Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis

Montreuil

Montreuil panorama.jpg
Skyline of Montreuil
Montreuil map.svg
Paris and inner ring departments
Administration
Country France
Region Île-de-France
Department Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement Bobigny
Mayor Dominique Voynet
(2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation 52–117 m (171–384 ft)
(avg. 70 m/230 ft)
Land area1 8.92 km2 (3.44 sq mi)
Population2 102,889  (2006)
 - Density 11,535 /km2 (29,880 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 93048/ 93100
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Montreuil (sometimes unofficially called Montreuil-sous-Bois) is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.6 km (4.1 mi) from the center of Paris. It is the third most populous suburb of Paris (after Boulogne-Billancourt and Argenteuil). Montreuil is located near the Bois de Vincennes park.

Contents

Name

The name Montreuil was recorded for the first time in a royal edict of 722 as Monasteriolum, meaning "little monastery" in Medieval Latin. The settlement of Montreuil started as a group of houses built around this small monastery.

History

This city sheltered under the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XVI the "Peach Walls" which provided the royal court with the fruits. Later it sheltered the Lumière brothers and George Méliès in their workshops located in lower Montreuil.

On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighboring communes. On that occasion, the commune of Charonne was disbanded and divided between the city of Paris, Montreuil, and Bagnolet. Montreuil received a small part of the territory of Charonne.

Today Montreuil is divided into several districts:

Main artistic heritage

Heraldry

Arms of Montreuil

the arms of Montreuil are blazoned :
Azure, a chevron Or between 3 peach branches argent fructed Or, and in chief a fleur de lys Or.

Demographics

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Montreuil in 1999
Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France
73.1% 26.9%
Born in
Overseas France
Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants
2.3% 2.8% 4.8% 17.0%
¹This group is made up largely of pieds-noirs from Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France as of 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics.
²An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

Administration

The mayor of Montreuil is the Green Senator Dominique Voynet, who was elected on the second round of 2008 municipal elections, defeating the former ex-Communist mayor Jean-Pierre Brard.

Since 1984, the mayor of Montreuil had been Jean-Pierre Brard, a colourful ex-Communist who left few indifferent. His supporters point to the large amounts of good quality social housing and an active cultural policy. His critics point to harsh treatment of travellers and Roms, and a tendency to control all kinds of voluntary organizations around the city.

He caused particular controversy in 2004 and 2005 by his wishing to go further than the law banning ostentatious religious symbols in schools. He tried, with some success, to ban mothers wearing headscarves from accompanying school outings for example.

He has always been interested in fighting against what he terms "sects", but has also surrounded himself with some supporters who are very extreme in their opposition to the influence of religions.

The city is divided into three cantons :

Economy

The Air France Paris office (of Air France-KLM) is in Montreuil.[1][2][3]

Education

The commune's educational services are operated out of the Opale B Administrative Building.[4] Montreuil has eight collèges, three lycées, two lycées techniques, and the IUT of the University of Paris 8.[5]

The Montreuil Library (Bibliothèque de Montreuil) consists of the Robert-Desnos Central Library, the Daniel-Renoult Library, the Colonel-Fabien Library, and the Paul-Eluard Library.[6] Robert-Desnos, in a park near the commune's town hall, is the largest library in the commune. It houses a disco and internet access points.[7] Daniel-Renoult, near Montreau Park, serves the Montreau-Ruffins Théophile Sueur community.[8] Colonel-Fabien, in the Ramenas-Fabien-Léo Lagrange community, is near the Intercommunal Hospital.[9] Paul-Eluard is near the La Grande Porte shopping centre and is within 50 metres (160 ft) of the Robespierre Paris Metro station and Rue de Paris.[10]

Notable Residents

Transport

Streets in Montreuil.

Montreuil is served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 9: Robespierre, Croix de Chavaux, and Mairie de Montreuil.

See also

References

  1. "Contact Us." Air France-KLM ONE. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
  2. "AIR FRANCE office, Paris." Air France-KLM. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
  3. "Montreuil et 6 secteurs." Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
  4. "Inscrire son enfant à l'école." Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
  5. "Jeunesse (12-25 ans) > Enseignement." Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
  6. "Réseau." Montreuil Library. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
  7. "Robert-Desnos." Montreuil Library. Retrieved on 18 June 2010. "Située dans le parc près de la mairie, la bibliothèque centrale Robert Desnos est la plus grande de la ville. Elle abrite également une discothèque, et des postes d'accès à Internet."
  8. "Daniel-Renoult." Montreuil Library. Retrieved on 18 June 2010. "Tout près du Parc Montreau, la bibliothèque Daniel-Renoult irrigue le quartier Montreau Ruffins Théophile Sueur."
  9. "Colonel-Fabien." Montreuil Library. Retrieved on 18 June 2010. "Au coeur du quartier Ramenas-Fabien- Léo Lagrange, près du Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal,"
  10. "Paul-Eluard." Montreuil Library. Retrieved on 18 June 2010. "A deux pas du centre commercial La Grande Porte, à 50 m du métro Robespierre et de la rue de Paris."

External links