Roubaix
Encyclopedia
Roubaix is a commune
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Nord department in northern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. It is located between the cities of Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

 and Tourcoing
Tourcoing
Tourcoing is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Nord.Tourcoing is situated near the cities of Lille and Roubaix and the Belgian border.-Main sights:...

.

The Gare de Roubaix
Gare de Roubaix
Gare de Roubaix is a railway station serving the town Roubaix, Nord department, northern France.-Services:-References:*...

 railway station offers connections to Lille, Tourcoing, Antwerp, Ostend and Paris.

Culture

Notable is La Piscine art gallery
La Piscine (museum of art and industry)
La Piscine is a museum of art and industry, located in the city of Roubaix in France. It is more formally known as La Piscine-Musée d'Art et d'Industrie André Diligent or Le musée d'Art et d'Industrie de la ville de Roubaix, but its common name derives from the fact that it is housed in a former...

, which, as the name implies, is located in the old municipal swimming pool.
Discobolos (international artist Wim Delvoye
Wim Delvoye
Wim Delvoye is a Belgian neo-conceptual artist known for his inventive and often shocking projects. Much of his work is focused on the body. He repeatedly links the attractive with the repulsive, creating work that holds within it inherent contradictions- one does not know whether to stare, be...

's) is the first work of modern art, ordered by the inhabitants, with the Comité de quartier de l'Hommelet, an association of citizens.

Sport

Roubaix is the finish of the Paris–Roubaix cycling classic from Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...

 to Roubaix over 259.5 km, which includes almost 50 km of cobbles.

One of the longest distance walking races in the world also takes place each year in Roubaix. Since 1953 the televised 'Roubaix 28 hours' regularly sees elite endurance athletes from dozens of countries aiming to complete the longest distance possible within the 28 hour time limit. The current record is over 255 kilometres, with many each year completing more than 200 km.

Notable people

Roubaix was the birthplace of:
  • Bernard Arnault
    Bernard Arnault
    Bernard Arnault is a French business magnate who is best known as the chairman and CEO of the French conglomerate LVMH. According to Forbes Magazine, Arnault is the world's 4th and Europe's richest person, with a 2011 net worth of US$41 billion.-Education and business career:Arnault was born...

     (born 1949), businessman
  • Étienne Chatiliez
    Étienne Chatiliez
    Étienne Chatiliez is a French film director. He was born in Roubaix, France.After starting out directing many advertising clips, he is now a well-known director of feature-length films with some success.- Filmography :...

     (born 1952), film director
    Film director
    A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

  • David Coulibaly
    David Coulibaly
    David Coulibaly is a Malian football player. He currently plays for AC Arles, on loan from Tours FC.-External links:*-l'équipe.fr...

     footballer
  • Georges Delerue
    Georges Delerue
    Georges Delerue , was a French film composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. He won numerous important awards including Rome Prize , Emmy Award , Genie Award , ACE Award and Academy Award for Best Original Score in 1979 for A...

     (1925–1992), film
    Film
    A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

     composer
    Composer
    A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

     who worked on over 300 films
  • Jean Desbouvrie
    Jean Desbouvrie
    Jean Desbouvrie was a French amateur bird trainer who believed that swallows could be put to use for military communications. During the late 19th century Desbouvrie persuaded the government of France to conduct a study on the feasibility of using swallows as messengers...

     (c. 1840-1847 - ?) inventor and bird tamer
  • Arnaud Desplechin
    Arnaud Desplechin
    Arnaud Desplechin is a French film director.-Biography:Arnaud Desplechin is the son of Robert and Mado Desplechin, and grew up in the Nord department...

     (born 1960) - film director
    Film director
    A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

  • Yero Dia
    Yero Dia
    Yero Dia is a French football player who currently plays in Greece for Levadiakos.-External links:** * **...

     footballer
  • Léon Mathot
    Léon Mathot
    Léon Mathot was a French film actor and film director best known perhaps for playing Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo film serial in 1918....

     (1886–1968) - French film actor and director
  • Martial Mbandjock
    Martial Mbandjock
    Martial Mbandjock is an a French sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres. His personal best time is 10.06 seconds, achieved in July 2008 in Albi....

     athlete
  • Pierre Pflimlin
    Pierre Pflimlin
    Pierre Eugène Jean Pflimlin was a French Christian democratic politician who served as the penultimate Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic for a few weeks in 1958, before being replaced by Charles de Gaulle during the crisis of that year.-Life:...

     (1907–2000), Christian Democratic politician who served as the last Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic
    French Fourth Republic
    The French Fourth Republic was the republican government of France between 1946 and 1958, governed by the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Third Republic, which was in place before World War II, and suffered many of the same problems...

  • Viviane Romance (1912–1991), actress
  • Daouda Sow
    Daouda Sow
    Daouda Sow is an amateur boxer from France. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the lightweight division.-Boxing career:...

     boxer
  • Maxence Van Der Meersch
    Maxence Van Der Meersch
    Maxence Van der Meersch was a French Flemish writer, who was born on 4 May 1907 in Roubaix, and died on 14 January 1951 in Le Touquet, where he had gone to be treated for tuberculosis.-Life:...

     (1907–1951) writer
  • Michel Breistroff
    Michel Breistroff
    Michel Breistroff was a French professional ice hockey defenceman.Breistroff was born in Roubaix, France. A graduate in anthropology from Harvard University, he died at 25 in the crash of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, New York. He was playing professional ice hockey for French league team Ducs...

     (1971–1996) hockey player
  • Arnaud Tournant
    Arnaud Tournant
    Arnaud Tournant is a French track cyclist. He has won 14 World Championships and won a gold, silver and a bronze at the Summer Olympics.-Biography:...

     (1978) track cyclist

Twin towns — Sister cities

Roubaix is twinned
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with: Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach , formerly known as Münchengladbach, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine half way between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border....

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, since 1969 Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Covilhã
Covilhã
Covilhã is a city in Covilha Municipality in Centro region, Portugal. The city proper has 36,723 inhabitants, and the municipality has an area of 555.6 km² with a total population of 53,501, being composed of 31 parishes. It is located in the Cova da Beira subregion, in the district of...

, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 Bouïra
Bouira
Bouïra is the capital of Bouïra Province, Algeria.-Demographics:It has 75,086 inhabitants as of the 1998 census, which gives it 15 seats in the PMA.-Geography:...

, Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

  Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...

, Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 Prato
Prato
Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Sosnowiec
Sosnowiec
Sosnowiec is a city in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in southern Poland, near Katowice. It is one of the central districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropolis with a combined population of over two million people located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Brynica river .It is situated in...

, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...


External links

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