Title: Chalon-sur-Saône Content: Chalon-sur-Saône is a city and a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of France. It is the largest city of the department; however, the department capital is the smaller city of Mâcon. ==History== Though the place where is Chalon-sur-Saône now was an important town of the Aedui (Celtic people that lived between the Saône and Loire rivers) and objects of La Tène culture have been found here, the first mention of the town, as Cavillonum or Cabillonum, is found in Julius Caesar's Gallic Wars (VII, chs. 42 and 90).Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Book 7, 42, 90. There is an English translation in Wikisource. ==Geography== Chalon-sur-Saône is on the sides of the Saône river, in the south of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. The city is at to the southeast of Paris and at to the north of Lyon. It has an area of , and its average altitude is ; at the city hall, the altitude is . The Saône river flows through the eastern part of the city and the small river Thalie flows through the western part of the commune.  Chalon-sur-Saône is surrounded by the communes Fragnes, Crissey, Châtenoy-en-Bresse, Saint-Marcel, Lux, Saint-Rémy, Châtenoy-le-Royal and Champforgeuil. ===Climate=== The climate of Chalon-sur-Saône, in the Köppen climate classification, is Cfb - Oceanic climate with template summers. ==Population== The inhabitants of Chalon-sur-Saône are known, in French, as Chalonnais (women: Chalonnaises). With a population of 44,985, Chalon-sur-Saône has a population density of inhabitants/km2. Evolution of the population in Chalon-sur-Saône Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:500 height:373 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:30 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:60000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:10000 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:5000 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1968 text:1968 bar:1975 text:1975 bar:1982 text:1982 bar:1990 text:1990 bar:1999 text:1999 bar:2006 text:2006 bar:2014 text:2014 PlotData= color:barra width:30 align:left bar:1968 from:0 till: 50589 bar:1975 from:0 till: 58187 bar:1982 from:0 till: 56194 bar:1990 from:0 till: 54575 bar:1999 from:0 till: 50124 bar:2006 from:0 till: 46534 bar:2014 from:0 till: 44985 PlotData= bar:1968 at: 50589 fontsize:S text: 50,589 shift:(-12,5) bar:1975 at: 58187 fontsize:S text: 58,187 shift:(-15,5) bar:1982 at: 56194 fontsize:S text: 56,194 shift:(-15,5) bar:1990 at: 54575 fontsize:S text: 54,575 shift:(-15,5) bar:1999 at: 50124 fontsize:S text: 50,124 shift:(-15,5) bar:2006 at: 46534 fontsize:S text: 46,534 shift:(-15,5) bar:2014 at: 44985 fontsize:S text: 44,985 shift:(-15,5) Chalon-sur-Saône forms, with other 9 communes, the urban area of Chalon-sur-Saône, with a population of 74.357 inhabitants (2013) and an area of . This urban area is the centre of the metropolitan area of Chalon-sur-Saône, formed by 90 communes with a population of 134,568 inhabitants (2013) and an area of . ==Administration== thumb|Saint- Vincent Cathedral Chalon-sur-Saône is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department since 1800. It is also the capital of the arrondissement of Chalon- sur-Saône and the administrative centre  of three cantons: * Chalon-sur- Saône-1 formed by 5 communes and part of Chalon-sur-Saône, with 19,093 inhabitants (2014). * Chalon-sur-Saône-2 formed by part of Chalon-sur-Saône, with 20,983 inhabitants (2014). * Chalon-sur-Saône-3 formed by the commune Châtenoy-le-Royal and part of Chalon-sur-Saône, with 19,559 inhabitants (2014). It is part of the intercommunality Le Grand Chalon . === Twin cities === Chalon-sur-Saône is a twin town of: * St. Helens, United Kingdom * Solingen, Germany * Novara, Italy * Næstved, Denmark ==Places of interest== Some interesting places in Chalon-sur-Saône are: * St. Vincent's Cathedral on the Saint-Vincent Square, which has some elements from the eighth century. * Musée Nicéphore-Niépce, a museum on photography. * Musée Vivant-Denon, an art museum. ==Gallery== File:Saône-et-Loire (septembre 2012) 061.JPG|Saint-Pierre church File:Tribute to Nicéphore Niépce Chalon-sur-Saône.jpg|Statue of Nicéphore Niépce File:Saône-et-Loire (septembre 2012) 052.JPG|The Saône river and the Saint-Laurent bridge File:Musee Denon.jpg|Musée Vivant-Denon File:Chalon-sur-saone.JPG|View of the Saône river and part of the old city ==People from Chalon-sur-Saône== * Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833), pioneer of photography. ==Related pages== * Arrondissement of Chalon-sur-Saône * Communes of the Saône-et-Loire department