Coordinates: 44°39′10″N 1°10′09″W / 44.65278°N 1.169186°W
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Commune of Arcachon |
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| Location | |
  Arcachon
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| Administration | |
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| Country | France |
| Region | Aquitaine |
| Department | Gironde |
| Arrondissement | Arcachon |
| Canton | Arcachon |
| Mayor | Yves Foulon (2001–2008) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 0–45 m (0–150 ft) (avg. 8 m/26 ft) |
| Land area1 | 7.56 km2 (2.92 sq mi) |
| Population2 | 11,459 (1999) |
| - Density | 1,516 /km2 (3,930 /sq mi) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 33009/ 33120 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. | |
Arcachon is a commune in the Gironde department in south-western France. It is a popular bathing location on the Atlantic coast 34 miles (55 km) southwest of Bordeaux in the Landes forest. It has a fine beach, and a mild climate said to be favourable for invalids suffering from pulmonary complaints.
Arcachon is known for the "Arcachonnaise", the local name for an Arcachon villa, which is the architectural style of many of the older houses built there. It is a type of Victorian architecture, and was criticized for generations, but is now considered to be charming and deeply human.
The town of Arcachon is only 150 years old. Not long before the 2nd of May 1857, when Emperor Napoleon III signed its official "birth certificate", it was just a forest of pine trees, oaks and strawberry trees (arbutus), with no road links, and home - mostly when the weather was expected to be warm, and more in wood huts than in real houses - to fewer than 400 people, mostly fishermen and peasants. In earlier years, when some hygienists began to recommend sea bathing, three sea establishments were laid out by some entrepreneurs especially for the Bordeaux bourgeoisie and other wealthy people. This was the beginning of a new lifestyle, and some of the locals got the opportunity to claim their independence from La Teste-de-Buch, which owned their properties, in order to found a "free" new town, Arcachon.
At its southern entrance from the Atlantic ocean, Arcachon Bay is crowned by Europe's largest sand dune, the Dune de Pyla (or du Pilat), nearly 3 kilometres long, 500 metres wide, reaching 107 metres in height, and moving inland at rate of 5 metres a year.
The area is served by Bordeaux Merignac Airport and the TGV Atlantique.
Notable natives and residents
While Arcachon itself is not home to many well-known figures, the writer Alexandre Dumas once lived in Arcachon's Ville d'Hiver. Puerto Rican politician Ramón Emeterio Betances spent close to six months at Arcachon shortly before his death in 1898. The poet Carmen Bernos de Gasztold was born in Arcachon in 1919.
On the other side of the Bassin d'Arcachon is Cap Ferret, a popular resort for celebrities including Zinedine Zidane and Jean Pierre Pernot, who have holiday homes in the chic resort.
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.
External links
- Arcachon's Sand Dune - Picture
- Arcachon web site
- Aerial view of the Dune du Pyla
- (English) Dune du Pyla site
- Air photography of Arcachon
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