261 articles
Saint-Denis, Réunion
Saint-Denis (Réunion) is the chef-lieu and largest commune of the French overseas island of Réunion: 155,634 inhabitants in 2023, 142.8 km², about 30% of island jobs, capital since 1738, distinct from Saint-Denis in metropolitan France.
Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis
Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis: northern Paris suburb (149,077 inhabitants, 2023), home of the royal necropolis basilica where Dagobert I was buried in 639, a 19th-century industrial center, and site of the Paris 2024 Olympic Village.
Saint-Étienne
Saint-Étienne is a city in east-central France and the prefecture of the Loire department, a former coal-mining and arms-making center now known for design, holding UNESCO Creative City status since 2010.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Yvelines commune west of Paris, former royal residence founded around 1120, birthplace of Louis XIV, site of the 1919 treaty with Austria, home of the Musée d'Archéologie nationale.
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô, prefecture of the Manche department in Normandy, France; about 19,500 inhabitants. Known for its near-total destruction (77%) in July 1944, the Battle of Saint-Lô, Samuel Beckett's "capital of ruins," and postwar reconstruction.
Saint-Malo
Saint-Malo (Sant-Maloù), Brittany's walled Corsair City at the Rance mouth: privateers Duguay-Trouin and Surcouf, Vauban forts, 80% wartime destruction, 17 August 1944 liberation, and identical postwar reconstruction.
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume
Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, a Var commune in Provence, France, home to the Gothic Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine holding the relics of Mary Magdalene; 17,896 residents in 2023.
Saint-Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire, Loire-Atlantique port city at the Loire estuary (74,568 inhabitants, 2023); France's shipbuilding capital since 1862 (Chantiers de l'Atlantique), Nantes-Saint-Nazaire port (4th French port), WWII U-boat base, Operation Chariot, 80% destroyed, rebuilt modernist, 480 MW offshore wind farm.
Saint-Pierre-d'Aurillac
Saint-Pierre-d'Aurillac, a commune on the right bank of the Garonne near Langon in Gironde, France; former Benedictine priory of Aurillac abbey with a Gallo-Roman villa site and a 19th-century neo-Romanesque church.
Saint-Quentin, Aisne
Saint-Quentin (Aisne), sub-prefecture of the Aisne in Hauts-de-France, on the Somme and Canal de Saint-Quentin; 52,813 inhabitants (2023), old textile center, Gothic collegiate church, Art déco heritage.
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, a commune in Bouches-du-Rhône at the foot of the Alpilles, home to the ancient city of Glanum, birthplace of Nostradamus, and site of Van Gogh's asylum stay at Saint-Paul-de-Mausole; 9,599 inhabitants in 2023.
Saint-Tropez
Saint-Tropez, Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur: Mediterranean resort commune (3,582 residents in 2023) famous for its port, 17th-century Citadel, Brigitte Bardot, and seasonal crowds of up to 140,000 visitors a day.
Sainte-Mère-Église
Sainte-Mère-Église is a Manche commune in Normandy, the first French town liberated on D-Day, 6 June 1944, famous for paratrooper John Steele caught on the church steeple, its Airborne Museum, and kilometer 0 of the Voie de la Liberté.
Salt-en-Donzy
Salt-en-Donzy is a commune in the Loire department of central France, near Feurs, with about 540 inhabitants, known for its Romanesque church and medieval Donzy castle site.
Sausses
Sausses is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department of southeastern France, on the right bank of the Var 12 km north of Entrevaux, with 132 inhabitants at the 2019 census.
Sceaux-sur-Huisne
Sceaux-sur-Huisne, a Sarthe commune (INSEE 72331) in Pays de la Loire on the Huisne river, 587 inhabitants in 2023; Gallo-Roman villa remains, medieval manoir de la Cour, listed church, and the Bahier charcuterie plant as main employer.
Seix
Seix, Ariège, Occitanie, France: Pyrenean commune known for marble quarries (Vert d'Estours green-veined marble, griotte d'Estours, Escalirous white marble, Pont-de-la-Taule site) and Salau tungsten mineralization.
Sept-Saulx
Sept-Saulx, a commune in the Marne (Grand Est) on the Vesle between Reims and Châlons-en-Champagne; 689 inhabitants (2022), member of CU du Grand Reims; known for the classed Saint-Basle church, the Louis Süe château, and a 1915 national necropolis.
Sillingy
Sillingy, a commune in Haute-Savoie, France, west of Annecy in the Communauté de Communes Fier & Usses; known for the Miroir de Faille fault mirror (~2,000 m²), the Roman-era Bains de Bromines, and the Château des Fées site on the Mandallaz.
St-Félix-de-Pallières
St-Félix-de-Pallières, a small commune in the Gard, Occitanie, France, on the Cévennes border; site of the former Croix-de-Pallières lead-zinc mines (closed 1971) and of lasting heavy-metal soil contamination and Umicore remediation litigation.
St-Jean-du-Gard
St-Jean-du-Gard, Gard, Occitanie: Cévennes commune on the Gardon at the confluence of the Borgne and Française valleys; Benedictine priory town, first mentioned 1119 as Saint-Jean-de-Gardonnenque; Barrington Atlas ancient mine site.
St-Just-en-Chaussée
St-Just-en-Chaussée is a commune in the Oise department, Hauts-de-France, France, on the Plateau picard. Known for its Gallic and Gallo-Roman sanctuary at Le Rossignol and its 1846 station on the Paris–Lille railway; distinct from other Saint-Just communes.
St-Léger-du-Bois
St-Léger-du-Bois, a commune in Saône-et-Loire, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France (INSEE 71438), a Drée-valley coal and oil-shale mining village near Autun, home to the puits des Fourneaux masonry headframe, closed 1950.
St-Restitut
Saint-Restitut, Drôme commune in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France; hilltop village of white stone near Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux, known for its Miocene limestone quarries, 11th-century funerary tower, and 1840-classified Romanesque church.
St-Romain-de-Lerps
Saint-Romain-de-Lerps, a commune in the Ardèche (07130), France, on the plateau de Vernoux above the Rhône; Le Pic belvédère (649 m), château de Durtail ruins, Gallo-Roman Trou-de-l'Argentière mine.
St-Yrieix-la-Perche
Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, Haute-Vienne commune in Limousin, France, heart of a historic gold district (Gallic aurières, 1982-2001 modern mines, 28.4 t gold) and of kaolin quarries feeding Limoges porcelain.
Strasbourg
Strasbourg, capital of Alsace and the Grand Est region in eastern France, seat of the European Parliament and Council of Europe; founded as Roman Argentoratum in 12 BC, annexed by France in 1681, German 1871–1918, UNESCO-listed Grande-Île and Neustadt.
Toulon
Toulon is a commune in southeastern France and the prefecture of the Var department, best known as the home of France's principal naval base on the Mediterranean.
Toulouse
Toulouse, la ville rose: fourth-largest French city (514,819 commune, 841,524 Métropole, 2023), capital of Haute-Garonne and Occitania, European aerospace hub (Airbus, CNES, Thales Alenia Space), Canal du Midi, 120,000 students, third metro line under construction.
Tourcoing
Tourcoing, commune in Nord, France (INSEE 59599), near Belgium in the Lille metropolis; former textile city, 98,772 residents in 2023, MUba museum, Bourgogne renewal, Extramobile tramway.