Compiègne is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.

The city is located along the Oise River. Its inhabitants are called Compiégnois.

Administration

Compiègne is the seat of three cantons

• Compiègne-Nord (with 5 communes)

• Compiègne-Sud-Est (southeast) (with 4 communes)

• Compiègne-Sud-Ouest (southwest) (with 5 communes)

History

Historical population

• 1882: 13,393

• 1990: 41,663 (municipal), 44,703 (total)

• 1999: 41,076 (municipal), 44,703 (total), 69,903 (agglomeration), urban (108,234)

Sights

Museums

• Château de Compiègne - the castle itself, and museums of the Second French Empire, of historic figurines and of motoring and tourism within its walls

• Musée Antoine Vivenel

Compiègne Forest

The Compiègne Forest was the site of the signing of two armistices; the 1918 Armistice with Germany and the 1940 Armistice with France. Hitler specifically chose the location, and had the original signing carriage moved from Paris to Compiègne, as an irony for the defeated French.
The site still houses several memorials to the 1918 armistice, including a copy of the original railway carriage. The original, after use in the 1940 armistice was moved to Berlin as a trophy of nazi triumph. However, in April of 1945 facing certain and a humiliating defeat and to avoid it being used again, Hitler ordered it's destruction by the SS in Crawinkel in Thuringia in 1945 and the remains scattered and/or buried.

Cycling

Since 1968 Compiègne is the traditional start city of the famous Paris-Roubaix bicycle race. It was also the finish city of 3rd stage in the 2007 Tour de France.

Notable people

Compiègne was the birthplace of:

• Roscellinus (~1050 - ~1122), philosopher and theologian, often regarded as the founder of Nominalism

• Pierre d'Ailly (1350-1420), theologian and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

• Albert Robida (1848-1926), illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist

• Marcel Tabuteau (1887-1966), Oboist, regarded as the founder of American oboe playing.

• Suzanne Lenglen (1899-1938), tennis player, international female sport star

Twin towns

Compiègne is twinned with:

• Arona, Italy, since 1962

• Bury St Edmunds, England, since 1967

• Elbląg, Poland, since 2002

• Huy, Belgium, since 1959

• Kiryat Tivon, Israel, since 1988

• Landshut, Germany, since 1962

• Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, since 1989

• Shirakawa, Fukushima, Japan, since 1988

• Vianden, Luxembourg, since 1964

See also

• Dialogues of the Carmelites

• Siege of Compiègne

• Martyrs of Compiegne

• Communes of the Oise department