Limoges vs Caen

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Limoges (, also US: , French: [limɔʒ] (listen); Occitan: Lemòtges, locally Limòtges [liˈmɔdzes]) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region in west-central France. Situated on the first western foothills of the Massif Central, Limoges is crossed by the Vienne River, of which it was originally the first ford crossing point. The second most populated town in the New Aquitaine region after Bordeaux, a university town, an administrative centre and intermediate services with all the facilities of a regional metropolis, its has an urban area of 283,557 inhabitants in 2016, making it the sixth in South-West France and the 38th in the whole country.The inhabitants of the city are called the Limougeauds. Founded around 10 BC under the name of Augustoritum, it became an important Gallo-Roman city. In the Middle Ages Limoges becomes a large city, strongly marked by the cultural influence of the Abbey of Saint-Martial, within the Duchy of Aquitaine, whose dukes are invested and crowned in this city. From the 12th century onwards, its enamels were exported throughout the Christian world. In 1765, during the industrial revolution, the discovery of a deposit of kaolin in the Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche region enabled the development of the Limoges porcelain industry, which would make Limoges world-famous.

Sometimes nicknamed "the red city" or "the Rome of socialism" because of its tradition of voting on the left and the workers' events it experienced from the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century. Since the 1990s, the city has also been associated with its basketball club, Limoges CSP, which has won several French championships and the European championship in 1993. Because of its heritage policy, it has held the label "City of Art and History" since 2008. A city with a tradition of butchery, home to one of the world leaders in electrical equipment for the building industry, it is also well positioned in the luxury goods industry. Known and recognised as the "capital of the arts of fire" because of the ever-present presence of the great porcelain houses, its art workshops working with enamel or stained glass. This specificity has led it to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2017 in the thematic category "Crafts and Popular Arts".

Source: Wikipedia

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Caen (, French: [kɑ̃] (listen); Norman: Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 108,365 inhabitants (as of 2012), while its urban area has 420,000, making Caen the largest city in former Lower Normandy. It is also the third largest municipality in all of Normandy after Le Havre and Rouen and the third largest city proper in Normandy, also after Rouen and Le Havre. The metropolitan area of Caen, in turn, is the second largest in Normandy after that of Rouen, the 21st largest in France. It is located 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) inland from the English Channel, 200 kilometres (120 miles) north-west of Paris, and connected to the south of England by the Caen (Ouistreham) to Portsmouth ferry route.

Caen is located in the centre of its northern region, and it is a centre of political, economic and cultural power. Located a few miles from the coast, the landing beaches, the bustling resorts of Deauville and Cabourg, as well as Norman Switzerland and Pays d'Auge, Caen is often considered the archetype of Normandy. Caen is known for its historical buildings built during the reign of William the Conqueror, who was buried there, and for the Battle for Caen, heavy fighting that took place in and around Caen during the Battle of Normandy in 1944, destroying much of the city. The city has now preserved the memory by erecting a memorial and a museum dedicated to peace, the Mémorial de Caen.

Source: Wikipedia