Montivilliers

Montivilliers
The abbey cloisters
Montivilliers
Location within Upper Normandy region Montivilliers
Coordinates: 49°32′49″N 0°11′20″E / 49.5469°N 0.1889°E / 49.5469; 0.1889Coordinates: 49°32′49″N 0°11′20″E / 49.5469°N 0.1889°E / 49.5469; 0.1889
Country	France
Region	Upper Normandy
Department	Seine-Maritime
Arrondissement	Le Havre
Canton	Montivilliers
Intercommunality	Le Havre
Government
• Mayor (2008–2015)	Daniel Petit
Area¹	19.09 km² (7.37 sq mi)
Population (2006)²	16,451
• Density	860/km² (2,200/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	76447 / 76290
Elevation	2–94 m (6.6–308.4 ft) (avg. 8 m or 26 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.

Montivilliers is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.

Geography

A large light industrial and farming town by the banks of the river Lézarde in the Pays de Caux, situated just 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Le Havre, at the junction of the D489, D52, D926 and D31 roads.

History

Pre-Roman archaeological discoveries include Bronze Age axes and jade jewelry. The old Roman road from here to Harfleur was destroyed by the English in 1415.
The Abbey Church of Notre-Dame, sometimes referred to as 'Montvilliers Abbey' dates back to 684, although it was destroyed a Viking raid in 850, and rebuilt as a church in both the Romanesque and Gothic styles.

Heraldry

	The arms of Montivilliers are blazoned : Gules, a church argent, the door open, and the bell tower pierced of the field, topped with the head of a crozier Or, between 2 inescutcheons of France, and in base a lizard fesswise vert. (France=Azure, 3 fleurs-de-lys Or)

Population

Population history
1962	1968	1975	1982	1990	1999	2006
8427	8910	10,563	15,030	17,067	16,556	16,451
Starting in 1962: Population without duplicates

Places of interest

The nineteenth-century chateau de Colmoulins.
The church of St.Germain, dating from the fourteenth century.
The abbey church of Notre-Dame, dating from the eleventh century.
The abbey museum
A Protestant church (1787)
The medieval ramparts.
The Arboretum du parc de Rouelles is an arboretum set within the Parc de Rouelles.

People

René Bihel, French footballer was born here in 1916.
Sébastien Lepape, short track speed skater, born here in 1991.^[1]
Jean Prévost, writer, lived here when his father was principal of a local school.