Loudun

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Administration
Commune of Loudun Image:Loudun Porte Martray.jpg Porte du Martray in Loudun
Location
Coordinates	47° 00' 38" N 00° 05' 04" E
Country	France
Region	Poitou-Charentes
Department	Vienne
Arrondissement	Châtellerault
Canton	Loudun
Intercommunality	Communauté de Communes du Pays Loudunais (CCPL)
Mayor	Jean Touret (2001-2008)
Statistics
Elevation	47 m–120 m (avg. 90 m)
Land area^¹	43.77 km²
Population^² (1999)	7,704
- Density	176/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	86137/ 86200
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).
Image:Flag of France.svg

Loudun (Loudùn in Poitevin-Saintongeais language) is a small town and commune of approximately 9,000 inhabitants in the Vienne département and in the Poitou-Charentes région of France. It is located 30 km south of the town of Chinon and 25km to the east of the town Thouars.

1 Geography
2 Sights
3 Miscellaneous
- 3.1 Famous Loudunois
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Geography

Approximate Latitude= 46-47 degrees N. Latitude
Approximate Longitude= 0-1 degrees E. Longitude

[edit] Sights

An ancient town, Loudun contains numerous old streets, and buildings and monuments of which five are Government-listed monuments. It is also the location of a vicus type archaeological site.

[edit] Miscellaneous

The 1952 book titled The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley tells the story of the trial of Urbain Grandier, priest of the town who was tortured and burned at the stake in 1634. He was accused of being in league with the devil and having seduced an entire convent of nuns, in what is seen by many scholars as one of the most sensational cases of mass possession and sexual hysteria in recorded history.

Based on Huxley's book, in 1969, Krzysztof Penderecki created an opera of the same name. The following year, Ken Russell directed the film The Devils, also based on Huxley's book, and a play by John Whiting (although the surrealistic depiction of Loudun in the film bears no resemblance to the actual town).

[edit] Famous Loudunois

Loudun is the birthplace of:

Jean Salmon Macrin (1490-1557), Neo-Latin poet
Théophraste Renaudot (1586-1653), medical practitioner, inventor of French written press, journalist, philanthropist
Ismaël Bullialdus (1604-1694), astronomer
Marie Besnard, accused of poisoning in the '50s in what was a very mediatized trial; her story was the subject of a successful tv movie and of several books
René Monory, mayor of Loudun, senator of Vienne, president of the French Senate, Minister of Education, president of the Vienne General Council, fonder of the Futuroscope park of Poitiers
Nicolas Ghesquière (1972 - ), creator at the head of the French fashion house Balenciaga was born in 1972 in Comines, Nord-Pas-de-Calais but was always raised in Loudun where his parents own a golf course.

Loudun is the place of death of:

André Andrejew (March 16, 1967), French-Russian classic film production designer, built decors for movies produced in Germany, France, England and the US.