Boulogne-Billancourt

For other places known as Boulogne, see Boulogne (disambiguation).
Boulogne-Billancourt

The church of Our Lady of Boulogne-Billancourt

Coat of arms

Paris and inner ring départements
Coordinates: 48°50′07″N 2°14′27″E / 48.83520°N 02.2409°E / 48.83520; 02.2409Coordinates: 48°50′07″N 2°14′27″E / 48.83520°N 02.2409°E / 48.83520; 02.2409
Country France
Region Île-de-France
Department Hauts-de-Seine
Arrondissement Boulogne-Billancourt
Intercommunality Val de Seine
Government
 • Mayor (2008–2020) Pierre-Christophe Baguet
Area1 6.17 km2 (2.38 sq mi)
Population (2012)2 117,126
 • Density 19,000/km2 (49,000/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 92012 / 92100
Elevation 28–40 m (92–131 ft)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Boulogne-Billancourt (French pronunciation: ​[bu.lɔɲ.bi.jɑ̃.kuʁ]; often colloquially called simply Boulogne) is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.2 km (5.1 mi) from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt.

With an average household income of €30 561 Boulogne-Billancourt is the wealthiest among French communes of more than 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Paris.[1]

Boulogne-Billancourt is the most populous suburb of Paris and one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. Formerly an important industrial site, it has successfully reconverted into business services and is now home to major communication companies headquartered in the Val de Seine business district.

Name

The original name of the commune was Boulogne-sur-Seine (meaning "Boulogne upon Seine").

Before the 14th century, Boulogne was a small village called Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud (meaning "Menuls near Saint-Cloud"). In the beginning of the 14th century, King Philip IV of France ordered the building in Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud of a church dedicated to the virgin of the sanctuary of Boulogne-sur-Mer, then a famous pilgrimage center in northern France. The church, meant to become a pilgrimage centre closer to Paris than the distant city of Boulogne-sur-Mer, was named Notre-Dame de Boulogne la Petite ("Our Lady of Boulogne the Minor"). Gradually, the village of Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud became known as Boulogne-la-Petite, and later as Boulogne-sur-Seine.

In 1924, Boulogne-sur-Seine was officially renamed Boulogne-Billancourt to reflect the development of the industrial neighbourhood of Billancourt annexed in 1860 (see history section below).

As for the name Billancourt, it was recorded for the first time in 1150 as Bullencort, sometimes also spelled Bollencort. It comes from Medieval Latin cortem, accusative of cors, meaning "enclosure", "estate", suffixed to the Germanic patronym Buolo (meaning "friend, brother, kinsman"), thus having the meaning of "estate of Buolo".

History

On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighbouring communes. On that occasion, the communes of Auteuil and Passy were disbanded and divided between Boulogne-Billancourt (then called Boulogne-sur-Seine) and the city of Paris. Boulogne-sur-Seine received a small part of the territory of Passy, and about half of the territory of Auteuil (including the area of Billancourt, which belonged to the disbanded commune of Auteuil).

Some of the shooting events of the 1900 Summer Olympics took place in Boulogne-Billancourt.[2]

In 1929, the Bois de Boulogne, which was hitherto divided between the communes of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine, was annexed in its entirety by the city of Paris. On that occasion, Boulogne-Billancourt, to which most of the Bois de Boulogne belonged, lost about half of its territory.

Boulogne-Billancourt is famous for being the birthplace of three major French industries: cinema, automobile with Renault, and aircraft. It is also famous for being the setting of the TV show Code Lyoko.

Administration

With the city of Sèvres, Boulogne-Billancourt is part of the communauté d'agglomération Val de Seine.

Transport

Boulogne-Billancourt is served by two stations on Paris Métro Line 10: Boulogne – Jean Jaurès and Boulogne – Pont de Saint-Cloud.

It is also served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 9: Marcel Sembat, Billancourt, and Pont de Sèvres.

Economy

Boulogne-Billancourt hosts the global headquarters of several multinational companies, including:

Prior to 2000 Schneider Electric's head office was in Boulogne-Billancourt.[7]

Main sights

Education

The public collèges (middle schools) in the commune include Jacqueline-Auriol, Bartholdi, Paul-Landowski, and Jean-Renoir. The public high schools are the Lycée Jacques-Prévert and the Lycée polyvalent Étienne-Jules-Marey.[8]

The private school Rambam covers maternelle through lycée. There is also the private high school Notre-Dame. The latter's performance and ranking in Boulogne-Billancourt are given by its success of baccalaureate rate in different series. According to the ranking of L'Express in 2015, the national rank of Notre-Dame de Boulogne was 170 out of 2301 and 7 out of 52 at department level. The private schools Dupanloup and Saint-Joseph-du-Parchamp serve maternelle through collège. Private maternelle and élémentaire schools include Saint-Alexandre and Saint-François d’Assise. Jardin de Solférino and La Maison de l'Enfant are private maternelles.[9]

The Association Eveil Japon (エベイユ学園 Ebeiyu Gakuen), a supplementary Japanese education program, is located in Boulogne-Billancourt.[10]

Famous people

Boulogne-Billancourt was the birthplace of:

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Boulogne-Billancourt is twinned with:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "List of French cities of more than 100.000 inhabitants by wealth" (in French). Linternaute.com. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
  2. ↑ "1900 Summer Olympics official report" (PDF) (in French). La84foundation.org. p. 16. Retrieved November 14, 2010.
  3. ↑ "Contact Us". Alcatel-Lucent. Retrieved March 18, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Legal Infos". Carrefour. Retrieved May 3, 2012. "This site is published by Carrefour, a limited company (société anonyme) capitalised at €1,698,340,000, headquartered at 33, avenue Émile Zola, 92100 Boulogne Billancourt, [...]"
  5. ↑ "FAQ". Pika Édition. Retrieved May 1, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Boulogne-Billancourt - RSAS". Renault. Retrieved September 22, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Schneider-Electric s'est installé chez une filiale" (in French). journaldunet.com. Retrieved July 8, 2010.
  8. ↑ "L'ENSEIGNEMENT DU SECOND DEGRÉ" (Archive). Commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. Retrieved on 16 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "L'ENSEIGNEMENT PRIVÉ" (Archive). Commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. Retrieved on 16 May 2014.
  10. ↑ "欧州の補習授業校一覧（平成25年4月15日現在）" (Archive). Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Retrieved on May 10, 2014. "エベイユ Association Eveil Japon 27 rue de Serves 92100Boulogne-Billancourt ,France"
  11. ↑ "British towns twinned with French towns [via WaybackMachine.com]". Archant Community Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
  12. ↑ "Ra'anana: Twin towns & Sister cities - Friends around the World". raanana.muni.il. Retrieved 24 March 2010.

External links

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