Saint-Dizier () is a subprefecture Of the

Haute-Marne Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is Chaumont. In 2019, it had a population of 172,512.department in north-eastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

.INSEE commune file
/ref> It has a population of 23,382 (2018 figure) and is a

subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures. ...

of the department. Although Saint-Dizier is marginally the most populous commune in Haute-Marne, the ''préfecture'' (capital) resides in the somewhat smaller commune of Chaumont.

Geography

Located approximately east of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, halfway to Strasbourg, it is five miles from Western Europe's largest man-made lake,

Lake Der-Chantecoq Lake Der-Chantecoq (French: ''Lac du Der-Chantecoq'') is situated close to the commune of Saint-Dizier in the departments of Marne and Haute-Marne. It is the largest artificial lake in France, covering with 350 million m³ of water. The lake is n ...

Climate

History

Named after an unknown saint (possibly Desiderius of Fontenelle), the town originated as a fortified settlement around a thirteenth-century

château A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions. Now ...

, eventually becoming a royal fortress to guard the French kingdom's eastern approaches. The town was

besieged Besieged may refer to: * the state of being under siege * ''Besieged'' (film), a 1998 film by Bernardo Bertolucci {{disambiguation ...

and captured by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, in the summer of 1544. A fire in 1775 destroyed two-thirds of the town center. The château was owned by the Orléans family until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, was a base for German troops during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and currently houses the Municipal Museum.

Population

Notable people

Saint-Dizier is the birthplace of * Baroque-era musicologist André Pirro * Organist André Isoir * Conductor Jean-Paul Penin * Former world middleweight boxing champion

Marcel Thil Marcel Thil (29 May 1904 – 14 August 1968) was a French boxer and middleweight world champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec rates Thil as the second best European boxer ever across all weight divisions, after Joe Calzaghe.Communes of the Haute-Marne department The following is a list of the 426 communes in the French department of Haute-Marne. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):Saint-Dizier – Robinson Air Base

References

External links

Official website

Haute-Marne in Champagne Tourism: Saint-Dizier
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saintdizier Communes of Haute-Marne Subprefectures in France Champagne (province)