Brive-la-Gaillarde

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Brive-la-Gaillarde Briva la Galharda (Occitan)
Subprefecture and commune
The Hôtel de Ville
Coat of arms
Location of Brive-la-Gaillarde
Brive-la-Gaillarde Location within France Show map of France Brive-la-Gaillarde Location within Nouvelle-Aquitaine Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 45°09′30″N 1°31′56″E / 45.1583°N 1.5321°E / 45.1583; 1.5321
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Corrèze
Arrondissement	Brive-la-Gaillarde
Canton	Brive-la-Gaillarde-1, 2, 3 and 4
Intercommunality	CA Bassin de Brive
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Frédéric Soulier
Area 1	48.59 km2 (18.76 sq mi)
Elevation	142 m (466 ft)
Highest elevation	315 m (1,033 ft)
Lowest elevation	102 m (335 ft)
Population  (2023)	47,095
• Density	969.2/km2 (2,510/sq mi)
Demonym	Brivistes
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	19031 /19100
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Brive-la-Gaillarde (French pronunciation: [bʁiv la ɡajaʁd] ^ⓘ; Limousin dialect of Occitan: Briva la Galharda), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 47,000 inhabitants, while the population of the agglomeration was 76,456 in 2022.

Although it is by far the biggest commune in Corrèze, the prefecture is Tulle. In French popular culture, the town is associated with a song by Georges Brassens.^{[citation needed]}

History

Even though the inhabitants settled around the 1st century, the city only started to grow much later. From around the 5th century onwards, the original city began to develop around a church dedicated to Saint-Martin-l'Espagnol.^{[citation needed]} During the 12th century walls were built around the city and during the Hundred Years' War a second wall was built. These fortifications no longer exist and have been replaced by boulevards. The Hôtel de Ville was commissioned as the Collège des Doctrinaires (College of Doctrinaires) and completed in 1671.

The commune was named "Brive" until 1919, when it was renamed "Brive-la-Gaillarde". The word "gaillarde" (still used in modern French) probably stands for bravery or strength in the city's name, but it can also refer to the city's walls.^{[citation needed]} Brive now extends outside of its original boundaries into Malemort and Ussac.^{[citation needed]}

During World War II, Brive-la-Gaillarde was a regional capital of the Resistance, acting as a seat of several clandestine information networks and several of the principal resistance movements, including the Armée secrète (or "Secret Army") and the Mouvements Unis de la Résistance (or "United Movements of the Resistance").^{[citation needed]} On the evening of june 8, 1944 the vanguard of the 2nd SS Panzer Division *Das Reich* entered Brive, arriving from Noailles.

Brive-la-Gaillarde was the first city of Occupied France to liberate itself by its own means, on 15 August 1944. For this, the city received the "Croix de guerre 1939–1945" military decoration.^{[citation needed]}

The medieval centre is mainly a commercial district with retail shops and various cafés. It is also the location of the city hall, the main police station, and the Labenche museum. One notable landmark outside the inner city is the Pont Cardinal, a bridge which used to be a crossing point for travelers from Paris to Toulouse.^{[citation needed]}

Geography

Administration

The most recent mayors of Brive-la-Gaillarde were:

• 1966–1995: Jean Charbonnel
• 1995–2008: Bernard Murat
• 2008–present: Philippe Nauche

Population

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 5,847 —     1800 5,762 −0.21% 1806 7,608 +4.74% 1821 6,801 −0.74% 1831 8,031 +1.68% 1836 8,843 +1.95% 1841 8,350 −1.14% 1846 8,382 +0.08% 1851 8,889 +1.18% 1856 9,384 +1.09% 1861 9,854 +0.98% 1866 10,389 +1.06% 1872 10,765 +0.59% 1876 11,920 +2.58% 1881 14,182 +3.54% 1886 15,707 +2.06% 1891 16,803 +1.36% 1896 18,111 +1.51% 1901 19,496 +1.48%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1906 20,636 +1.14% 1911 21,486 +0.81% 1921 21,711 +0.10% 1926 24,049 +2.07% 1931 26,718 +2.13% 1936 29,074 +1.70% 1946 33,501 +1.43% 1954 36,088 +0.93% 1962 40,175 +1.35% 1968 46,561 +2.49% 1975 51,828 +1.54% 1982 51,511 −0.09% 1990 49,765 −0.43% 1999 49,141 −0.14% 2007 50,231 +0.27% 2012 47,411 −1.15% 2017 46,916 −0.21% 2023 47,095 +0.06%
Source: EHESS and INSEE (1968-2023)

Transport

Brive-la-Gaillarde railway station offers connections to Limoges, Périgueux, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Paris and several regional destinations. The A20 motorway connects Brive with Limoges and Toulouse, the A89 with Bordeaux.

Brive–Souillac Airport lies south of the city. It was opened in 2010 to replace the older Brive-La Roche Airport.

Sport

The city is home to a rugby union team, CA Brive. It also hosted the 2009 Junior World Rowing Championships.

ESA Brive is a French football club founded in 1920.

Notable people

• Guillaume Marie Anne Brune (1763–1815), marshal of France
• Alceste De Ambris (born 15 September 1874 to Licciana Nardi, and died December 9, 1934, in Brive-la-Gaillard), an Italian politician and syndicalist
• Nicolas Ernault des Bruslys, born on 7 August 1757 in Brive-la-Gaillarde and died on 25 September 1809 in Reunion, is a French general of the Revolution and the Empire.
• Guillaume Dubois (1656–1723), cardinal and statesman
• David Feuerwerker (1912–1980) rabbi and professor of French Jewish history (Geneva, 2 October 1912 – Montreal, 20 June 1980).
• Antoinette Feuerwerker (1912–2003) Belgian lawyer and educator, wife of David Feuerwerker; Member of the Combat movement in Limousin alongside Edmond Michelet.
• Cédric Heymans (1978– ), international rugby union player
• Michel Labrousse (1912–1988), scholar of Roman history
• Pierre André Latreille (1762–1833), entomologist
• Robert Margerit (1910–1988), writer.
• Edmond Michelet (1899–1970), politician, leader of the Movement Combat Limousin; arrested by the Gestapo in Brive in February 1943; died in the village of Marcillac, the town of Brive.
• Louis Néel (1904–2000), physicist, Nobel Prize 1970, died in Brive
• Xavier Patier (1958– ), civil servant and writer
• Damian Penaud (1996– ), international rugby union player
• Patrick Sebastien (born 1953), imitator, actor, singer, television host.
• Marine Serre (1991– ), fashion designer
• Jean-Baptiste Treilhard (born 3 January 1742 in Brive-la-Gaillarde – died December 1810 in Paris) was a French jurist and politician at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century.
• Cédric Villani (1973– ), mathematician; Fields Medalist in 2010
• Dimitri Yachvili (1980– ), international rugby union player

Twin towns – sister cities

Brive-la-Gaillarde is twinned with:

See also

• Communes of the Corrèze department

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brive-la-Gaillarde.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Brive".

• Official website (in French)