Saint-Lo Stadium

Saint-Lo (US: /sã ˈloʊ, seɪnt -, sənt -/,French: [sɛ̃ lo] (listen)) is a commune in north-western France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy.

Although it is the second largest city of Manche after Cherbourg, it remains the prefecture of the department. It is also chef-lieu of an arrondissement and two cantons (Saint-Lo-1 and Saint-Lo-2). The placename derives from that of a local saint, Laud of Coutances.

The commune has 18,931 inhabitants who are called Saint-Lois(es). The names of Laudois(es), Laudien(ne)s or Laudinien(ne)s are also cited. A martyr city of World War II, Saint-Lo was decorated with the Legion of Honour in 1948 and was given the nickname "Capital of the Ruins", a phrase popularised by Samuel Beckett.

History

Saint-Lo has long been an important centre of the economy of Normandy. It has attracted the covetousness of neighboring nations, including England, resulting in many successive invasions. It lost its dominant position towards the end of the 19th century because it failed to take advantage of the first Industrial Revolution, which instead affected much of the predominantly peasant population. However, the decentralisation policy allowed the city to return to the foreground.

Briovere

Originally called Briovera (meaning "Bridge on the Vire River" in Gaulish) (often written in French as Briovere), the town is built on and around ramparts. The town started life as a Gallic fortified settlement, occupied by the tribe of the Unelli of Cotentin. Briovere was conquered by the Romans led by Quintus Titurius Sabinus in 56 BC, after the defeat of their leader Viridovix at Mont Castre. Roman peace led the development of Gallo-Roman rural areas, on the model of the Roman villae rusticae as in Canisy, Marigny and Tessy-sur-Vire, whose names are based on the suffix -i-acum, of location of Celtic origin *-i-ako-, and often composed with a Latin personal name, carried by a Gallo-Roma