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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Design maven Saint-Etienne will hold its 11th Design Biennial, curated by American Lisa White from March 21 through April 22, 2019.

For more information, visit the Le Havre Tourism Office at www.lehavretourisme.com.

City region: Normandy

Population & what they are called: 172,807 inhabitants (2014 census), called Havrais

Access from Paris:

• by road: about 2 h 15 min (125 miles) via the A13 autoroute de Normandie

• by train: about 2 h 5 min by intercity service from the Gare Saint Lazare

Famous native daughters & sons:

• Jean Dubuffet, artist

• Raymond Queneau, poet and novelist

• govy, artist

Most distinctive and/or unique fact or trait (or little known fact):

• The high standard and historical importance of Auguste Perret’s post-war reconstruction architecture in the city center of Le Havre was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Notable sites:

• Eglise Saint-Joseph – 12,768 pieces of glass set in an octagonal tower light up this modern church to dramatic effect

• Maison de l'Armateur – the 18th-century, relic-filled mansion of the architect in charge of constructing Le Havre's fortifications and fountains

• Appartement Témoin – a historic show apartment to help understand how architects and designers aimed to rehouse the locals after 80% of the city was destroyed in World War II

Top annual events:

• moZ’aïque – a world music festival with performers from Le Have and around the world (mozaique.lehavre.fr)

• Dixie Days – a jazz festival that takes place on the beaches of Le Havre

• Fête de la Mer – a popular festival of events and celebrations revolving around one theme: the sea

Most notable museums:

• Musée d'Art Moderne André Malraux (MuMa) – the second largest collections of impressionist paintings in France set in a masterpiece of modern museum architecture (muma-lehavre.fr/en)

• Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle – the thousands of objects on display represent only a part of the original collection, much of which was destroyed in World War II (museum-lehavre.fr)

• Maison du Patrimoine Atelier Perret – the place for anyone keen about Perret’s work and the architectural principles on which his concrete masterpieces were built

Culinary specialties:

• cream – a staple of Normandy cuisine, so much so that identifying a food as “Normande” usually means it has cream in it

• apples – grown in abundance throughout Normandy and a primary ingredient in meals and desserts, as well as drinks

• seafood – the sea’s bounty, used to great effect in Normandy cuisine, especially oysters, scallops, lobster and sole

Local wines & spirits:

• cider – produced in Normandy in large quantities and very often drunk with meals as a substitute for wine or beer

• Bénédictine – A famous herbal liqueur beverage produced in Fecamp, near Le Havre

• Paillette beer – once enjoyed throughout France (and said to be as old as the history of bread), it had disappeared for a while but now flows again

Shopping:

• Docks Vauban – Bernard Reichen’s transformation of a 19th-century warehouses into a retail and leisure complex of shops, restaurants and cinemas

• Espace Coty – the major downtown shopping center

• Place des Halles Centrales – the central covered market for food and local products

Most popular night spots:

• Le Volcan – the city's first Maison de la Culture, designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, which is now home to one of France’s national theaters (levolcan.com)

• Quartier de l'Eure – a revitalized former industrial district now known for, among other things, smart bars

• Quartier des Halles – a district busy with bars like the well-known Black Café

Local population’s favorite activities (or hangouts):

• beach – just steps from the center, more than one mile of beach is a local favorite for both exercise and relaxation

• Jardins Suspendus – a hilltop Vauban fortress transformed into gardens full of flowers and trees from different continents

• Bains des Docks – Jean Nouvel’s design of this aquatic center creates a sensation of calm and well-being enhanced by the natural light

Local industries:

• port services – Le Havre is the second largest French industrial seaport in trade volume and 50th largest port in the world, as well as cruise companies’ preferred stop on Europe’s Atlantic facade, and home to the two marinas of Ocean Gateway and Port Vauban

• petrochemicals – the Le Havre region has more than a third of French refining capacity and provides about 50% of the production of basic plastics and 80% of additives and oils with more than 3,500 researchers working in private and public laboratories

In Pop Culture:

• Impressionism – the light and water of the port of Le Havre and the Seine estuary inspired many painters, including Claude Monet, whose 1872 painting Impression soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise) gave its name to the Impressionist movement

• Le Havre – an award-winning 2011 movie, written and directed by Aki Kaurismäki, about what happens when an African boy who arrives by cargo ship is protected by an aging shoe shiner

• Un chien andalou – the ground-breaking, still-discussed, surrealistic short film from 1929 by Luis

For more information, visit the Tours Tourism Office at www.tours-tourism.co.uk.

City region: Loire Valley / Centre-Val de Loire

Population & what they are called: 136,125 inhabitants (2014 census), called Tourangeaux

Access from Paris:

• by road: about 2 h 30 min (150 miles) via the A10 autoroute l'Aquitaine

• by train: about 1 h 10 min by TGV from the Gare Montparnasse

Famous native daughters & sons:

• Honoré de Balzac, novelist

• René Descartes, mathematician and philosopher

• Olivier Debré, artist

Most distinctive and/or unique fact or trait (or little known fact):

• In the garden of the Palais des Archevêques (now the Musée des Beaux-Arts), aka Jardin François Sicard, is a huge cedar tree said to have been planted by Napoleon, as well as an alcove with a stuffed elephant who escaped from a circus and had to be shot.

Notable sites:

• Vieux Tours – medieval district, one of the best preserved in France, with many half-timbered buildings and the busy Place Plumereau

• Cathédrale Saint-Gatien de Tours – begun in the 12th century but not completed until the Renaissance

** Basilique Saint-Martin – a Neo-Byzantine church that is the final resting place of Saint Martin

Top annual events:

• Vitiloire – a public Loire Valley wine salon involving more than 150 wine makers (vitiloire.tours.fr)

• Tours et ses Francos Gourmandes – as a Cité Internationale de la Gastronomie en Val de Loire, Tours knows how to celebrate food

• Florilège Vocal de Tours – one of the most important international choral singing competitions, fittingly held in Tours, a center of traditional music (florilegevocal.com/en/)

Most notable museums:

• Musée des Beaux-Arts – located in the former Palais des Archevêques, a little bit of everything in this fine arts museum, from Rubens to Rembrandt and Mantegna to Monet (mba.tours.fr)

• Centre de Création Contemporaine Olivier Debré (CCCOD) – focused on contemporary art, especially the work of Olivier Debré, an important abstract artist (cccod.fr)

• Musée d'Art Contemporain du Château de Tours – a display of contemporary paintings, photography, pottery, sculpture in an old castle

Culinary specialties:

• rillettes and rillons – meat cooked in fat until it is tender, then shredded and cooled to form a paste; the latter is a confit of cooked diced pork covered in a fat spread

• cheeses – especially the white and creamy Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine, made from full fat goat's milk

• nougats de Tours – a cake made from sweetened dough, almond paste, candied fruits and apricot jam

Local wines & spirits:

• Touraine AOC wines – part of the third largest wine region of France, with whites (sweet, dry and bubbly) like Vouvray and Montlouis, rosés like Noble-Joué and Chinon rosé, and reds such as Chinon, Bourgueil and Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil

Shopping:

• markets – the Carreau des Halles de Tours is the twice-weekly market heart of the city, while the Marché Velpeau is the Sunday go-to with more than 180 vendors

• Quartier Colbert and Rue Scellerie – everything from antiques and books (Rue Colbert) to fashion, design and food (Rue Scellerie)

• Quartier Nationale – Rue Nationale is the number one commercial strip of Tours

Most popular night spots:

• Place Plumereau – surrounded by bars, cafes and restaurants and a pedestrian zone with even more

• Le Temps Machine – a leading performance hall and events venue

• bars – like Le Dago'Bar (wine bar), The Pale (Irish pub) and Le Winchester (cafe by day, music bar by night)

Local population’s favorite activities (or hangouts):

• banks for the Loire – an ideal place for running, pedaling and pausing in the local guinguettes (open-air restaurants)

• city parks – La Gloriette, les Prébendes, Jardin des Beaux Arts (aka Jardin François Sicard, read the unique fact above), Jardin Botanique account for just a few of the 1,500 acres of green space so central to life in Tours

• bicycling – much-traveled and much-loved signed bike routes along the Loire (cycling-loire.com)

Local industries:

• Cité de la Création et du Numérique – a former industrial zone called Mame, converted into a facility supporting creativity and technological innovation, start-ups, research and development labs, new technology incubators and a fine arts school (mame- tours.com)

• Cosmetic Valley – the largest and most important business cluster specialized in the production of perfumes and cosmetics consumer goods

In Pop Culture:

• Le Bleu des Villes – a 1998 movie about a meter maid in Tours who takes control of her life

• Le Temps Machine – an artistic and cultural project designed to bring together a broad cross-section of performers... and their fans (letempsmachine.com)

• Festival Terres du Son – a laboratory of experimentation and sensitization about enjoying good

Major 2020 developments:

• In 2000 a 170-mile stretch of the Loire Valley and the sister region of Western Loire were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, from Sully-sur-Loire in the Loire Valley to Chalonnes-sur-Loire in the Western Loire.