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. Its inhabitants are called Compiégnois.
Compiègne is home to the University of Technology of Compiègne (UTC), an engineering school founded in the mid-1970s to provide an alternative to the traditional “grandes écoles” for students interested in technical fields. The UTC has a strong international students program known as Esperanto, and hosts students from around the world.
The Glade of the Armistice in the Compiègne Forest was the site of the signing of two armistices; the 1918 Armistice with Germany and the 1940 Armistice with France. Hitler specifically chose the location, and had the original signing carriage moved from Paris to Compiègne, as an irony for the defeated French. The site still houses several memorials to the 1918 armistice, including a copy of the original railway carriage. The original, after use in the 1940 armistice was moved to Berlin as a trophy of Nazi triumph. The railway carriage was later taken to Crawinkel in Thuringia in 1945. A replica now stands at the original site.
The Castle of Compiègne is a royal residence built for Louis XV and restored by Napoleon. Compiègne was one of three seats of royal government, the others being Versailles and Fontainebleau. It is located in Compiègne in the Oise département, and open to the public. Even before the château was constructed, Compiègne was the preferred summer residence for French monarchs, primarily for hunting given its proximity to Compiègne Forest. The first royal residence was built in 1374 for Charles V and a long procession of successors both visited it and modified it. Louis XIV resided in Compiègne some 75 times. Louis XV was perhaps even more favorably impressed; the Comte de Chevergny described his infatuation: “Hunting was his main passion… and Compiègne, with its immense forest, with its endless avenues amongst the trees, with its stretches down which you could ride all day and never come to the end, was the ideal place to indulge that passion.”
