While traveling to France, do make a trip to Arras (in Dutch Atrecht), a city and commune in northern France, and the prefecture or capital of the Pas-de-Calais department. It is the historic center of the Artois region, located in the former Dutch and French province, Artois. Arras is connected by the LGV Nord high speed railway. Arras has an airfield / aerodrome. If you are planning a trip to Arras, you would enjoy your trip, that is for sure.
For hundreds of years, Arras, located on the border between France and Low Countries, changed hands many times before finally came under France in the late seventeenth century. The town had close links with Flanders trade and went on to become prosperous market center and an important center for sugar beet farming.
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Arras specialized in fine wool tapestries to decorate palaces and castles all over Europe. Even today the word arras is used to refer to a rich tapestry wherever it may have been woven. .
During the First World War, Arras was near the war front. Many battles were fought, all of which were referred to as the Battle of Arras. The Medieval tunnels beneath the city, not known to the Germans, ensured that it stayed in British hands. The heavily damaged city was rebuilt after the war. In a sad chapter of the Second World War, the town was occupied by the Germans and 240 “suspected” French Resistance members were executed in the city citadel.
Amiens Tourism: Three large squares mark the town's center. These are the Grande Place, Place des Héros, and Petite Place. These are surrounded by buildings that were mostly restored to their pre-war First World War I state.
On your trip to Arras, do visit the Gothic town hall and the nineteenth century cathedral. The original cathedral of Arras, built between 1030 to 1396, and a beautiful Gothic structure in northern France, was destroyed in the French Revolution.Many of Arras's other structures, that include the museum and many government buildings, are at the old Abbaye de Saint-Vaast. The abbey's church was rebuilt in1833 in an appealing classical style. It now serves as the town's cathedral. The design was chosen by then Abbot of St Vaast, the Cardinal de Rohan, and is stark in its simplicity with many perpendicular angles. The church houses fine religious artifacts and statues.
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Your trip to Arras becomes poignant with a visit to Vimy Memorial, a memorial just north of the town. It honors a major World War I battle, the Battle of Vimy Ridge. This was the first time that Canada had fielded their own army solely. Four Canadian divisions fought, Vimy was critical and became the only victory that the Allies enjoyed during their 1917 spring offensive.
For more information on traveling to France, please go through the site www.eurpoetravel.com.
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