# Vitry-le-François

Vitry-le-François (French pronunciation: ) is a commune in the Marne department in northeastern France. It is located on the river Marne and is the western terminus of the Marne–Rhine Canal. Vitry-le-François station has rail connections to Paris, Reims, Strasbourg, Metz, Dijon and several regional destinations.

## History

The present town is a relatively recent construction, having been built in 1545 at the behest of King Francis who wished to replace, on a new site, Vitry-en-Perthois, which in 1544 had been entirely destroyed as part of the backwash from the king's Italian War of 1542–46. The new Vitry was to be a modern city, constructed according to a plan produced by Girolamo Marini. The king's role in its creation resulted in Vitry-le-François receiving the king's name as part of its own name.
At the beginning of World War I in August 1914, Joseph Joffre established the Grand Quartier Général at the Place Royer-Collard.
In 1961, a terrorist attack took place on a train going between Strasbourg and Paris.

## Demography

| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
| 1793 | 7,385 | — |
| 1800 | 6,925 | −0.91% |
| 1806 | 7,194 | +0.64% |
| 1821 | 6,909 | −0.27% |
| 1831 | 6,976 | +0.10% |
| 1836 | 6,822 | −0.45% |
| 1841 | 7,749 | +2.58% |
| 1846 | 7,412 | −0.89% |
| 1851 | 7,795 | +1.01% |
| 1856 | 7,151 | −1.71% |
| 1861 | 7,263 | +0.31% |
| 1866 | 7,431 | +0.46% |
| 1872 | 6,898 | −1.23% |
| 1876 | 7,616 | +2.51% |
| 1881 | 7,760 | +0.38% |
| 1886 | 7,670 | −0.23% |
| 1891 | 8,022 | +0.90% |
| 1896 | 8,400 | +0.93% |
| Year | Pop. | ±% p.a. |
| 1901 | 8,561 | +0.38% |
| 1906 | 8,487 | −0.17% |
| 1911 | 8,511 | +0.06% |
| 1921 | 8,568 | +0.07% |
| 1926 | 8,876 | +0.71% |
| 1931 | 9,082 | +0.46% |
| 1936 | 9,061 | −0.05% |
| 1946 | 7,584 | −1.76% |
| 1954 | 11,131 | +4.91% |
| 1962 | 14,795 | +3.62% |
| 1968 | 16,879 | +2.22% |
| 1975 | 19,372 | +1.99% |
| 1982 | 18,261 | −0.84% |
| 1990 | 17,033 | −0.87% |
| 1999 | 16,737 | −0.19% |
| 2007 | 14,873 | −1.47% |
| 2012 | 13,065 | −2.56% |
| 2017 | 12,133 | −1.47% |
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. :
Source: EHESS and INSEE :

## Features

* Its church of Notre-Dame is a 17th-century building with fine 18th-century monuments.
* A convent of the Récollets was later converted to contain the town hall, the court-house, a library and a small museum.
* There is a bronze statue of Pierre Paul Royer-Collard (1763–1845), the politician and philosopher, a native of the district.

## Twin towns

Vitry-le-François is twinned with:
* Tauberbischofsheim, Germany, since 1961

## Personalities

* René Gateaux (1889–1914), mathematician
* Guy Georges (born 1962), serial killer
* René Herbin (1911–1953), classical pianist
* Abraham de Moivre (1667–1754), mathematician
* Étienne-Gabriel Morelly (1717–1778), proto-communist philosopher
* Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry (fl. c. 1100), Talmudist

## Climate

Climate data for Vitry-le-François (Frignicourt) (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1974–present) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 16.6 (61.9) | 21.1 (70.0) | 26.0 (78.8) | 29.1 (84.4) | 34.0 (93.2) | 37.1 (98.8) | 41.7 (107.1) | 40.3 (104.5) | 34.5 (94.1) | 29.4 (84.9) | 23.3 (73.9) | 17.7 (63.9) | 41.7 (107.1) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.5 (43.7) | 7.9 (46.2) | 12.3 (54.1) | 16.3 (61.3) | 20.1 (68.2) | 23.5 (74.3) | 26.1 (79.0) | 25.9 (78.6) | 21.5 (70.7) | 16.3 (61.3) | 10.3 (50.5) | 7.0 (44.6) | 16.1 (61.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 3.7 (38.7) | 4.4 (39.9) | 7.6 (45.7) | 10.7 (51.3) | 14.6 (58.3) | 17.7 (63.9) | 19.9 (67.8) | 19.7 (67.5) | 15.9 (60.6) | 12.0 (53.6) | 7.2 (45.0) | 4.4 (39.9) | 11.5 (52.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 0.9 (33.6) | 0.9 (33.6) | 2.9 (37.2) | 5.1 (41.2) | 9.0 (48.2) | 11.9 (53.4) | 13.7 (56.7) | 13.5 (56.3) | 10.2 (50.4) | 7.6 (45.7) | 4.1 (39.4) | 1.7 (35.1) | 6.8 (44.2) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −22.0 (−7.6) | −14.8 (5.4) | −11.1 (12.0) | −4.9 (23.2) | −1.5 (29.3) | 2.3 (36.1) | 5.3 (41.5) | 4.1 (39.4) | 1.0 (33.8) | −3.9 (25.0) | −10.7 (12.7) | −16.0 (3.2) | −22.0 (−7.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 55.9 (2.20) | 51.3 (2.02) | 50.5 (1.99) | 47.1 (1.85) | 62.1 (2.44) | 53.3 (2.10) | 59.0 (2.32) | 58.9 (2.32) | 57.3 (2.26) | 65.5 (2.58) | 60.0 (2.36) | 73.7 (2.90) | 694.6 (27.35) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 11.2 | 10.4 | 10.1 | 8.7 | 10.1 | 9.2 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 8.2 | 10.3 | 11.2 | 12.3 | 117.7 |
| Source: Meteociel ||||||||||||||