Saintes is a city of the south-west of France, located in the department of the Charente-Maritime and the Poitou-Charentes area. It counts 26.401 inhabitants, in the middle d' an urban surface estimated at 55.834 inhabitants.
Capital of the province of Saintonge under the Ancien Régime, it is indicated like prefecture of the department of Charente-Inférieure at the time of the territorial reorganization of 1790, before being finally supplanted by La Rochelle in 1810. Become the one of the five ( today four) sub-prefectures of the department, it sees growing its economic influence at the beginning of the XX century when the city is selected like sits of VIIIe district of the railroads of the State.
Equipped by an important Gallo-Roman, medieval and traditional unit patrimonial, Saintes are affiliated with the domestic network of the cities and countries of the art and the history since 1990. Important economic and tourist pole of the department of the Charente-Maritime, the city is also re-elected for its cultural life, materialized by the presence of several museums and d' a European practice and musical research center established in the middle of the abbey.