Beauvais

Beauvais lies at the foot of wooded hills on the left bank of the Thérain at its confluence with the Avelon. Its ancient ramparts have been destroyed, and it is now surrounded by boulevards, outside which run branches of the Thérain. In addition, there are spacious promenades in the north-east of the town.

In the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville and in the old streets near the cathedral there are several houses dating from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. The hotel de ville, close to which stands the statue of Jeanne Hachette, was built in 1752. The episcopal palace, now used as a court-house, was built in the sixteenth century, partly upon the Gallo-Roman fortifications.

Birthplace of the mathematician Henri Lebesgue. In measure-theoretic analysis and related branches of mathematics, Lebesgue-Stieltjes integration generalizes Riemann-Stieltjes and Lebesgue integration, preserving the many advantages of the latter in a more general measure-theoretic framework.

The industry of Beauvais comprises, besides the state manufacture of tapestry, which dates from 1664, the manufacture of various kinds of cotton and woollen goods, brushes, toys, boots and shoes, and bricks and tiles. Market-gardening flourishes in the vicinity and an extensive trade is carried on in grain and wine.