Lausanne

Lausanne (/loʊˈzæn/ loh-ZAN, US also /loʊˈzɑːn/ loh-ZAHN;[3][4][5][6] French: [lɔzan] ⓘ; Arpitan: Losena [lɔˈzəna] ⓘ)[a] is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French-speaking canton of Vaud, in Switzerland.Lausanne is located (as the crow flies) 51.7 kilometres (32 miles) northeast of Geneva, the nearest major city.[9] The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland convenes in Lausanne, although it is not the de jure capital of the nation.The municipality of Lausanne has a population of about 140,000, making it the fourth largest city in Switzerland after Basel, Geneva, and Zurich, with the entire agglomeration area having about 420,000 inhabitants (as of January 2019).[10] The metropolitan area of Lausanne-Geneva (including Vevey-Montreux, Yverdon-les-Bains, Valais and foreign parts), commonly designated as Arc lémanique was over 1.3 million inhabitants in 2017 and is the fastest growing in Switzerland.[11] Initially a Celtic and Roman settlement on the shores of the lake, Lausanne became a town at the foot of Notre Dame, a cathedral built in the 12th century.[15] The Romans built a military camp, which they called Lousanna, at the site of a Celtic settlement, near the lake where Vidy and Ouchy are situated; on the hill above was a fort called Lausodunon or Lousodunon (The "-y" suffix is common to many place names of Roman origin in the region (e.g.) Prilly, Pully, Lutry, etc.).[8] After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, insecurity forced the residents of Lausanne to move to its current centre, a hilly site that was easier to defend.Finally, in 1275, the Lausanne Cathedral was consecrated in the presence of Pope Gregory X and King Rudolf I of Germany.Official persecution ended in 1787; a faculty of Protestant theology was established at Montauban in 1808, and the Lausanne seminary was finally closed on 18 April 1812.From the 1950s to 1970s, a large number of Italians, Spaniards and Portuguese immigrated to Lausanne, settling mostly in the industrial suburb of Renens.While under the care of a psychiatrist at Lausanne, T. S. Eliot composed most of his 1922 poem The Waste Land ("by the waters of Leman I sat down and wept").In fact, many creative people – such as historian Edward Gibbon and Romantic era poets Shelley and Byron – have sojourned, lived, and worked in Lausanne or nearby.[21] The city has been traditionally quiet, but in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a series of demonstrations took place that exposed tensions between young people and the police.In the early 1980s, the Lôzane Bouge protests demanded the city "open an autonomous centre, lower cinema ticket prices, liberalise cannabis and end the process of keeping records on homosexuals, all accompanied by leaflets, chants, and songs in the street".[24][25] The most important geographical feature of the area surrounding Lausanne is Lake Geneva (Le Léman in French).Lausanne is built on the southern slope of the Swiss plateau, with a difference in elevation of about 500 metres (1,640 ft) between the lakeshore at Ouchy and its northern edge bordering Le Mont-sur-Lausanne and Épalinges.In addition to its generally southward-sloping layout, the centre of the city is the site of an ancient river, the Flon, which has been covered since the 19th century.The municipality includes the villages of Vidy, Cour, Ouchy, Mornex, Chailly, La Sallaz, Vennes, Montblesson, Vers-chez-les-Blanc, Montheron and Chalet-à-Gobet (871 m (2,858 ft)) as well as the exclave of Vernand.Lausanne is located at the limit between the extensive wine-growing regions of Lavaux (to the east) and la Côte (to the west).The municipality (la Municipalité) constitutes the executive government of the City of Lausanne and operates as a collegiate authority.In the mandate period 2021–2026 (la législature) the Municipality is presided by le Syndic Grégoire Junod.Directoral tasks, coordination measures and implementation of laws decreed by the Communal Council are carried by the Municipality.[39] The last election of the Communal Council was held on 7 March 2021 for the mandate period (la législature) from 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2026.The metro and local buses are operated by Transports publics de la région lausannoise (TL), with many routes run using trolleybuses.Ships across Lake Geneva are provided by the Compagnie Générale de Navigation sur le lac Léman (CGN).Additionally, the entire old city of Lausanne and the Vernand-Dessus region are listed in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.Cycling is also a common pastime, with the vineyards in the surrounding hills providing extensive views and challenging routes.[citation needed] There is an annual Track and field meeting (Athletissima), road running through the city (the 20 km (12 mi) of Lausanne), the Tour de Romandie road cycling race, Marathon of Lausanne and triathlon competition, among other sports events.Local International Lausanne hosts the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and many other international sport associations: In March–April 2015, the negotiations on Iran nuclear deal framework for a comprehensive agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme took place at the Beau-Rivage Palace, where the foreign ministers and delegations from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, China, France, the European Union, Germany (P5+1) and Iran were also hosted.