26 Facts About Toulon

Toulon is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base.

Toulon is the third-largest French city on the Mediterranean coast after Marseille and Nice.

Toulon is an important centre for naval construction, fishing, wine making, and the manufacture of aeronautical equipment, armaments, maps, paper, tobacco, printing, shoes, and electronic equipment.

Military port of Toulon is the major naval centre on France's Mediterranean coast, home of the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and her battle group.

Toulon harbour became a shelter for trading ships, and the name of the town gradually changed from Telo to Tholon, Tolon, and Toulon.

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Toulon was Christianized in the 5th century, and the first cathedral built.

Toulon assisted at councils in 441 and 442 and signed in 449 and 450 the letters addressed to Pope Leo I from the province of Arles.

Toulon's episcopate, begun in 524, had not come to an end in 541; he converted to Catholicism two Visigothic chiefs, Mandrier and Flavian, who became anchorites and martyrs on the peninsula of Mandrier.

Toulon invited the fleet of Ottoman Admiral Barbarossa to Toulon as part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance.

In 1707, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Toulon successfully resisted a siege by the Imperial Army led by Duke Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia of Savoy and Prince Eugene.

In 1790, following the French Revolution, Toulon became the administrative centre of the departement of the Var.

French Republican forces then undertook the siege of Toulon, forcing the British to withdraw, taking a number of ships with them and destroying the rest of them.

Toulon persuaded the French Ambassador to Turkey to buy it, and brought it to Toulon on his ship, the Estafette.

In 1820 Toulon became the base for the conquest of France's colonies in North Africa.

Toulon tore down large parts of the old fortifications and built new boulevards and squares.

Toulon was liberated by the Free French Forces of General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny on 28 August 1944 in the Battle of Toulon.

In 1974 Toulon became again the prefecture, or administrative centre, of the Var.

Toulon was one of four French cities where the extreme-right Front National won the local elections in 1995.

Old town of Toulon, the historic centre between the port, the Boulevard de Strasbourg and the Cours Lafayette, is a pedestrian area with narrow streets, small squares and many fountains.

Old Town of Toulon is known for its fountains, found in many of the small squares, each with a different character.

Toulon harbour is one of the best natural anchorages on the Mediterranean and one of the largest harbours in Europe.

Toulon is subtropical, featuring a Mediterranean climate, characterised by abundant and strong sunshine, dry summers, and rain which is rare but sometimes torrential; and by hot summers and mild winters.

One distinctive feature of the Toulon climate is the wind, with 115 days a year of strong winds; usually either the cold and dry Mistral or the Tramontane from the north, the wet Marin; or the Sirocco sometimes bearing reddish sand from Africa; or the wet and stormy Levant from the east.

Toulon has a conservatory which taught music, theater, dance and circus and an art academy called Ecole superieure d'art et de design Toulon Provence Mediterranee.

Toulon is served by the Gare de Toulon railway station, offering suburban services to Marseille, Nice, Paris and regional destinations.

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The port of Toulon is the main port of departure for ferries to Corsica.