Le Mans

Industrial city and administrative centre of the Sarthe département in western France; population (1999) 146,100, conurbation 194,800. It has a motor-racing circuit where the annual endurance 24-hour race (established 1923) for sports cars and their prototypes is held at the Sarthe circuit. It is linked to Paris by a high-speed rail system.

Industry Le Mans has an agricultural market and is an industrial centre producing textiles, foodstuffs, vehicles, plastics, electronics, electrical machinery, and aircraft engines. It also has important insurance offices and a university, and is a tourist centre.

Features Le Mans has been the seat of a bishopric since the 3rd century, and there are the remains of a 3rd-4th-century Gallo-Roman fortress. The Romanesque cathedral, founded by St Julian, contains the tomb of Berengaria, queen of Richard Coeur de Lion. Nearby is the home of the 17th-century French poet, dramatist, and satirist Paul Scarron. The hôtel-de-ville is built on the site of the former castle of the counts of Maine, of which ancient province Le Mans was capital. The 11th-century former abbey church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Couture contains a 16th-century marble carving of the Virgin and Child. The church of St-Jeanne-d'Arc was built by Henry II of England, possibly to make amends for the murder of Thomas à Becket.