Transport

thumb|Gare de Boulogne-Tintelleries

Boulogne is close to the A16 motorway (Paris-Amiens-Calais-Dunkerque). Metropolitan bus services are operated by "Marinéo". The company Flixbus proposed establishing a bus line connecting Paris to Boulogne. There are coach services to Calais and Dunkerque.

The city has several railway stations, of which the most important is Boulogne-Ville station, located in the south of the city. Boulogne-Tintelleries station is used by regional trains. It is located near the university and the city centre. The former Boulogne-Maritime and Boulogne-Aéroglisseurs stations served as a boat connection (to England) for the railway.

Boulogne-Ville was the terminus of the Chemin de fer de Boulogne à Bonningues (CF de BB), which extended their line from Saint-Martin-Boulogne on 12 May 1902. Within Boulogne were also halts at Rue de la Lampe, Rue de la Liane, Abbatoir and La Madelaine. The CF de BB closed to passenger traffic on 31 December 1935. It was reopened in November 1942, and closed in 1948.

The regional trains are TER Hauts-de-France run by SNCF. The principal service runs from Gare de Boulogne-Ville via Gare de Calais-Fréthun, Gare de Calais-Ville to Gare de Lille-Flandres.

From 2026, Hibernia Line will operate a ferry service to and from Cork, re-establishing a ferry operation in Boulogne following the closure of the route to Dover by LD Lines in 2010.

Landmarks

upright|thumb|The Belfry is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

thumb|The [[Basilica of Notre-Dame de Boulogne towers over the city.]]

upright|thumb|Entrance to the [[Château de Boulogne-sur-Mer]]

Boulogne's 12th-century belfry is one of 56 listed Belfries of Belgium and France, all in northeastern France and Belgium, with shared World Heritage Site status because of their architecture and testimony to the rise of municipal power in the region. It is the oldest building in the upper city of Boulogne, and currently serves as the home to a museum of Celtic remains from the Roman occupation. Founded as the Count's dungeon, the top floor was added in the 13th century. Damage by a fire in 1712 was built over by 1734.

Education

<!-- Deleted image removed: right|thumb|The Saint-Louis campus of University of Côte d'Opale. -->

Boulogne-sur-Mer hosts one of the oldest Universités de l'été – summer courses in French language and culture. It is known as the Université d'été de Boulogne-sur-Mer.

The Saint-Louis building of the University of the Côte d'Opale's Boulogne campus opened its doors in 1991, on the site of the former St. Louis Hospital, the front entrance to which remains a predominant architectural feature. Its 6 major specialisms are Modern Languages, French Literature, Sport, Law, History and Economics.

The university is situated in the town centre, about 5 minutes from the Boulogne Tintelleries railway station.

University

  • Campus University of the Littoral Opal Coast (Saint-Louis, Grand-Rue and Capérure site), member of Université Lille Nord de France.

Public primary and secondary

<!-- Unsourced image removed: right|thumb|The Lycée Edouard Branly. -->

  • High schools : Lycée Auguste Mariette, Edouard Branly, Cazin (professional).
  • College : College Langevin, Angelier, Daunou.

Private primary and secondary

  • High schools: Lycée Nazareth, Haffreingue, Saint-Joseph
  • College: College Godefroy de Bouillon, Haffreingue, Nazareth, Saint-Joseph

Health

Two health centres are located in Boulogne, the public Hospital Duchenne and the private Clinique de la côte d'opale.

Sports

thumb|right|200px|[[US Boulogne play their home football matches at the 14,500-seat Stade de la Libération.]]

Boulogne's football club, US Boulogne Côte d'Opale (US refers to Union Sportive), is one of the oldest in France due to the city's proximity to England, founded in 1898. The club currently play in the third tier, the Championnat National, and host home matches at the 14,500-capacity Stade de la Libération. Boulogne native and FIFA World Cup finalist Franck Ribéry began his career at the club.

Basketball teams in Boulogne include Stade Olympique Maritime Boulonnais and ESSM Le Portel of Pro A (first-tier men's professional basketball league in France).

Culture

The Château de Boulogne-sur-Mer (now a castle museum) of Boulogne, in the fortified town, houses the most important exhibition of masks from Alaska in the world, the second largest collection of Greek ceramics in France (after the Louvre), collections of Roman and medieval sculptures, paintings (15th–20th century), an Egyptian collection, African Arts etc. As these collections are exhibited in a medieval castle, one can also discover the Roman walls (in the underground) as well as rooms built in the 13th century (La Barbière, banqueting hall, chapel, covered parapet walk...)

thumb|Casa de San Martin, Boulogne-sur-Mer

La Casa San Martin is currently a museum where José de San Martín the father of independence of Argentina (also Chile and Peru) died in 1850, from 1930 to 1967 this house was the consulate of Argentina in France. There is a statue dedicated to his colleague Simón Bolívar, other liberator of South America in the revolutions against Spanish colonial rule in the 1810s. Bolivar planned to head in exile to this very part of France before his death in 1830. Historic emigration in the 19th century from the Nord-Pas de Calais region to Argentina and Chile can explain some cultural ties with South America of the Boulognais and Latino/Ibero-American culture.

Nausicaä, the French national sealife centre.

Food

As an international maritime port on the English Channel (La Manche), the town of Boulogne-sur-Mer has European and American influences in local cuisine. They include:

  • Welsh rarebit (from Wales, United Kingdom)
  • Sandwich américain (an American sandwich introduced from the US)
  • Kipper (Flemish: smoked herring)

Notable people

Born in Boulogne

thumb|right|200px|Boulogne-born footballer [[Franck Ribéry.]]

  • Guynemer (fl. 1090s), pirate.
  • Matilda of Boulogne (1105–1152), Countess of Boulogne and queen consort of England; the wife of Stephen, King of England (reigned 1135–1154).
  • Michel Le Quien (1661–1733), monk and historian.
  • Pierre Claude François Daunou (1761–1840), politician and historian.
  • Frédéric Sauvage (1786–1857), engineer and a pioneer of the propeller.
  • Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve (1804–1869), literary critic and one of the major figures of French literary history.
  • Guillaume Duchenne (1806–1875), neurologist.
  • Auguste Delacroix (1809-1868), painter.
  • Auguste Mariette (1821–1881), scholar and archaeologist, one of the foremost Egyptologists of his generation, and the founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
  • Joseph O'Kelly (1828–1885), composer and pianist.
  • Auguste O'Kelly (1829–1900), music publisher.
  • Charles Frédéric O'Kelly (1830–1897), managing director of Blanzy-Poure.
  • George O'Kelly (1831–1914), pianist and composer.
  • Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911), organist/composer.
  • Étienne-Prosper Berne-Bellecour (1838–1910), painter.
  • Benoît-Constant Coquelin (1841–1909), actor.
  • Ernest Hamy (1842–1908), anthropologist/ethnologist; created (in 1880) the museum of ethnography of Trocadéro (today known as the Musée de l'Homme, Trocadéro).
  • Ernest Alexandre Honoré Coquelin (1848–1909), actor.
  • Olivier Latry (1962), Titular Organist of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, and professor at the Paris Conservatory.
  • Henri Malo (1868–1948), writer and historian.
  • Léo Marjane (1912–2016), singer.
  • Georges Mathieu (1921–2012), famous painter, initiator of "lyrical abstraction" and informal art.
  • Michel Caffier (born 1930), writer and literary critic.
  • Sophie Daumier (1934–2004), film actress.
  • Estha Essombe (born 1963), judoka.
  • Jean-Pierre Papin (born 1963), footballer.
  • David Ringot (born 1969), footballer.
  • Mickaël Bourgain (born 1980), track cyclist.
  • Franck Ribéry (born 1983), footballer.
  • Terence Makengo (born 1992), footballer.

Others associated with Boulogne

thumb|right|200px|[[Baldwin I of Jerusalem, son and brother of Counts of Boulogne, ruled the Holy Land in the 11th century.]]

  • Godfrey of Bouillon (c.1060–1100), Count of Boulogne, prominent figure in the First Crusade
  • Baldwin I of Jerusalem (c.1058–1118), Count of Boulogne, prominent figure in the First Crusade
  • Blaise de Monluc (1502–1577), Marshal of France
  • Richard Martin (1754–1834), Irish parliamentarian and animal rights campaigner; exiled to Boulogne in 1826, where he died
  • Smithson Tennant (1761–1815), chemist, discoverer of osmium and iridium, died falling from a bridge in Boulogne
  • Romeo Coates (1772–1848), amateur actor, fled from London to Boulogne to escape debtor's prison. He lived there for several years, and met his wife during this period.
  • Adam Liszt (1776–1827), father of Franz Liszt, died from Typhoid fever while on a vacation
  • José de San Martín (1778–1850), Argentine general who liberated Argentina, Chile and Peru; lived for two years in Boulogne and died there
  • John Short Hewett (1781–1835), British cleric and academic, died there
  • Benoît-Agathon Haffreingue (1785–1871), priest and builder of Boulogne's cathedral
  • Félix Godefroid (1818–1897), Belgium-born composer, grew up in Boulogne
  • Constant Coquelin (1841–1909), actor
  • John McCrae (1872–1918), Canadian doctor, poet; author of In Flanders Field
  • Alfred-Georges Regner (1902–1987), painter-engraver
  • Maurice Boitel (1919–2007), painter
  • Olivier Latry (born 1962), musician, educator
  • Grégory Thil (born 1980), footballer
  • N'Golo Kanté (born 1991), footballer
  • Maëva Coucke (born 1994), Miss France 2018
  • Randal Kolo Muani (born 1998), footballer

International relations

Boulogne-sur-Mer is twinned with:

  • Folkestone, Kent, United Kingdom
  • La Plata, Argentina
  • Safi, Morocco – since 2007
  • Deux-Ponts (Zweibrücken), Germany – since 1959

See also

  • Boulonnais (land area)
  • First Siege of Boulogne
  • Itius Portus
  • Port of Boulogne-sur-Mer
  • Vieux-Boulogne

References

Sources

Further reading

  • Website about Boulogne-sur-Mer (English only)
  • IGN
  • Official website: Tourism in Boulogne sur Mer and the Boulonnais area (in English)
  • Boulogne-sur-Mer city council website (in French)
  • Visiting Boulogne-sur-Mer (English guide and tourist map)
  • NAUSICAÄ's official website (in French and English)
  • Boulogne 2005 Esperanto
  • Universite d'ete de Boulogne-sur-Mer
  • The university library of ULCO
  • The Boulogne Eastern Cemetery on the website "Remembrance Trails of the Great War in Northern France"