Saint-Raphaël, Var
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The town hall of Saint-Raphaël
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 Saint-Raphaël
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Location within Provence-A.-C.d'A. region
Saint-Raphaël
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| Coordinates: 43°25′31″N 6°46′06″E / 43.4252°N 6.7684°ECoordinates: 43°25′31″N 6°46′06″E / 43.4252°N 6.7684°E | ||
| Country | France | |
| Region | Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur | |
| Department | Var | |
| Arrondissement | Draguignan | |
| Canton | Saint-Raphaël | |
| Intercommunality | Fréjus Saint-Raphaël | |
| Government | ||
| • Mayor (2008–2014) | Georges Ginesta | |
| Area1 | 89.59 km2 (34.59 sq mi) | |
| Population (2006)2 | 34,425 | |
| • Density | 380/km2 (1,000/sq mi) | |
| Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
| • Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 83118 / 83700 and 83530 | |
| Elevation | 0–560 m (0–1,837 ft) (avg. 10 m or 33 ft) |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once. |
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1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Saint-Raphaël (pronounced: [sɛ̃ ʁafaɛl]; Occitan: Sant Rafèu) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
Immediately to the west of Saint-Raphaël lies another, older, town called Fréjus, and together they form an urban agglomeration known as Fréjus Saint-Raphaël. The Var lies in the region called Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, often abbreviated to PACA.
In the second half of the nineteenth century the township came under the influence of mayor Felix Martin and writer Alphonse Karr, and owing to their efforts and its beneficial climate the commune developed into a seaside resort popular with artists, sportsmen and politicians.
It is the headquarters of the Fréjus Saint-Raphaël canton, which is the economic and cultural center of eastern Var and lies in the arrondissement of Draguignan. Its inhabitants are called Raphaëlois in French generally, or Rafelencs in Provençal Occitan.
In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces arrived by ship from Egypt, prior to his coup d'état in Paris, and landed at a fishing village that was the commune of Saint-Raphaël.
The coastal double-track rail link between Saint-Raphaël and Nice passes over a substantial viaduct constructed right on the shoreline at Anthéor. These tracks were of strategic importance to the Axis forces during World War II for supplying material to units in France.
There were three separate air raids made on this viaduct from England, between September 1943 and February 1944, involving a total of thirty-one Lancaster bombers operating some seven hundred miles from base. Aircraft of the second raid flew on to Rabat, and from the third raid on to Sardinia. One Lancaster from the first raid was lost, and a flight lieutenant bomb aimer on the third raid was killed by enemy fire, some of which came from ships at sea. All the raids failed in their objective and the rail link was not severed.
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Wikipedia