Saumur

A pleasant wine-producing town on the Loire, Saumur is the spiritual home of the French cavalry. In 1764 Choiseul established five military equitation schools, but that at Saumur was the only one to survive the budgetary reductions of 1771. Between 1767 and 1770 the architect Jean de Voglie designed elegant barracks for the school and the resident regiment, the Carabiniers. The school's title changed from time to time, but for many years it was the École d'Application de la Cavalerie. Cavalry officers were sent there for their special-to-arm training after commissioning, and there were also courses for NCOs. With the French military revival after the Franco-Prussian war a school was established at Saumur to train cavalry NCOs destined for commissions. Saumur took on tank as well as cavalry training between the world wars, and on 18-20 June 1940 its officers and cadets gallantly held the crossings of the Loire against superior German forces.

The school moved to Tarbes under Vichy, but returned to Saumur after the war. The École Nationale d'Equitation was established at Saumur in 1972 to train civilian riding instructors, and is distinct from the cavalry and armour school. In 1984 the instructors from the cavalry school moved there, retaining the name, deriving from their dark uniforms, of Cadre Noir. The town has a museum of the horse, a tank museum, and a cavalry museum.

— Richard Holmes

[soh-MYOOR] An attractive town located on the loire River not far from the city of Angers in the central Loire. The surround­ing area is part of a larger growing region known as Anjou-Saumur. There are a number of appellations in the area including ­Saumur, Cabernet de Saumur, Saumur Mousseux, and Saumur-­­Champigny. The Saumur AC is for red, white, and rosé wines. The white wines are made mainly from chenin blanc although some chardonnay and sauvignon blanc is sometimes added. The wines are usually quite acidic and many of them end up in the sparkling wines of the Saumur Mousseux AC. These sparkling wines, which are made via méthode champenoise have been produced in this area since 1811. They're allowed to use Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as other varieties like cabernet franc cabernet sauvignon gamay and pinot noir. Some of the area producers are shifting production to a higher-quality crémant de loire ac sparkling wine. Saumur AC red and rosé wines are made mainly from Cabernet Franc, occasionally with the addition of Cabernet Sauvignon and Pineau d'Aunis. The Saumur-Champigny AC is an appellation with higher standards for red wines made from these same grapes. Qualifying rosé wines from this area can also, and usually do, use the Cabernet de Saumur AC.

Coordinates: 47.270° N 0.068° W

Commune of Saumur The château at Saumur
City coat of arms from 1699 to 1985	City coat of arms since 1986
Location
Coordinates	47.270° N 0.068° W
Administration
Country	France
Region	Pays de la Loire
Department	Maine-et-Loire (sous-préfecture)
Arrondissement	Saumur
Canton	Chief town of 2 cantons
Intercommunality	Saumur Loire Développement
Mayor	Jean-Michel Marchand (2001-2008)
Statistics
Altitude	20 m–95 m (avg. 30 m)
Land area¹	66.25 km²
Population² (1999)	29,857
- Density	450.7/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	49328/ 49400
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: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Saumur is a town and commune in the Maine-et-Loire département of France on the Loire River at 47.269° N 0.068° W, with an approximate population of 30,000 as of 2001.

History

With a long military history, Saumur was the location of several battles :

• Battle of Saumur (1793), during the Revolt in the Vendée
• Battle of Saumur (1940), during the Battle of France

Miscellaneous

Saumur is home to the Cadre Noir, the École Nationale d'Équitation (National School of Horsemanship), known for its annual horse shows, as well as the officer school for armored forces (tanks). There is a tank museum, the Musée des Blindés, with more than 850 armored vehicles, wheeled or tracked. Most of them are from France but some were made in other countries such as Brazil, Germany, or the Soviet Union.

The School of Saumur is the name used to denote a distinctive form of Reformed theology taught by Moses Amyraut at the University of Saumur in the 17th century. Saumur is also the scenary for Balzac's novel "Eugenie Grandet", written by the French author in 1833.

Births

Saumur was the birthplace of:

• Anne Lefèvre (1654-1720), better known during her lifetime as Madame Dacier, scholar and translator of classics
• Charles Ernest Beulé (1826-1874), archeologist
• Coco Chanel (1883-1971), internationally renowned fashion designer
• Yves Robert, (1920-2002), actor, composer, director, writer, producer
• Fanny Ardant, (b. 1949), actress
• Dominique Pinon, (b. 1955), actor

Twin towns

Saumur is twinned with:

• Verden, Germany
• Warwick, United Kingdom
• Havelberg, Germany
• Asheville, North Carolina, United States
• Ruşeţu, Romania

Related usages

• Saumur is an appelation for wines produced in the Saumur region.
• Saumur is the title of a song from hard rock band Trust (whose lyrics express their poor opinion of the city: narrow-minded, bourgeois and militaristic).

See also

• French wine

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Saumur

• Official website (in French)
• Visiting Saumur - in English
• Visiting Château de Montreuil-Bellay
• Notre Dame des Ardilliers - Article in the Catholic Encyclopedia about a Catholic pilgrimage center in the town
• http://www.musee-des-blindes.asso.fr

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