Water, Stone, Vine...
Discover Tonnerre
A primitive town grew up on the Montbellant plateau around the 5th century B.C., then expanded and fortified itself over the centuries. In the Middle Ages, we don't speak of the town of Tonnerre, but of the towns of Tonnerre: there's the main town on the Montbellant, the lower town along the river (the equivalent of our present-day town center) and the town of Saint-Michel around the abbey of the same name.
In 1414, a reprisal raid ordered by the Duke of Burgundy set fire to the upper town. From then on, the people of Tonner rebuilt their homes on the Armançon plain, enlarging the lower town and giving it a face very similar to the one we know today. In 1556, a terrible fire once again ravaged the town. It took a long time for the town to recover from this misfortune, but this didn't change its appearance much, as houses were rebuilt on existing cellars, which explains the low number of medieval buildings.
The Revolution and the Empire brought in their wake a new administrative organization of the country. Tonnerre became the administrative center of the arrondissement (until 1926) and, in the years that followed, welcomed new trade routes: the Burgundy Canal and the Compagnie PLM railway line.
The First World War, which took the lives of some of the town's young people, was a traumatic experience, but fortunately Tonnerre was not affected in any way. This was not the case in the following war: the bombings of 1940 and 1944 claimed many victims and wiped the Saint-Michel district off the map. The town slowly recovered and even enjoyed a period of prosperity from the 1960s onwards, with the development of outlying districts (Prés-Hauts, Lices...), the construction of schools and a secondary school, and the establishment of industries. The industrial crisis of the late 90s hit Tonnerre hard, and the town suffered an economic downturn.
But future prospects are encouraging for the town, which can count on solid assets such as its rich heritage, pleasant quality of life and transport networks that connect Paris and Dijon in less than two hours.
Presentation and history of Tonnerre
Tonnerre first appeared in Roman times as Tornodurum, meaning "fortress". For the Lingons, it was the capital of the Pagus tornodorensis. Here, in the Armançon valley, the County of Tonnerre was created, and served as a crossing point between Paris and Dijon, at a time when the King of France had designs on the Duchy of Burgundy. [read more]
Tonnerre Town Hall
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