Vevey
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| Vevey | ||||||||||
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| Population | 16,435 (2003) | |||||||||
| - Density | 6,877 /km² (17,810 /sq.mi.) | |||||||||
| Area | 2.39 km² (0.9 sq mi) | |||||||||
| Elevation | 383 m (1,257 ft) | |||||||||
| Postal code | 1800 | |||||||||
| SFOS number | 5890 | |||||||||
| Mayor | Laurent Ballif | |||||||||
| Surrounded by | Corseaux, Corsier-sur-Vevey, La Tour-de-Peilz, Saint-Légier-La Chiésaz | |||||||||
| Twin towns | Müllheim (Germany), Carpentras (France) | |||||||||
| Website | www.vevey.ch | |||||||||
  Vevey
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Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva., not far from Lausanne. It was historically known as Viviscus. It was mentioned for the first time by the ancient Greek astronomer and philosopher Ptolemy, who gave it the name Ouikos.
It is the seat of the district of the same name. It is part of the French-speaking area of Switzerland.
It is bordered on the west by the River Veveyse and to the east by the River Oyonnaz.
Vevey is the site of the world headquarters (but not fiscal HQ) of the food giant Nestlé, founded here in 1867.
Some of the notable people who lived in Vevey have been:
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss writer and philosopher
- Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian painter
- Bruno Hoffmann, German glass harp player
- Victor Hugo, French poet and writer
- Percy Scholes, English musician and writer
- Graham Greene, British writer (Corsier-sur-Vevey)
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian novelist
- Edouard Jeanneret Le Corbusier, Swiss architect
- Charlie Chaplin, British director and actor (Corsier-sur-Vevey)
- James Mason, actor, (Corsier-sur-Vevey)
- Henryk Sienkiewicz, Polish writer
- Henri Nestlé, founder of Nestlé
- John Pierpont Morgan, American financier
- Edmond Ludlow, general and politician in Oliver Cromwell's government and enemy of King Charles I
- Thabo Sefolosha, basketball player for the Chicago Bulls
- Peter Cowie, film historian
- Claude Nicollier, first Swiss astronaut
- Henry Philip Tappan, first President of the University of Michigan
- Olga Baclanova, Russian-born actress.
The Confrérie des Vignerons (Brotherhood of Winegrowers) organises the Winegrowers' Festival (Fête des Vignerons) four or five times each century (one per generation) to celebrate its wine-growing traditions and culture. On those occasions an arena for 16,000 spectators is built in the marketplace — the Grande Place, which is the second-biggest marketplace in Europe, after Lisbon, Portugal).
The festivals date from the 18th century; the last five were in 1905, 1927, 1955, 1977 and 1999.
[edit] Market
The town is also known for its large biweekly market. The summer edition known as Marché Folklorique is very popular, with the large Grand Place square, located right on the lake, is covered on Saturdays with stalls of grocers, butchers, farmers and local people who sell produce and jams.
[edit] External links
- Vevey.ch (French)
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