR, elected), 13.19% for Jean-Marie Le Pen (FN). Parliamentary elections, results of the second rounds (1 round, unique for 2012) • Elections of 2012 (54.48% participation), candidates who have collected more than 5% of the vote: 56.57% to Bernard Cazeneuve (PS, elected), 39.23% David Margueritte (UMP), 8.80% for Jean-Jacques Christmas (FN), 5.55% for Ralph Lejamtel (EELV). • Elections of 2007 (61.28% participation): 60.77% for Bernard Cazeneuve (PS, elected), 39.23% (UMP). • Elections of 2002 (62.49% participation): 50.78% for Bernard Cazeneuve (PS), 49.22% for Jean Lemière (UMP, elected). European elections, results of the two scores or more than 15% • 2014 election (41.70% participation): 20.59% for (UMP), 20.38% for Gilles Pargneaux (PS-PRG), 19.85% for Marine Le Pen (FN). • 2009 election (37.63% participation): 24.98% for Dominique Riquet (UMP), 22.51% for Gilles Pargneaux (PS), 14.2% for Hélène Flautre (Europe Écologie). • 2004 election (40.81% participation): 37.75% for Henri Weber (PS), 16.74% for Tokia Saïfi (UMP). • 1999 election (45.52% participation): Cherbourg, 25.12% for François Hollande (PS), 13.98% to Charles Pasqua (RPF), 12.54% for Nicolas Sarkozy, 45.09% of participation; Octeville 29.79% for François Hollande (PS), 11.55% for Charles Pasqua (FPN), 8.08% for Nicolas Sarkozy. Regional elections • 2004 election (61.90% participation): 58,27% for Philippe Duron (PS), 31.06% for René Garrec (UMP), 10.67% for Fernand Le Rachinel (FN). • 1998 election (53.71% participation): Cherbourg 42.06% for Jean-Pierre Godefroy (PS), 18.13% for (UDF), 51.08% participation. Octeville 44.33% for Jean-Pierre Godefroy (PS), 15.50% for Pierre Aguiton (UDF). Cantonal elections • 2008 election: Canton of Cherbourg-Octeville-Sud-Ouest 54.43% for Michel Lerenard (PS), 15.37% for Alain Estève (DVD), 53.22% of participation; Canton of Cherbourg-Octeville-Nord-Ouest 63.03% for Jean-Michel Houllegatte (PS), 36.97% for , 39.32% participation • 2004 election: Canton of Cherbourg-Octeville-Sud-Est, 65.69% for Michel Louiset (PS), 34.31% for M Héry, 59.04% participation. • 2001 election: Canton of Cherbourg-Nord-Ouest (2nd round), 56.15% for Jean Lemière, 43.85% for Jean-Michel Houllegatte, 52.35% of participation; Canton of Cherbourg-Octeville-Sud-Ouest (1st round), 53.12% for Michel Lerenard, 25.29% for Guillemeau, 52.28% participation. • 1998 election: Canton of Cherbourg-Sud-Est, 65.76% for Michel Louiset, 34.24 percent Ponthou, 41.5% participation. Municipal elections • 2014 election: 39.19% for Jean-Michel Houllegatte (PS), 34.06% for David Margueritte (UMP), 15.56% for Jean Levallois (DVD), 11.17% for Ralph Lejamtel (FG), 52.28% participation. • 2008 election: 66.82% for Bernard Cazeneuve (PS), 19.64% for (UMP), 13.55% for Hervé Corbin (dissident UMP), 55.48% of participation. • 2001 election: 55.09% for Bernard Cazeneuve, 23.98% for Jean Lemière, 55.57% participation. Referendums • 2005 European Constitution referendum: 43.39% for Yes, 56.61% for No, 68.95% participation. • Local referendum on the Grand Cherbourg: Thirty Councillors represent a leftist majority, nine represent the opposition. Personnel expenses exceeded half (60%) of operating expenses. Almost all of the resources were fuelled by grants (49%) and tax (44%). Of the seven budgets of the municipal mandate (2001-2007), this budget increased overall by 22% (43% for investments, 15% for operation). The investment budget is included in the multiannual programme "Unite the city" (2003-2007), presented in December 2002 by Bernard Cazeneuve. It sees a transformation of the newly amalgamated city through refurbishment of the pool and Port Chantereyne, development of the Bassins zone, filling the retaining channel, and the construction of the sailing school. It is mainly financed by borrowing, increasing the debt of the city (the charges multiplied by two-thirds between 2002 and 2007), lower than the average per capita of the stratum. International relations Cherbourg is twinned with: • Poole, United Kingdom, since 1977 • Bremerhaven, Germany Cherbourg maintains decentralised co-operation with: • Sarh, Chad, since 1995 • Veles, North Macedonia In 1785, a was created, however it was smaller than the Viscountcy, essentially covering La Hague, as far as Héauville and included Helleville, Tourlaville, and Bretteville, Digosville and Martinvast, and always under the authority of the electoral district of Valognes. Cherbourg became a town and district in January 1790, seat of a justice of the peace and a civil and criminal court. Under the Directory, they were replaced by a simple police court, attended by a justice of the peace, and a police correctional court. The correctional court closed after the Act of 17 February 1800 and Cherbourg was made a town and township of the . After his arrival in the city, Napoleon established a Court of first instance by the Decree of 19 July 1811. The city is today one of the three main judicial hubs of Manche, along with Coutances and Avranches. It hosts a (arrondissement of Cherbourg-Octeville), a court (Canton of Beaumont-Hague, Cherbourg-Octeville-Nord-Ouest, Cherbourg-Octeville-Sud-Est, Équeurdreville-Hainneville, Cherbourg-Octeville-Sud-Ouest, Les Pieux, Saint-Pierre-Eglise and Tourlaville), a council of tribunals and a tribunal of commerce. A remand prison is located in the city centre, behind the buildings of the court. As a result of the justice reform presented in 2007 by Rachida Dati, the jurisdiction of the Court of Valognes will be integrated to that of Cherbourg. ==Local life==

Education Two have been defined, one being on Cherbourg territory in the Quarter of Maupas, the other straddling Cherbourg and Octeville, in the quarter of the Provinces. Cherbourg-Octeville has six high schools: • The former college, which became high school in 1886, is known by the name of Lycée Victor Grignard (830 students: General and TSG, as well as ). • The Lycée Jean-François Millet (1,210 students: General sector, preparatory health, preparatory literary classes). • The Lycée Alexis de Tocqueville (1,480 students: General sector, technical, professional and higher education -BTS-). • The Ingénieur-Cachin private professional high school (320 students). • The Thomas Hélye private high school, the Sainte-Chantal private lycée and the La Bucaille technological lycée (1,005 students, courses) general and technical. • The aquaculture and marine high school (102 pupils). On 28 June 2013, this became the professional maritime and aquaculture lycée . The university campus, installed on the heights of Octeville, focuses the Cherbourg School of Engineering, the IUT Cherbourg-Manche (which hosts approximately 1,000 students in initial or continuing education through four DUT departments, four pro licenses, one DU, a DCEF and a DAEU), as well as two branches of the University of Caen (UFR sciences and UFR modern foreign languages). The Pasteur hospital houses the Institute of training in nursing of Cherbourg-Octeville. The Group FIM, training service of the two chambers of commerce and industry of la Mancha, manages the school of trade and distribution, and since 2007, the Institute of promotion and marketing boating, forming alternating a fortnight of accreditation in the field of boating (shipbuilding, nautical services company, marinas, etc.). The Institute of the Film Industry of Normandy is installed as a result of the International School of Audiovisual Creation and Realisation (EICAR) on the site of the former . It is complemented by the training of apprentices of the Performing Arts and Audiovisual Centre, while the (Esbaco), founded in 1912 by Henri Buffet design Professor and Professor of modelling Félix Delteil, is located in the former convent of the Little Sisters of the Poor (Bassins zone) since 1976. Cherbourg-Octeville welcomes the (EAMEA, 351 students) and the National Institute of Science and Nuclear Technology - remains of the importance of the army in the city - while the School of the Quartermasters (between 600 and 700 students) is located at Querqueville. The town also hosts the (Intechmer), Tourlaville. Sport The first horse race organised in Normandy took place in Cherbourg in September 1836 on the (now gone) beachfront along the boulevard maritime, at the initiative of , the officer of the stud. The races settled in 1931 on the Lande Saint-Gabriel Racecourse in Tourlaville, the work of , and the from 1990. In football, AS Cherbourg Football, after decades at the national level, is changing, as a result of bad sports results and financial problems, since 2014 in the , equivalent to the 6th division, and is based at the . The club has also two other senior male teams in the League of Lower Normandy. Three other clubs have teams in : • The ''Patronage laïque d'Octeville'' [Secular Patronage of Octeville] (three teams) • The ''Association sportive de l'Arsenal maritime de Cherbourg'' [Sporting Association of the Marine Arsenal of Cherbourg] (one team) • Gazélec Football Club (two teams) The Association sportive Amont-Quentin, which had two district teams until June 2013, had to cease its activities. The Octeville Hague Sport, which was developing its teams in 2013–2014, was unable to present any team for the 2014–2015 season. In cycling, Cherbourg has been a city of arrival for the Tour de France on sixteen occasions: 1911 to 1914 (four consecutive years), from 1919 to 1929 (eleven consecutive years), and finally in 1986. Cherbourg was a departure city in 1994. The second stage of the 2016 Tour de France finishes at Cherbourg. Cherbourg regularly hosts stages of sailing competitions such as the Solitaire du Figaro, the , the Challenge Mondial Assistance, the Tour de France à la voile, and the Tall Ships' Race. The Challenger La Manche is a professional tennis tournament ($50,000 plus accommodation) held annually in Cherbourg since 1994. In ice hockey, NC'HOP (, the Cherbourg Vikings) was based in the city. The team was the successor to CHOC (Cherbourg Hockey Club), who played in FFHG Division 1 until filing for bankruptcy in 1996. NC'HOP left the competition in 2010. AS Cherbourg men's basketball team plays in and the women's team in the Prenational league. The has a male handball team in and a women's team in (agreement with Tourlaville). The club has also implemented a structured training programme for young people, from the 2009/2010 season, around a partnership with colleges of the city. Health Cherbourg-Octeville has two hospitals: • The Pasteur Central Hospital, public, second establishment of Lower Normandy with 711 beds and places. With a joint medical project since 2001 and a communal direction since 2003, the Pasteur Centre and the Central Hospital of Valognes merged in 2006 within the (2,000 officials, more than 1,000 beds, and a 2005 budget of €133 million) • The Polyclinic of the Cotentin, at the border between Octeville and Équeurdreville-Hainneville (102 beds). The Gros Hêtre medicalised residence for elderly (a branch of the public hospital in the Cotentin) and, since 1999, the Jean-Brüder Community Health Centre are located on the territory of Octeville. In 1859, following the Imperial visit, the State decided upon the construction of a of a thousand beds to accommodate the troops in garrison. Opened on 15 February 1869, it was renamed René-Le-Bas, named after the first doctor who joined the Free Naval Forces and died in 1942 aboard the submarine Surcouf. It was closed in 2002 and renovated as a university campus. Religion Attached to the Diocese of Coutances-Avranches, until 1 September 2009 the deanery of Cherbourg covered the territory of the urban community and the bordering communes of Tonneville, Urville-Nacqueville, and those of the former Communauté de communes de la Saire, and the Communauté de communes de Douve et Divette. To this date, it is merged to the deanery of La Hague, to become the , therefore adding the parishes covering the and of Les Pieux. Jean-XXIII parish unites Cherbourg and La Glacerie, with the Cherbourg churches of La Trinité (long only parish church), Notre-Dame-du-Roule, Notre-Dame-du-Vœu, St-Jean-des-Carrières and Saint-Clément. The parish of Saint-Sauveur of Octeville, which also covers Nouainville has three sites in the commune: Saint-Martin, the historic site, Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul, at Provinces, and the Chapel of Saint-Barthélemy. Protestants have a temple of the Reformed Church (since 1835, rebuilt after the war in 1964), and a Pentecostal Evangelical church affiliated with the Assemblies of God. The Evangelical Baptist Church has been present since 1985 in the agglomeration and is currently located in Tourlaville. Cherbourg and Octeville experienced two major waves of immigration of Muslim population, the late 1950s and during the 1960s, after the construction of the neighbourhoods of Amont-Quentin, Provinces and Maupas, and then in the 1980s, with the major construction sites of the La Hague reprocessing site and the Flamanville Nuclear Power Plant. The Muslim community then opened three mosques (the Mosque of Omar in Octeville, the Mosque de la Gare, on the Avenue de Normandie, and then the Turkish mosque, on the Boulevard de l’Atlantique). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Parish of Cherbourg, has its chapel on the Rue du Commerce. ==Personalities linked to the commune==

Natives of Cherbourg • Masseot Abaquesne (–1564), ceramicist • Jean Nicolet (1598–1642), explorer of New France • Philippe Mius d'Entremont (c. 1601 – c. 1700), Baron of Pobomcoup and coloniser • Jean Hamon (1618–1687), medical doctor and solitaire of Port-Royal; • (1626–1705), brigadier of the Armies of the King under Louis XIV, Governor of the Hôtel des Invalides • , known as Du Bocage ( 1658), French corsair then vice-admiral of Brazil • Jean Baptiste de Beauvais (1731–1790), preacher and representative to the Estates General of 1789 • , (1746–1819), lawyer at the Parlement of Rouen, and author of works of law • Amable Troude (1762–1824), General of the Empire • (1780–1854), botanist • (1791–1872), sailor • Lizinska de Mirbel (1796–1849), miniaturist • (1809–1876), engineer • Allyre Bureau (1810–1859), politician, musician • (1816–1885), founder of the Fondation Vallée, for intellectually disabled children in Gentilly • Joachim Menant (1820–1899), Assyriologist • Emmanuel Liais (1826–1900), astronomer and mayor of Cherbourg • Alfred-Alexandre Quentin (1827–1895), trombonist • (1841–1926), songwriter in the Norman language • Georges Sorel (1847–1922), political thinker • (b. 1854), writer • Henry Moret (1856–1913), painter of the Pont-Aven School • (1871–1959), colonel, eminent specialist in Meiji period Japan • Victor Grignard (1871–1935), Nobel chemist laureate of the Nobel Prize in 1912 • Lortac (1884–1973), writer and French pioneer of animated cartoons • Joseph Noyon (1888–1962), compositeur, arrangeur ('' [Hymn to the night], Il est né le divin enfant'' [He is born the divine child]) • (1890–1968), Archbishop of Rabat • Félix Amiot (1894–1974), aircraft builder and creator of Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN) • (1907–2002) and Paul-Louis Halley (1934-2003), founders of the Promodès Group • (1908–1976), biologist and zoologist • (1908–1952), member of the Resistance • Jean Marais (1913–1998), actor and stuntman • Roland Barthes (1915–1980), semiologist • Jean-Charles Tacchella (b. 1925), filmmaker, author of Cousin Cousine (1975); • (b. 1925), journaliste, former television news presenter, and politician • Annie Saumont (b. 1927), writer, laureate of the in 1981 • Jacques Rouxel (1931–2004), animator, creator of Les Shadoks • Michel Besnier (b 1945), writer • (1945–1994), singer who has imported the madison into France in the 1960s • (b. 1951), poet • (b 1951), writer • (b 1956), sailor • Élisabeth Ballet (b 1957), sculptor • (b 1958), oceanographer • (b 1959), Bishop of Langres • Rosette (b 1959), film actress • (b 1963), writer and illustrator • Wilfried Gohel (b 1968), footballer • Laurent Leflamand (b 1968), rugby player • Françoiz Breut (b 1969), singer • (b 1971), television presenter • Émilie Loit (b 1979), tennis player • (b 1982), comedian • Amaël Moinard (b 1982), cyclist • Élodie Godin (b 1985), basketball player • Lise de la Salle (b 1988), pianist • Ernst Umhauer (b 1989), actor Natives of Octeville • (1897–1975), prefect and French politician. Died in Cherbourg • (1803–1879), historian and poet. • Prosper Payerne (1806–1886), physician, scientist and inventor. • Armand Le Véel (1821–1905), statue sculptor. • (1813–1892), Rear Admiral. • Jean-Charles-Alexandre Sallandrouze de Lamornaix (1840–1899), Admiral, Commander in Chief of the Squadron of the North, died in harbour on the battleship Formidable. • Louis Corbière (1850–1941), botanist. • Heinz Hellmich (1890 – 17 June 1944) German General who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II. • (1912–2003), one of the negotiators of the Évian Accords for the abandonment of French Algeria • (1925–2006), politician, deputy mayor of Cherbourg Others linked to Cherbourg The work of the seawall and the military port in Cherbourg led many soldiers and engineers, for whom this step was often an important moment in their career. Thus, Charles François Dumouriez (1739–1823), Governor of Cherbourg who was responsible for the first work, at the dawn of the French Revolution, Joseph Cachin (1757–1825), engineer assigned by Napoleon to the general direction of the maritime work of Cherbourg in 1804. For twenty years, he realised the improvement of the commercial port, and the digging of the docks of the military port, constituting the New Arsenal. Henri Rieunier (1833–1918) who was twice major of the Navy in Cherbourg (1872/1875) and Louis-Émile Bertin (1840–1924) who lived in Cherbourg from 1863 to 1879, and is buried in the cemetery of La Glacerie. Charles-Eugène Delaunay (1816–1872), Director of the Paris Observatory, drowned while visiting the harbour. Among the engineers of the Directorate of construction and naval weapons, included Augustin-Louis Cauchy (1789–1857) and also Maxime Laubeuf. Under the Ancien Régime, the safeguarding of the Château de Cherbourg was already the task of illustrious figures of the Kingdom, such as , the and ( 1697). At the origin of the military port, Napoleon (1769–1821), who visited the city in 1811, "Revient" in Cherbourg in 1840 during the return of his remains to France, aboard Belle Poule, before being taken to Les Invalides. A transatlantic port of the 20th century, Cherbourg saw Hollywood stars arrive, such as Charlie Chaplin, who organised his disembarkation in 1952 to a press conference in the gare maritime, critical of the McCarthyist America that he left. The port saw a lot of famous people, including businessman Benjamin Guggenheim (1865–1912) for his fatal voyage on the Titanic. Cinema then gave Cherbourg another lasting reputation, through the images of Jacques Demy (1931–1990) and music by Michel Legrand (1932-2019), in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Earlier, Frida Boccara (1940–1996), knew great success in 1961 with her song Cherbourg avait raison. The letters were not left with academician Georges Grente (1872–1959), superior of the Saint-Paul Institute, and Ernest Psichari (1883–1914), soldier and writer, whose garrison stay in Cherbourg in 1914 with the 2nd colonial artillery regiment inspires ''L'Appel des armes''. ==Culture and heritage==

Cultural facilities With Caen, Cherbourg-Octeville is the main cultural centre of Lower Normandy. The city is the seat of several learned societies, including the founded in 1755, formed in 1851, and the Artistic and Industrial society of Cherbourg, incorporated in 1871. The creation and dissemination of the performing arts are ensured by the Trident, of Italian theatre, the theatre of Octeville and the Vox. Amateur theatre is celebrated by Les Téméraires. The vocation prioritaire du Centre régional des arts du cirque [Priority Mission of the Regional Centre of Circus Arts] (CRAC) of La Brèche, opened in October 2006, is the residence of circus troops, but instead also offers programming for the public. CRAC participates in the festival of street arts, Charivarue. In addition, the provision of artistic education is rich, with the Film Industry Institute of Normandy, the school of fine arts and the municipal music school, labelled as a conservatory for communal influence, which has 800 registrants. After the closure of Ultrasound in Équeurdreville-Hainneville, a unique room of contemporary music of Nord-Cotentin, several associations have come together within the network "La Voix des oreilles" ["The voice of the ears"] and of the place Épicentre, in the former yacht club on Quai Lawton-Collins, where the festival La Terra Trema takes place. However, the city lacks a large capacity venue, the theatre can accommodate only 700 spectators. After the bitter failure of Cherbourg-Land, this problem has not been resolved at the level of the Cotentin. and composed essentially of works seized from emigrants and deportees. Several donations were then made, including a legacy of 3,000 works by in 1844 (with twenty-six incunabula and a ninth-century manuscript De bello iudaico [The Jewish War] of Flavius Josephus, which remains the oldest document in the library) and a gift in 1877 from Jérôme-Frédéric Bignon, Mayor of Le Rozel and heir to the king's librarians. It also has a Norman fonds, an old fonds devoted to botany and another to travel. Cherbourg-Octeville is the seat of two publishing houses, Isoète founded in 1985 and established in 1996. Cherbourg-Octeville in literature • Honoré de Balzac cites the engineer Joseph Cachin, constructor of the port of Cherbourg, among the men of genius in Le Curé de village [The Village Priest] and La Duchesse de Langeais [The Duchess of Langeais]. Cherbourg is also present in Le Réquisitionnaire [The Recruit]. • Octave Mirbeau, ''Le Journal d'une femme de chambre'' [The Diary of a Chambermaid], 1900: In the final chapter, Celestine became the owner of a cafe in Cherbourg • Remy de Gourmont, Un cœur virginal [A Virginal Heart], 1907 • Ernest Psichari, ''L'Appel des armes'' [The Call to Arms], 1913 • Gilles Rosset, Le Vent dominant [The Prevailing Wind], Grasset, 1979 • Alexis Salatko, Vingt deux nuances de gris [Twenty-two Shades of Grey], 1990 • Jean-Philippe Arrou-Vignod, L’omelette au sucre [The Omelette with Sugar], Gallimard, Folio Junior, 1999 • Robert Sinsoilliez, Une balle pour rien à Cherbourg [A Bullet for Nothing to Cherbourg], 2000 • • Ken Follett's novel The Pillars of the Earth features Cherbourg as the hometown of Jacques Cherbourg, a Frenchman washed ashore in England during the European Middle Ages. His son, Jack Jackson, travels to France as an adult and meets his father's family in Cherbourg. • Kimberly Brubaker Bradley set her novel, For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy in Cherbourg. The narrator, Suzanne Hall (née David), is a spy for the French Resistance. • Cherbourg (or to be precise its analog in the Lord Darcy universe) is the setting for Randall Garrett's short story "A Case of Identity" and is part of the backdrop for his novel Too Many Magicians. Cinema The cinema occupies a significant place in the life of Cherbourg. Many classics of French cinema have been filmed there, such as La Marie du port directed by Marcel Carné and starring Jean Gabin. In 1981, Claude Miller also located the action film Garde à Vue there, though shot in the studio. However, the most emblematic is undoubtedly The Umbrellas of Cherbourg directed by Jacques Demy, a story about Madame Emery and her 17-year-old daughter Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve) who sell umbrellas at their tiny boutique. The film was shot in the summer of 1963, and still contributes to the international renown of the city. Yet long before, at the time of the splendor of the transatlantic liners, Cherbourg was a port of arrival, departure or transit for many stars, including Charlie Chaplin and Burt Lancaster. The city was also birthplace of the filmmaker Jean-Charles Tacchella and the actor Jean Marais. , the Cinemovida (festival of the cinema of Spain and Latin America), and Images d'Outre-Rhin (German cinema), as well as Cin'étoiles, screenings of films outdoors in July, animate the local cultural life. In 2003, the EICAR film school was located in the old buildings of the . After three years of loss and liabilities estimated at €1.5 million, it was placed into liquidation in September 2006 and replaced the following month, under the leadership of elders of its teachers by the Institut des métiers du cinéma de Normandie (IMC Normandie) that itself closed its doors in 2011. The city has a fleet of 17 permanent cinema rooms, distributed over two sites, including one labelled as Art et essai (Revival house). • Odéon (5 rooms) Following the opening of the multiplex, the withdrawal of the , which operated Club 6 (Rue de la Paix) since 1983 and the Odeon (Rue Foch) since 1991, resulted in the closure in 2004 of the first and the revival of the latter city centre cinema, labelled as Art et essai by Fadila Chambelland, the former manager. The cinema had 90,000 admissions in 2006. The damaged façade of the old cafe of the Grand balcon, which then became Le Central cinema, is in the style of the Second Empire, with caryatids and garlands of flowers. • Méga CGR (12 rooms) Opened in 2003 near the boulevard maritime with 2,557 seats; 400,000 admissions in 2006. • Omnia (1 room) The historic cinema operated by Pathé, located on the Rue de la Paix, it was bought in the 1990s by the municipality and no longer welcomes any more than rare events. The interior frescoes of R. Lecoq, representing Aeolus and Vulcan, were distinguished in 2006 by the label "20th century heritage" of the Ministry of Culture. Several cinemas have disappeared, such as the Eldorado (destroyed, Place de la Republique), the Eden (Rue Cachin), the Vox (former patronage room which became a second room of Le Trident (theatre)), and the Saint-Joseph (Rue des Ormes), etc. Films shot in Cherbourg • ''Le p'tit Parigot'' (1926), by René Le Somptier • La Marie du port (1950), by Marcel Carné, with Jean Gabin • The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), by Jacques Demy, starring Catherine Deneuve • (1975), directed by Claude Zidi, with Pierre Richard and Jane Birkin • Roads to the South (1978), Joseph Losey, with Yves Montand • The Green Ray (1986) of Éric Rohmer • (2005), directed in part at the EICAR-Cherbourg • La Boîte noire (2005), by Richard Berry • Lili and the baobab (2006), Chantal Richard, with Romane Bohringer • Rumba (2008) Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, , etc. • Love Me No More (2008), by Jean Becker, with Albert Dupontel • Q (2011), by Laurent Bouhnik Language The Cherbourg population spoke le haguais, a variant of Cotentinais Norman, while having some specifics regarding the pronunciation of certain words. In Cotentinais Norman, Cherbourg is called Tchidbouo and Octeville, Otteville . Their inhabitants are the Tchidbouorqŭais and the Ottevillais and . While French was necessary in Rouen in the 19th century, Norman remained widely used from Cherbourg to Caen, up to the First World War. was the leading local figure of the dialect authors of the 19th century. He published his Chansonnettes normandes, among which Sus la mé became an anthem of the Cotentin Peninsula. At that time, was critical of its approximate spelling and poor mastery of the language. Various actors are now trying to promote the local use of the Norman. The Alfred Rossel society makes live folklore and language. Le Boué-jaun a Cherbourg-based magazine, published his texts in Norman, and one of three popular Norman universities is based here. The so-called are small lobsters. Cherbourg is also located near three oyster areas (Blainville, Saint-Vaast and Isigny). The most traditional preparation is the matelote. Alexandre Dumas also presented the recipe of the "queue de merlan à la mode de Cherbourg " [tail of whiting in the Cherbourg manner], with butter and oysters. From 1464, the bakers of Cherbourg held Royal permission to develop their breads based on seawater, thus avoiding paying for the salt and the gabelle [salt tax]. On the occasion of the visit of Napoleon, they would have created folded bread, country bread ball, oval, which is folded back on itself to be cooked, thus offering a tighter bicorn-shaped sandwich which came to be called "pain Napoléon" [Napoleon bread]. More broadly, the kitchen of Nord-Cotentin is , in which dairy products (butter, cream, milk, cheese, etc.) and apples (as fruit or alcohol) dominate. Since 2010, the restaurant le Pily, of the Valognes restaurateur Pierre Marion, holds a star in the Michelin Guide. Heritage Civil monuments . The Italian Theatre is one of the last Italian theatres built in France (1880). Opened in 1882, it was built on the plans of , on the site of the grain market. The façade pays homage to Molière, Boieldieu and Corneille. It has been classified a historical monument since 1984 with its two side returns and corresponding roofing; also classified are the vestibule, the grand staircase, the hall and foyer, as well as the 13 original decorations. The ceiling is the work of Georges Clairin. With three galleries, it accommodates up to 600 spectators. The Mouchel Fountain, named after the patron and director of the journal Le Phare de la Manche, stands at the centre of the Place Général-de-Gaulle. A monumental fountain in cast iron, it was created by Louis Eugène Gutelle in 1895. The Hotel Epron de la Horie (named after the Vice Admiral and Marine Minister Jacques Epron de la Horie, owner under the first Empire) or ancient customs is located at the corner of Rue de Val-de-Saire and the wharf of the Old Arsenal. Built in 1781 by Jacques Martin Maurice, "contractor of the King's works" in schist (cover and body of the building) and red brick (window frames), registered as a historical monument since 16 February 1965. Successively barracks of the Swiss, auxiliary Hospital of the work of the harbour, home of shipowners Richer, Cousin, Despréaux and Lias in the 19th century and a customs house during the interwar period, it is now the headquarters of the Groupe Caisse d'Épargne. The hôtel Atlantique [Atlantic Hotel], opposite the maritime station, was also built by , in iron and cement and in the Art Deco style, for the three transatlantic companies which served Cherbourg, the Cunard Line, the White Star Line and the Red Star Line, grouped into the Société anonyme de l’Hôtel Atlantique. It hosted on the emigrants (third class passengers), mainly from Eastern Europe, who stayed there for an average of 12 days to undergo sanitary and customs controls. The building thus included a section for infected and a section for disinfected with a capacity of 2,000 people. Begun in 1920, opened in 1926, it closed eight years later. Requisitioned under the Occupation and Liberation, it was bought by Félix Amiot to accommodate some of its shipyard employees. It has hosted the services of the since 1991. The central pavilion is included in the inventory of historic monuments since October 2001. The town hall was built at the beginning of the 19th century; It was enlarged twice, first in 1850 by a south-west wing forming an L-shape with the first building, and then under the Second Empire (salon of the Empress), and reworked after the Liberation. Inside, a staircase serves the Grand Lounge and the lounge of the Empress, which houses portraits of Napoleon III and Eugénie by Winterhalter, with - between the two – a rotunda room for the paintings of Michel-Adrien Servant recalling the major events in the history of the city. Since 1858, the Council Chamber contains the 16th century chimney of the abbot's house of the Abbey of Notre-Dame-du-Vœu, purchased by the municipality in 1841 and classified as a historical monument since 1905. Memorials The faces the basilica, on the Place Napoléon. The work of Armand Le Véel, it represents the Emperor contemplating the harbour and the military port. On the base, reads an excerpt from the Memorial of Sainte-Hélène, dated 15 July 1816: I had resolved to renew to Cherbourg the wonders of Egypt, i.e. a pyramid with central fort and a new Lake Moeris, for the outer harbour, dug into the rock. The statue, erected in 1858 on the occasion of the visit of Napoleon III, recalls the importance of the Emperor in the expansion of Cherbourg. Around this emblematic monument of the city, registered in August 2006 and classified as an historic monument on 31 January 2008, extends the Plage verte, the old artificial beach until the postwar period, which runs along the marina. The monument of the Duke of Berry, in the Place de la République, commemorates the landing of the son of the future Charles X, back in France on the British frigate Eurotas on 13 April 1814, after the fall of the Empire. Completed in 1816, it consists of an obelisk of in pink granite of Flamanville, surmounting a fountain of grey granite, where four bronze lions' heads spew water into a basin dug in the same block. is a bronze of David d'Angers on a column of granite of the architect Lemelle, on which one can read the name of four battles where Bricqueville is illustrated: Wagram, Krasnoi, Antwerp and Versailles. Two bronze reliefs evoke the military (a sword) and parliamentary (a forum), were melted by the Germans in 1944. The monument has been listed as an historical monument since August 2006. The statue of Jean-François Millet, inaugurated in the on 22 September 1892, for the centenary of the First Republic, honours the "painter of peasants", student at the Museum of Cherbourg. Funded by a subscription launched by the municipality in 1886 and taken over by Parisian circles, the realisation of the marble bust ( high) was entrusted to Henri Chapu; after his death, it was completed by his pupil Jean-Ernest Bouteiller who had assisted him in the allegorical group in bronze ( high) of a peasant woman with her daughter in arms and laying flowers of the fields on the bust, supported on a pedestal and granite rocks ( high, wide, of depth). The monument is inscribed since August 2006. Military monuments Cherbourg Harbour is the largest artificial harbour of the world. Begun in 1783, the central wall was completed in 1853 and equipped with three forts in 1860. Built from the coast, the offshore seawall is long, with an average width of at its base and at its peak, and a height of . The three sea walls cover over combined. The fort de l’Île Pelée [fort of Pelée Island], a defensive element to the east of the sea wall, was designed by Ricard and Decaux and built between 1777 and 1784. It was named fort Royal, fort National, fort Imperial, before taking the name of the island on which it was built. It served as a prison during the Revolution. Fort du Roule (Museum of the War and Liberation) is located on the Montagne du Roule. The location in 1650 of the Chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Protection, abandoned during the Revolution, razed in 1870, this highest point of the city [] welcomed a redoubt to protect the harbour in 1793. In 1853, the present fort was built. The place of the last fighting in 1940, it was reinforced by the Germans in 1943 with a battery located on the hillside overlooking the harbour, below the fort. Composed of four casemates for guns and a position for the direction of firing, with several tunnels and access dug into the rock, for the Germans it became the strong point of the fortresse de Cherbourg and of the Atlantic Wall. On 6 June 1954, René Coty inaugurated the first French Museum of Liberation there. At the end of a winding road named chemin des Résistants [Path of Resistants], the fort offers a panoramic view of the city and the harbour. The battery and a part of the German ammunition storage tunnels were classified as a historic monument in 1995, and another part is converted into an underground laboratory for measurement of radioactivity for the school of military application of atomic energy. Religious monuments The was founded in 1145, on the coast of Équeurdreville, at the Croûte du Homet, by Empress Matilda. Located outside the city walls, it was regularly looted and burned during the incessant Anglo-French battles, then during the Wars of Religion. Subject to the regime of a commendatory abbot in 1583, it declined until its closure in 1774. Its lands were annexed in 1778 for the construction of the military port, and it became the residence of the Duke of Harcourt, who sheltered the King in 1786. The place was then transformed into a hospital, into a prison, and into the Martin des Pallières Barracks for the marine infantry. The company town of Chantereyne was built in 1928, until its destruction in June 1944. Bought by the Town Hall in 1961, the Abbey has been slowly restored since 1965. The smokestack of the Abbey House (16th century) is kept in the council room of the city hall, the west portal of the Church (13th century) is placed in the . The remains of Martin des Pallières barracks were classified in 1913, then all of the buildings, remains and soil of the abbey, in September 2002. The grave slab of Guillaume de Margerai, priest of Querqueville, who died in the 1280s, uncovered, has been classified as an historic monument since 1995. The , begun in the 11th century at the request of William the Conqueror, remained the only parish church of the city until the 19th century. The stately church dedicated to Our Lady in the castle was destroyed along with the fortress, in the 17th century. The Trinité was enlarged and transformed significantly in the 13th century, the nave was rebuilt, the choir and the bell tower is recorded from after 1450. After a rampage by January 1794, it had added a new square bell tower in 1828 and restored in neo-flamboyant style in 1865. Registered as a historical monument since March 1944, Trinité has a rich religious furniture, including a high altar of 1809, a wood pulpit carved by (1767), a retable of Armand Fréret (1814) and the great organs by Cavaillé-Coll. The church of Notre-Dame du Roule was built at the foot of the Montagne du Roule between 1832 and 1842 under the leadership of the "poet-Barber" Michel Legoupil and by the subscription of the faithful of the peripheral quarters of Roule which grew, such as the districts of the Vœu and the Polle. The church of Notre-Dame-du-Vœu, begun in 1850 on subscription of the parishioners and in the Romanesque style due to the scarcity of resources, was erected on a pasture, known as les briques, offered by Mr. de Virandeville. In 1855, the municipality completes the nave inaugurated in 1852 by a transept and a more ornate choir, and in 1862 the façade and two bell towers. A work of in length, the church houses a large organ by Duputel (1885), classified as a historic monument since 1990 and the stained glass windows of 1834, 1858–60 and 1949–58. The Church of Saint-Clément was built within the quarter of the Val-de-Saire, facing the Pasteur hospital, between June 1853 and 1856 by the architect of the city, Geufroy. long, it is of Greco-Roman inspiration, with a porch in the triangular pediment supported by four columns with Doric capitals. It houses the altars of the Virgin (1863) by François Fréret and Saint-Clément (1864) by Louis-Victor Fréret, acquired from the Basilica of Sainte-Trinité in 1846, an organ (1881), painting of the twelve apostles (1935) the Rock of Césigné and stained glass (1953) of Mauméjean. The Church of Saint-Pierre and Saint-Paul, on the area of Octeville, was built between 1967 and 1969 while the "grand ensemble" of Provinces was born. The triangular and irregular modern architecture of Paul Vimond symbolises "the tent of God in among the houses of men", a sacred art inspired by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965). Another Church was built on Octeville during those years: The Church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine-Postel opened in 1966 in the quarter of Fourches and decommissioned in 1990. The Church of Saint-Martin of Octeville, dating from the 12th century, is the historic parish church of Octeville which depended on the . Romanesque, it has an octagonal . The nave was remodelled in the 18th century. A relief depicting the Last Supper has been classified as a historic monument since 1908. ==Military life==

'' at Cherbourg-Octeville. During the Middle Ages, Cherbourg, a stronghold of the Cotentin peninsula, was home to a small garrison for the protection of the fortress. With the implementation of the harbour and military port, Cherbourg became a port of war at the end of the 18th century, with a large garrison. In 1798, it had 1,332 men, or a tenth of the population, divided mainly between the barracks of the Abbey, current historical Service of the Navy, which housed 542 men of the 4th brigade and the Maurice Quarter, in the Hôtel Epron de la Horie, home to 227 men. Numbers were brought to 3,000 men for the completion of the work, by a decree of germinal year XI. During the 20th century, Cherbourg, a strategic point during both world wars, adapted to new threats. It then hosted a large garrison of the Navy, an artillery regiment and a Hôpital des Armées known locally as "marine hospital". In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the presence of the army weakened by the transfer of the northern fleet to Brest and the closure of the maritime hospital renamed René-Le-Bas. Yet Cherbourg remained a base of the first order of the National Navy, as the seat of the and of the Maritime Gendarmerie grouping of Manche. The naval base is the homeport of five patrol vessels of the Navy and the coastguard, group of the clearance divers sleeve and its building-base the Vulcain, the tug Abeille Liberté and various support vessels. It is also the headquarters of the Operational Training of Surveillance and Territorial Information of Cherbourg (Cherbourg FOSIT) which brings together thirteen semaphores and the lookout of the maritime district. In addition, a flotilla 35 F Dauphin helicopter is based at Cherbourg – Maupertus Airport. The operation of the military port is borne by the directions of the Commissioner of the Navy, maritime works and information systems of the Navy, as well as the branch of the support service of the fleet and the military workshop of the Cherbourg fleet. Cherbourg is also a training hub of the armed forces through the (EAMEA), in charge of the joint education of military specialists in material sciences, of techniques and of nuclear safety and the École des fourriers de Querqueville, devoted to education of the officers of the three armed forces in business administration, management, human resources and the restoration to the training of specialists of the restoration of the national gendarmerie and the homes of the Navy staff. Proposals for reform on the organization and the distribution of the French Army, presented in the spring of 2008 in the White Paper on Defence and National Security planned in the context of the French General Review of Public Policies raise the concern of civilian personnel of the defence of the city, including the . According to projects, Cherbourg-Octeville would become one of 90 defence bases around 2010. In a pooling of means and the establishment of support for the armed forces, the city would retain military and civilian activities, and would host new regiments for the army and of the air force to constitute one of the largest bases of defence. However, the Navy in Cherbourg-Octeville would lose 220 jobs, including civilians, through including the division of half of the staff of the Directorate of maritime works, the abolition of 30 posts including 5 civilians in the École des fourriers and the Atomic school, the loss of 27 posts including 14 civilians in the direction of information systems, and the disarmament of the Vulcain, Acharné, Coralline and Élan. National orders for DCNS could be spread over several years, also reducing human needs there, especially among the subcontractors. Several military units were stationed at Cherbourg during the 20th century: • , 1939 - 1940 • , 1870 - 1914 • , • 77th Territorial Infantry Regiment, 1870 - 1914 • , 1914 • 1st Marine Artillery Regiment, 1906 • , 1906 • , 1906 ==Gallery==

File:CherbourgCentre.JPG|Town centre File:HD-SN-99-02715.JPEG|Charles de Gaulle delivering a speech in liberated Cherbourg from the Hôtel de Ville (town hall) File:Gare-cherbourg.jpg|Gare de Cherbourg File:Cherbourg, Bassin de commerce sous le soleil d'hiver (1).JPG|Haven File:Cherbourg-vuegenerale.jpg|Current view of the city ==See also==