Chauny

Chauny
Commune
Town hall
Coat of arms
Location of Chauny
Chauny Show map of France Chauny Show map of Hauts-de-France
Coordinates: 49°36′59″N 3°13′12″E / 49.6164°N 3.22°E / 49.6164; 3.22
Country	France
Region	Hauts-de-France
Department	Aisne
Arrondissement	Laon
Canton	Chauny
Intercommunality	CA Chauny Tergnier La Fère
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Emmanuel Liévin[1] (DVC)
Area 1	13.28 km2 (5.13 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	11,496
• Density	870/km2 (2,200/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	02173 /02300
Elevation	42–96 m (138–315 ft) (avg. 69 m or 226 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Chauny (French pronunciation: [ʃoni]) is a commune in the Aisne department^[3] in Hauts-de-France in northern France.

There has been a settlement on the site, more or less continuously, since at least the Carolingian era. Known variously as Calgny, Cauny, Canni, Calni or as Chaulni. In Latin, contemporary chroniclers and historians such as Flodoard, Guibert de Noyon/Nogent used at least 13 different names when referring to it; such as Calnacum, Calniacum, Cauniacum, Calviniacum and Channiacum.

Chauny, then a mere castle, served as a refuge for those fleeing the Vandal and Hunnic invasions of 407 and 451 respectively.

The town was occupied by German forces for part of World War I, and was close to the front lines for much of the war. It was extensively destroyed during the process of its recapture by Allied forces in 1917. It is disputed whether, or to what degree, the destruction was caused by Allied bombardments, aerial and artillery, versus demolition by retreating Germans.

The community was rebuilt after that war, largely in a traditional French "châteaux" style; in particular the municipal buildings, done in red brick with stonework. Most of the existing structures date from this time, or later; especially those in the town centre.

During World War II, a chemical factory in the town was bombed by Allied aircraft, on 8 August 1944. This was completed as part of an attack on industrial infrastructure. The town was liberated by American forces on 2 September 1944.

Built on the banks of the Oise and the Saint-Quentin canal, the town still retains its port to this day. Chauny is roughly equal distances from Soissons (34 km), Laon (36 km) and Saint-Quentin, Aisne (30 km) and is right at the heart of Picardy.

Chauny is well linked to the rest of the region by road : close to the A26 and A29 motorways which head towards Saint Quentin. The national airports in Paris are an hour by car.

The town is served by an important railway network and the railway line has passed through the town since 1849. The railway station in Chauny is part of the Paris - St Quentin - Maubeuge line, and is well serviced by Corail and TER trains towards Paris, Compiègne and Saint Quentin. The station was re built after the war to plans by Urbain Cassan.

The Saint-Quentin canal was built as a junction between the Somme and the Oise in 1738, is popular with barges.

A very modern theatre often shows cultural exhibitions and performances. Close by are the forests of Saint-Gobain and Coucy Basse.

The town today has three collèges and four lycées: there is a scientific, technical and professional lycée, Jean Macé, a general and technical lycée, Gay-Lussac, a private lycée, Saint-Charles, and a private agricultural lycée, Robert Schuman.

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Chauny is twinned with:^[5]

• Andenne, Belgium
• Bergheim, Germany

• 
  A view of the downtown in ruins on 20 August 1917 showing the destroyed Hôtel de Ville and Palais de Justice, among other core buildings; as shown on a war-charity art postcard painted by A. B. Denvil.
• 
  The rebuilt downtown including the new Palais de Justice, circa 1930s
• 
  View of downtown in the 1930s
• 
  The town square during a festival, with the "new" Hôtel de Ville
• 
  Train station
• 
  Église Notre-Dame de Chauny
• 
  Église Saint-Martin de Chauny
• 
  A basic map of Chauny and the surrounding area

• Communes of the Aisne department

• Local Bus Route Map

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chauny.

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (December 2008) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the French article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Chauny]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|fr|Chauny}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.