Country France Department Aveyron Time zone CET (UTC+1) Area 13.88 km² Local time Sunday 9:05 AM | Region Occitanie Canton Decazeville INSEE/Postal code 12089 / 12300 Population 6,801 (1999) Arrondissement Villefranche-de-Rouergue | |
Weather 4°C, Wind SE at 10 km/h, 96% Humidity | ||
Decazeville (Occitan: La Sala) is a commune in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie region in southern France.
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Map of 12300 Decazeville, France
The commune was created in the 19th century because of the Industrial Revolution and was named after the Duke of Decazes (1780–1860), the founder of the factory that created the town.
History
The town is built on coal. La Salle (the former name) produced coal since the 16th century. It was exported in small quantities to Bordeaux.
Louis XIV and his successors gave mines to their mistresses. The Duke of Decazes inherited such mines, and in 1826 he created, with the help of a technician named Cabrol, the "Houillères et Fonderies de l'Aveyron" (Mines and Foundries of Aveyron) which were to make this small village into a center of ironworking.
Under Napoléon III, the city took the name of Decazeville, and a statue of Decazes dressed in a Roman toga was erected.
The high point of iron production was reached early in the 20th century, with 9000 employees and 1 million tons of steel produced. The production then decreased, and the town has since diversified its industry: metallurgy, woodworking, metal fabrication, and production of steel tubing.
Although it felt the full burnt of the decline in the mining industry, the town has much thriving industry.
A noted strike of mine workers occurred from 1961 to 1962. Some 1500 miners spent 66 days in the mines from 23 December 1961 to 26 February 1962. The last the mine closed in June 2001.
The town has a geological museum named after Pierre Vetter, its founder. It is dedicated to coal strata.
The open-pit mine La Découverte is open to the public.
The modern church of Notre-Dame has a celebrated painting of the Way of the Cross by Gustave Moreau.
Twin towns — Sister cities
Decazeville is twinned with: