Vichy

French commune
nomcommune=Vichy
Town Hall
région=Auvergne
département=Allier
arrondissement=Vichy
canton=
insee=03310
cp=03200
maire=Claude Malhuret
mandat=
intercomm=Vichy Val d'Allier
longitude=3.426667
latitude=46.127778
alt moy=249 m
alt mini=
alt maxi=
hectares=585
km²=5.85
sans=26,528
date-sans=1999
dens=4,534.7
date-dens=1999

Vichy (Occitan: "Vichèi") is a commune in the department of Allier in Auvergne in central France. It is known as a spa and resort town. The inhabitants are known as "Vichyssois". It was the de facto capital of Vichy France during the World War II Nazi German occupation from 1940 to 1944. It has a population of 26,528 (1999).

The town inhabitants are called "les Vichyssois". Up until the 18th century they were more properly known as "les Vichois" which stems from the occitan name of the town, "Vichèi". Valery Larbaud uses the roman term Vicaldiens [4] .

With 80 194 inhabitants, Vichy's urban ring is the second largest in the Auvergne region behind Clermont-Ferrand.

Geography

Vichy lies on the banks of the Allier River. The source of the Allier is in the nearby Massif Central Mountain range which lies only a few miles to the south, near the region's capital Clermont-Ferrand. Heavy snows in the Massif Central often make roads impassable, but Vichy is low enough at 817 feet that climate is more continental. Rainfall is moderate, averaging 30 inches annually.

Historical existence of volcanic activity in the Massif Central is more visually evident. Volcanic eruptions have been around for at least 150,000 years ago, but have been dormant for 112 years. Such as in the nearby town of Le Puy-en-Velay, volcanic activity is the direct cause of the many thermal springs that exist in Vichy.

Climate

The town enjoys an oceanic climate which incorporates some characteristics of a mountain climate, such as a abundant precipitation: 790 mm avg. per year.

Source: http://perso.wanadoo.fr/carteret/ Site essentiel sur la ville

Economy

The city has been known for its thermal cures since Roman times. Its waters are famous worldwide (coming from springs, including the Vichy Celestins and Vichy Saint-Yorre) but lozenges made from soda contained in the spring waters are also famous.

The health and beauty business, with the laboratories of the L'Oréal company, also make it possible to publicise the city's name to a worldwide audience under the Vichy brand. (This French website discusses [http://www.prodimarques.com/sagas_marques/vichy/vichy.php the history of this brand] .)

Unlike the neighbouring communes on the Allier, such as industrial Montluçon and administrative seat Moulins, Vichy's economy is centred on the tertiary sector and aims at the development of the health and well-being sector to mitigate the decline of medical hydrotherapy. The local market open on Sundays, attracts purchasers from tens of kilometers around.

The closing of two important local employers, Manurhin and Sediver, threatens employment in the Vichy basin. Job creation by developing companies such as NSE (electronics) or Satel (call centre) will not compensate for the removal of jobs which will result from this, despite the Internet tour operator Karavel (promovacances.com) establishing a new call centre in May 2005, which was forecast to create 300 jobs over 3 years.

Nevertheless, the three most important employers of the city belong to the public sector; the hospital (1120 employees), the town hall (720) and the college of Presles (370).

Since 1989 Vichy has been one of the 7 sites of the [http://www.ieqt.org/reseau/vichy.htm European Total Quality Institute ("l'Institut Européen de la Qualité Totale .")]

Pôle University and Lardy Technology, born from a project of thermal waste land rehabilitation and launched during the mid-nineties, is an economic priority. This 9,000 m² campus accommodates 600 students in the downtown area, in ten areas of study including the fields of biotechnology, international trade, multi-media and languages. The CAVILAM (Centre of Live Approaches to Languages and the Media), created in Vichy in 1964, is now installed with Pôle-Lardy.

The Palace of the congresses is a venue primarily for the conferences of trade associations and learned societies. The structure is 1,800 m² large, including two plenary rooms and fifteen multi-use rooms. With 25,000 visitors yearly, the conferences must now carry the economic role once held by the hydrotherapy, which today counts only 12,000 patients each year. The hydrotherapy business will now have to reorganise itself to take a less strict therapeutic-only role, and re-orient itself for patients' stays shorter than the traditional 3 weeks.

Current Building Projects

Currently, under the authority of the local communities, much work is being done on building sites and projects, which will deeply modify Vichy in the years to come. Some believe that construction by the Hotel of the Community of Agglomeration in September 2005 on the old site of the "Commercial City" may precede the total restoration of the market hall (which would cost €5.9 Million) which would be delivered in September 2006. Some also note the creation of a 12 000 m² mother-child centre in the hospital complex, the restoration of the spa façade (removal of the metal boarding to uncover the original style of 1862), the transformation of the spa into a multi-use center, creation of parks with fountains in place of parking lots, the demolition and the transformation of the buildings in a congested area to create an enterprise center intended to create 800 jobs (opening of the site envisioned at the end of 2007), the construction of a new aquatic stadium including 5 basins (initially envisaged to cost €14.3 million but may end up costing €20 Million) whose delivery is envisaged with the autumn 2007, and finally motorway connection in 2011.

[http://www.vichy-economie.com/Synthese.htm This] French website gives key economic figures for the Vichy area.

Miscellaneous

Births

Vichy was the birthplace of:
* Valéry Larbaud (1881–1957), Writer
* Albert Londres (1884-1932), Journalist
* Claude Vorilhon, Raël (Born September 30,1946), Religious Leader of the Raëlian Movement

Twin towns

Vichy is twinned with:
* Wilhelmshaven, Germany
* Bad Tölz, Germany
* Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Germany
* Dunfermline, Scotland
* Logroño, Spain
* Cluj-Napoca, Romania

See also

* Hydrotherapy
* List of spa towns in France
* Vichy France

References

* Translated from the French-language page, 29 June 2006.

External links

* [http://www.ville-vichy.fr/ Official website] (in French)

Notes