- Saint-Raphaël, Var
French commune
nomcommune=Saint-Raphaël
région=Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
département=Var
arrondissement=Draguignan
canton=Saint-Raphaël (chef-lieu )
circonscription législative=Cinquième circonscription du Var
insee=83118
cp=83700
83530
maire= Georges Ginesta (UMP)
mandat=2008-2014
intercomm=Fréjus Saint-Raphaël
longitude=6.768377
latitude=43.425178
alt moy=10 m
alt mini=0 m
alt maxi=560 m
hectares=formatnum:8959
km²=89,59
sans=formatnum:32200
date-sans=2005 (est.INSEE )
dens=359Saint-Raphaël is a commune of the Var "département" and the
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region ofFrance . Along with the city ofFréjus , it forms the metropolitanCommunauté d'agglomération de Fréjus Saint-Raphaël , 60 km southwest of the city ofNice on the Mediterranean coast. It is considered part of theFrench Riviera .Geography
The north of the commune forms part of the
Estérel Massif . In the 1999 census, Saint-Raphaël had a population of 30,671. Its land area is 89.59 km² (34.591 sq mi).History
During
World War II , on August 15, 1944, it was one of the sites of a beach landing inOperation Dragoon , the Allied invasion of southernFrance .Twin towns
Saint-Raphaël is twinned with:
*Jermuk ,Armenia
*Ghent ,Belgium , since 1958
*Sankt Georgen im Schwarzwald ,Germany , since 1972
*Tiberias ,Israel , since 2007Miscellaneous
The bacterium "Streptomyces mediterranei" was first isolated in 1957 from a soil sample collected near St Raphael. The bacteria became the source of the anti-tuberculosis drug
rifamycin .External links
* [http://www.ville-saintraphael.fr/ Official website]
* [http://photoenligne.free.fr/Var/SaintRaphael/SaintRaphael.html Panorama of the Saint-Raphaël's port]
* [http://www.frejus-saint-raphael.com/ Frejus Saint Raphaël Tourism]
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