Beauvais

Beauvais: Cathedral of Saint-Pierre

Beauvais, town, capital of Oise département, Hauts-de-France région, northern France, at the juncture of the Thérain and Avelon rivers, north of Paris.

Capital of the Bellovaci tribe, it was first called Caesaromagus, after its capture by Julius Caesar in 52 bce, and later Civitas de Bellovacis. In the 9th century it became a countship, which passed to the bishops who became peers of France in 1013. The cathedral of Saint-Pierre was ambitiously conceived as the largest in Europe; the apse and transept have survived several collapses, and the choir (157 feet [48 metres]) remains the loftiest ever built. The whole dates from the 10th to the 16th century, with the Romanesque church of the Basse Oeuvre standing in the space planned for the cathedral nave. Other public buildings date from the 14th to the 16th century. An annual June celebration commemorates Jeanne Hachette, who seized a standard from besieging Burgundian troops in 1472. Marshal Ferdinand Foch directed battle operations from the town hall in 1918. Badly bombed in 1940, Beauvais was rebuilt on the original plan. The Beauvais tapestry factory, which in the 17th and 18th centuries produced many tapestries of exceptionally high quality, was destroyed in World War II.

Today Beauvais is an administrative centre and emerging university town that benefited from a wave of industrialization in the postwar years, linked to the decentralization of Paris-based firms. Industries include mechanical engineering and the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and parachemical products. Pop. (1999) 55,392; (2014 est.) 54,738.