Quesailles
| Quesailles | |
|---|---|
 The Avenue Adrien IV, on the right bank, looking east toward the Summer Palace | |
| Country |  Savam |
| State |  Dordanie |
| First settlement | Neolithic age |
| Capital of Dordanie | 1461 |
| Capital of the Savamese Empire | 1798 |
| Government | |
| • Region | Quesailles-Capital |
| • Chancellor | XX |
| Population (2012) | |
| • Metro | 14,209,528 |
| For the whole Quesailles-Capital Region | |
Quesailles is the capital and largest city of Savam. It is situated on the Gaste river, in western Dordanie (for which it is also the state capital), in the Basse-Gaste region. Quesailles metropolitan area is the largest population centre in Savam and one of the largest in Northern Messenia, with 14 million inhabitants.
Quesailles has been settled since the neolithic age and was an important city of the Sabāmani Civilisation (known as Quercetum), although it was overshadowed in most of Antiquity by Taurive and Sévinne. It only started to rise to preeminence under the Third Sabamani Empire, for which it was the capital under the Domitian dynasty in the 7th and 8th centuries. Quesailles overtook Sévinne as Dordanie's most important city after the Post-Secote Rebound. The city grew considerably with industrialisation, and remains to this day one of the world's industrial, business and cultural centres.
Geography & climate
Quesailles is located at the point where the Gaste river comes closer to the highlands of the Massif Cardussien. The city's western half rises sharply from the low-lying plains of western Dordanie, with a highest-point at 628 metres above sea level within the city limits, compared to the eastern bank that have an average altitude of 40 metres. The western bank (in Savamese la rive gauche, the left bank) has many hills (18 according to the traditional count) that rise progressively the further west one goes; the highest hill, Montrouge, is located 12 km from the Gaste. A number of smaller hills (50 to 80 metres above the river's average level) are located immediatly against the Gaste banks. The eastern bank (la rive droite, the right bank) is by comparison extremely flat.
The flat areas on the western bank around the city's historic core used to be marshy, but have been drained since the Sabāmanian time. The hills and the eastern banks used to be heavily forested, some woodland have survived as parkland in the outer hills.
Quesailles' climate is a temperate maritime-influenced continental climate, as the city marks approximately the southern limit of maritime influence in the Dordanian plains. Most of it is protected from dominant westerly winds by the western bank highlands, leading to somehow reduced precipitations compared to the plains. Summers are hot, with occasional storms, and winters are cold with regular snowfalls; persistent snow coverage is often present from Conservene to early Metrial.
Points of interest
At the core of Quesailles metropolitan area is the ancient city of Quesailles (Quercetum), located on the western bank around the 3 "old hills" that flanks the Gaste. Immediatly north of the hills, at the core of the Sabāmanian city, lies the ancient Forum, which is still used for large-scale public gatherings. The Forum's vicinity and the northern-most old hill, the Colline du Temple, abounds in Sabāmanian ruins and monuments (notably the famous Sabamanian Baths and the circus), which are now integrated in the medieval city. Atop the Colline du Temple is the ancient Cairan temple complex of the Quesailles nexus, including the Sainte-Édith Temple and the Sanctuary of the Eaux-vives (an acquaviterium). The medieval city spreads further south, encompassing the two other old hills, atop of which seats the Haut-Palais palace and the Forteresse du Redon fortified castle; the Haut-Palais is used as a museum since the 1920s. The former medieval walls were torn down in the late 19th century and replaced with the circling wide Boulevard de la Ceinture.
West of the old city, the many hills of the Massif Cardussien are covered with residential areas, including many high-income neighbourhoods filled with small manors built in the 19th and 20th centuries and popular with architectural tourists. Several hills summits have been augmented with ornate lookout points, while the Montcaro hill (487 m) hosts a 2,000 years-old Cairan sanctuary, the Rosario Sanctuary (a focarium). Five kilometres north of the Forum is the Grand jardin public, a 27 hectares park and Quesailles' oldest public park. Close by, on the Gaste bank, are the Halles, the former central meat and produce market which typical late 1900s riveted steel structure now hosts restaurants, cafés and cultural precincts. Immediately south of the Halles, one will find the 17th century campus of the Cairan University of Quesailles, built between 1673 and 1679 to accommodate the university's enrolment growth, surrounded by a 20 hectares parkland (the university's medieval campus, from the late 1300s, is still in use in the medieval city, Boulevard Pierre Disault). Further north, set in a large flat area lying between the hills and the Gaste, is Quesailles's Central Business District and its many high-rise buildings; the CBD is known in Savamese as the quartier d'affaires but is often referred to by the old name of the local neighbourhood, Visseau. The CBD hosts the corporate headquarters of most of the largest Savamese corporations, including aristocratic dynastic corporations and colonial corporations. The highest skyscraper in Quesailles is the Tour Frantelle, which rises to 419 metres and is topped by a Cairan beacon.
The central eastern bank of the Gaste is known as the Flessandre District, for it was the first major expansion to Quesailles undertaken under the Flessandre dynasty starting in the very last years of the 16th century. However, most of it was completed in the 17th century, and provides an excellent example of some of the first systematic application of Cairon Engineering to urban planning and unified architectural design. The area has many important monuments and buildings, such as the Saint-Valérien Temple with its towering 135-metres-high beacon, the Nouveau Parlement, that was built to house Quesailles parliament in the 1650s, and the Grande Arche built for the foundation of the Savamese Empire. Immediately east and south of the Flessandre District one can find the crescent-shaped Saint-Jules-Belai neighbourhood, which was largely urbanised in the late 19th century in the midst of Quesailles industrialisation. It is famous for its architectural homogeneity, limestone facades and sculpted iron balconies.
It also hosts many government institutions, either federal or local, such as the Palais de Parloys, the seat of the Viceroy of Savam, or the Palais National which houses the Assembly of Commons. The Saint-Jules-Belai area is bisected by the Avenue Adrien IV, a famous landmark in the city and upscale shopping sector; at the avenue's eastern end is the complex of the Palais d'été, the current residence of the Emperor of the Savamese. The palace borders the Jardins impériaux, a 68 hectares popular parklands complex that also includes the Quesailles zoo, which opened to the public in 1843.
The most industrialised area of Quesailles is the Gaste eastern bank's north, centred around the city's fluvial port. The port is also the location where the Northern Génestre-Gaste Canal joins with the Gaste river. There are also heavy industries location, such as steal-mills, scattered principally in the eastern outskirts, close to railways or canals nodes. South of the central eastern city there is a second, smaller CBD, the Quartier de la Bourse, centred around the new complex of the Quesailles Stock Exchange (the original QSE building is located in the Flessandre District). The highest skyscraper in the Bourse district is the 299-metres Tour CCN (the headquarters of the Compagnie coloniale nationale). Near the city's southern limits is a district of modern high-rise residential buildings on both side of the rivers, centred around the Paul Heltier Bridge, referred to as the Ville-nouvelle (the new town). The area is home to upper-middle and upper class populations and has also became over the past decade know as one of Quesailles' nightlife centre (not necessarily with the inhabitants' blessing). Lower and middle-class residential areas extends for several kilometres away from the centre on the city's eastern outskirts. The Philippe-Victor de Flexbourg Airport marks the city's extreme boundaries to the south-east, 34 km away from the city's core.
Economy
Governance
Quesailles is governed as a special region in the administrative framework of Dordanie. Until 1983, when regions were created in Dordanie, the Quesailles metropolitan area was spread over three prefectures and 36 communes, including the commune of Quesailles itself. Between 1983 and 1990 a process of rationalisation was undertaken to simplify the city's administrative framework; while the three prefectures were retained, each communes within them were fused together and a new region was created including these prefectures, the Quesailles-Capital Region. The three prefecture-communes perform the usual duties of normal prefectures and communes at the same time and have a single governmental structure, with an elected council which chancellor that also acts as prefect (a unique status in Dordanie). On top of that, the Quesailles-Capital region as its own elected council and its president, referred to as Chancellor, is in effect known elswhere as Quesailles' mayor.