| Saint-Jean-du-Gard | |
| Commune Status: | Commune |
| Image Coat Of Arms: | Blason de la ville de Saint-Jean-du-Gard (30).svg |
| Arrondissement: | Alès |
| Canton: | La Grand-Combe |
| Intercommunality: | Alès Agglomération |
| Insee: | 30269 |
| Postal Code: | 30270 |
| Mayor: | Pierre Aiguillon[1] |
| Term: | 2023 - 2026 |
| Coordinates: | 44.1056°N 3.8869°W |
| Elevation M: | 189 |
| Elevation Min M: | 168 |
| Elevation Max M: | 817 |
| Area Km2: | 41.64 |
Saint-Jean-du-Gard (Occitan (post 1500);: Sant Joan de Gardonenca) is a commune in the Gard department in southern France.
This city of the Cévennes, first mentioned in a 12th-century papal bull (San Johannis de Gardonnenca cum villa), was very much influenced by Protestantism in the 16th century and became the Mecca of the camisards' resistance.
Thanks to the silk industry, the village experienced a period of prosperity that lasted from the 19th century to the 20th century. This city now owes much of its economy to tourism. A heritage railway runs from Saint-Jean-du-Gard to Anduze with a stop at the Bambouseraie de Prafrance, which attracts 150,000 tourists a year.
The Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson reached the town on 3 October 1878, as recounted in his book Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. Here he sold his donkey Modestine, and took a stagecoach to Alès:
The Robert Louis Stevenson Trail (GR 70), a popular long-distance path following Stevenson's approximate route, finishes in the town at a fountain built to commemorate Stevenson's arrival.[2]
Saint-Jean-du-Gard has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa). The average annual temperature in Saint-Jean-du-Gard is . The average annual rainfall is with November as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around, and lowest in January, at around . The highest temperature ever recorded in Saint-Jean-du-Gard was on 28 June 2019; the coldest temperature ever recorded was on 12 February 2012.
Augustine Soubeiran was born here in 1858 and she founded a school and a society in Sydney. Place Augustine Subeiran is named for her.[3]