1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bar-sur-Aube

BAR-SUR-AUBE, a town of north-eastern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Aube, 34 m. E. by S. of Troyes on the main line of the Eastern railway between that town and Belfort. Pop. (1906) 4276. Bar-sur-Aube lies at the foot of hills on the right bank of the Aube at its confluence with the Bresse. A circle of boulevards occupies the site of the old ramparts, fragments of which still remain. Of the ecclesiastical buildings, the most noteworthy are St Pierre and St Maclou, both dating mainly from the end of the 12th century. St Pierre has wooden exterior galleries and two fine Gothic porches. The sacristy of St Maclou is conjectured to have formed the chapel of the castle of the counts of Bar, of which the square tower flanking the north side of the church formed the entrance. The town is the seat of a sub-prefect, and the public institutions include a tribunal of first instance and a communal college. Flour-milling, tanning, and the manufacture of brandy, hosiery and agricultural implements are carried on. The wine of the district is much esteemed.

Traces of a Roman settlement have been found on hills to the south of the town. Under the domination of the counts of Champagne, it became the scene of important fairs which did not cease till 1648. In 1814 several actions between the French and the army of the allies took place at Bar-sur-Aube (see Napoleonic Wars).