Vitry-le-Francois - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

VITRY-LE-FRANCOIS, a town of north-eastern France, capital of the department of Marne, on the right bank of the Marne, 20 m. S.E. of Chalons, on the railway from Paris to Strassburg. Pop. (1906) 7985. The Marne-Rhine canal, the Haute-Marne canal, and the lateral canal of the Marne unite at Vitry. Its church of Notre-Dame is a 17th-century building with fine 18th-century monuments. A convent of the Recollets now contains the town hall, the court-house, a library and a small museum. There is a bronze statue of P. P. Royer-Collard (1763-1845), the politician and philosopher, a native of the district. The industrial establishments include important cement works and the manufacture of faience is carried on. The present town was built in 1545 on a uniform plan by Francis I. to replace the older one of Vitry-en-Perthois, 21 m. to the northeast, burned in the previous year by Charles V.