Boulogne-Billancourt Explained

Boulogne-Billancourt
Commune Status:Subprefecture and commune
Image Coat Of Arms:Blason ville boulogne billancourt.svg
Map:Boulogne-Billancourt map.svg
Map Caption:Paris and inner ring departments
Coordinates:48.8352°N 2.2409°W
Arrondissement:Boulogne-Billancourt
Canton:Boulogne-Billancourt-1 and 2
Insee:92012
Postal Code:92100
Mayor:Pierre-Christophe Baguet[1]
Party:LR
Term:2020 - 2026
Intercommunality:Grand Paris
Elevation Min M:28
Elevation Max M:40
Area Km2:6.17

Boulogne-Billancourt (pronounced as /fr/; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, pronounced as /fr/) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located 8.20NaN0 from the centre of Paris. It is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and thus the seat of the larger arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt. It is also part of the Métropole du Grand Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt includes one island in the Seine: Île Seguin.

Boulogne-Billancourt is one of the wealthiest regions in the Parisian area and in France.[2] 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.

Etymology

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.

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 competitive shooting events of the 1900 Summer Olympics took place in Boulogne-Billancourt.[3]

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. Since then, Boulogne-Billancourt has been surrounded to the west, south and east by the Seine and to the north and north-east by the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

Boulogne-Billancourt is known for being the birthplace of three major French industries. It was the location, in 1906 for the very first aircraft factory, that of Appareils d'Aviation Les Frères Voisin,[4] which was then followed by those of many other aviation pioneers, and the tradition continues with several aviation related companies still operating in the area.

The automobile industry had a large presence with Renault on Île Seguin, as well as Salmson building both cars and aircraft engines. Finally, the French film industry started here and, from 1922 to 1992 it was the home of the Billancourt Studios, and since becoming a major location for French film production. It was used as the setting of the TV show Code Lyoko.

Urbanism

Administration

With the city of Sèvres, Boulogne-Billancourt is part of the 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.

Politics

Boulogne-Billancourt is represented by two constituencies and therefore two Members of Parliament.

ConstituencyMember[6] Party
Hauts-de-Seine's 9th constituencyEmmanuel PellerinLa République En Marche!
Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituencyClaire GuichardLa République En Marche!

Economy

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

Prior to 2000 Schneider Electric's head office was in Boulogne-Billancourt.[13]

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.[14] Prior to the September 1968 opening of Prévert, the first high school/sixth-form in Boulogne, an annex of Lycée La Fontaine served the city.[15]

The private school Groupe Scolaire Maïmonide 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.[16]

The Association Eveil Japon (エベイユ学園 Ebeiyu Gakuen), a supplementary Japanese education programme, is located in Boulogne-Billancourt.[17] A campus of the École supérieure des sciences commerciales d'Angers is also located in the city.

Notable people

Boulogne-Billancourt was the birthplace of:

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France. Boulogne-Billancourt is twinned with:[18]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Répertoire national des élus: les maires. data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 6 June 2023. fr.
  2. Web site: Salaire à Boulogne-Billancourt (92100, Hauts-de-Seine) . fr . JDN . 20 June 2016.
  3. Web site: 1900 Summer Olympics official report . 16 . 14 November 2010 . fr . La84foundation.org.
  4. Book: Davilla. James J.. Soltan. Arthur . French Aircraft of the First World War. Flying Machines Press. Mountain View, CA. 1997. 978-1891268090. 541.
  5. News: "Boulogne, le plus grand écoquartier de France". Samuel. Mikaëla. 13 September 2013. Le Figaro. 12 May 2017. fr-FR. 0182-5852.
  6. Web site: Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français. Assemblée nationale.
  7. Web site: Contact Us . Alcatel-Lucent. 18 March 2015.
  8. Web site: Boursorama – Siège Social, Adresse et Contact . business-directory.fr . 2 May 2012.
  9. Web site: Legal Infos . Carrefour . 3 May 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120430132155/http://www.carrefour.com/cdc/legal-infos/ . 30 April 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, [...]"
  10. Web site: FAQ . Pika Édition . 1 May 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110614222540/http://www.pika.fr/new/contact/faq . 14 June 2011 .
  11. Web site: Boulogne-Billancourt - RSAS . Renault . 22 September 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090923150325/http://www.renault.com/en/groupe/developpement-durable/fiches-sites/pages/boulogne.aspx . 23 September 2009 .
  12. Web site: Vallourec: Contact Us. Vallourec. 9 July 2017. 18 August 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170818072912/http://www.vallourec.com/hydrocarbonprocessing/EN/ContactUs/Pages/default.aspx. dead.
  13. Web site: Schneider-Electric s'est installé chez une filiale . fr . journaldunet.com . 8 July 2010.
  14. "L'ENSEIGNEMENT DU SECOND DEGRÉ" (Archive). Commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. Retrieved on 16 May 2014.
  15. "Naissance du lycée ." Lycée Jacques-Prévert. Retrieved on 9 September 2016.
  16. "L'ENSEIGNEMENT PRIVÉ" (Archive). Commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. Retrieved on 16 May 2014.
  17. "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 10 May 2014. "エベイユ Association Eveil Japon 27 rue de Serves 92100Boulogne-Billancourt, France"
  18. Web site: Jumelages. boulognebillancourt.com. Boulogne-Billancourt. fr. 12 November 2019. 16 April 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200416102646/https://www.boulognebillancourt.com/ma-ville/histoire-et-patrimoine/jumelage. dead.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Boulogne-Billancourt".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.