Orléans

Administrative centre of Loiret département in central France, situated on the right bank of the River Loire, 115 km/70 mi southwest of Paris; population (1999) 113,100, conurbation 263,000. Industries include engineering, textiles and food processing; there is also an extensive trade in agricultural produce and wine. Orléans is of pre-Roman origin. Joan of Arc, known as the Maid of Orléans, liberated the town from the English in 1429.

Features The cathedral dates from the 13th-16th centuries, but was destroyed during the Wars of Religion and was rebuilt under Henry IV. Other historic buildings include churches, mansions, and an impressive museum (formerly the 16th-century town hall). Orléans is a road, rail, and canal junction. Its modern university was founded in 1962. It is the seat of a bishopric.

History Julius Caesar called the town Cenabum, and in imperial times it was known as Civitas Aureliani. It later became the capital of the old province of Orléanais. Joan of Arc's victory over the English in 1429, in which she forced the English troops under the Duke of Bedford to raise the siege of the town, was the beginning of her mission to free France from the English and the final turning-point of the Hundred Years' War. Orléans suffered severe damage in the French Wars of Religion, in the Franco-Prussian War, and in World War II.