Sens | ||
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Subprefecture and commune | ||
City Hall of Sens
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Coordinates: 48°11′51″N 3°17′16″E / 48.1975°N 3.2877°ECoordinates: 48°11′51″N 3°17′16″E / 48.1975°N 3.2877°E | ||
Country | France | |
Region | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | |
Department | Yonne | |
Arrondissement | Sens | |
Canton | Sens-1 and 2 | |
Government | ||
• Mayor (2014–2019) | Marie-Louise Fort | |
Area1 | 27.86 km2 (10.76 sq mi) | |
Population (2006)2 | 26,646 | |
• Density | 960/km2 (2,500/sq mi) | |
Time zone | CET (UTC+1) | |
• Summer (DST) | CEST (UTC+2) | |
INSEE/Postal code | 89387 /89100 | |
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. |
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
Sens (French pronunciation: [sɑ̃s]) is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris.
Sens is a sub-prefecture and the second city of the department, the sixth in the region. It is crossed by the Yonne and the Vanne, which empties into the Yonne here.
The city is supposed to have been one of the oppida of the Senones, one of the oldest Celtic tribes living in Gaul. It is mentioned as Agedincum by Julius Caesar several times in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico. The Roman city was built during the first century BC and surrounded by walls during the third. It still retains today the skeleton of its Roman street plan. The site was referred to by Ammianus Marcellinus as Senones (oppidum Senonas) but it did not become an administrative center until after the reorganization of the Roman Empire in 375, when it was the chief town of Lugdunensis Quarta.
During the Middle Ages its archbishops held the prestigious role of primates of Gaul and Germany. The Hôtel de Sens in Paris was their official residence in that city. The Archdiocese of Sens ruled over the dioceses of Chartres, Auxerre, Meaux, Paris, Orléans, Nevers and Troyes.