Boulogne-Billancourt (French pronunciation: [bulɔɲ bijɑ̃kuʁ] ; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, [bulɔɲ syʁ sɛn]) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located 8.2 km (5 mi) 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
La Seine Musicale on Île Seguin in the Seine
Coat of arms of Boulogne-Billancourt
Paris and inner ring departments
Paris and inner ring departments
Location of Boulogne-Billancourt
Map
Boulogne-Billancourt is located in France
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt is located in Île-de-France (region)
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt
Coordinates: 48°50′07″N 2°14′27″E / 48.83520°N 02.2409°E / 48.83520; 02.2409
CountryFrance
RegionÎle-de-France
DepartmentHauts-de-Seine
ArrondissementBoulogne-Billancourt
CantonBoulogne-Billancourt-1 and 2
IntercommunalityGrand Paris
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Pierre-Christophe Baguet[1] (LR)
Area
1
6.17 km2 (2.38 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
119,808
 • Density19,000/km2 (50,000/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
92012 /92100
Elevation28–40 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.

Boulogne-Billancourt is one of the wealthiest regions in the Parisian area and in France.[3] 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

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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

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Church of Our Lady of Boulogne

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.[4]

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,[5] 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.

Demographics

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Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1793 3,600—    
1800 2,481−5.18%
1806 2,378−0.70%
1821 3,266+2.14%
1831 5,323+5.01%
1836 5,993+2.40%
1841 6,906+2.88%
1846 7,847+2.59%
1851 7,602−0.63%
1856 11,378+8.40%
1861 13,944+4.15%
1866 17,343+4.46%
1872 18,965+1.50%
1876 21,556+3.25%
1881 25,825+3.68%
1886 30,084+3.10%
1891 32,569+1.60%
1896 37,418+2.81%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901 44,416+3.49%
1906 49,969+2.38%
1911 57,027+2.68%
1921 68,008+1.78%
1926 75,559+2.13%
1931 86,234+2.68%
1936 97,379+2.46%
1946 79,410−2.02%
1954 93,998+2.13%
1962 106,641+1.59%
1968 109,008+0.37%
1975 103,578−0.73%
1982 102,582−0.14%
1990 101,743−0.10%
1999 106,367+0.50%
2007 111,045+0.54%
2012 117,126+1.07%
2017 120,071+0.50%
Source: EHESS[6] and INSEE (1968-2017)[7]

Urbanism

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Neighbourhoods in Boulogne-Billancourt:
  Parchamp – Albert Kahn
  Les Princes – Marmottan
  Silly – Galliény
  Centre-Ville
  Billancourt – Rives de Seine
  République – Point du Jour
  • The ecologic neighbourhood of the Trapèze in Boulogne-Billancourt: the district stands on 74 hectares and will be able to house up to 18,000 inhabitants at the end of its construction. 65% of the district's energy is brought by geothermal power, which heats and freshens the buildings. Solar panels and a vegetable greenhouse were installed in the aim to link the district to sustainable energies. Bicycle and "soft" travels will of course be put first to reduce the pollution caused by cars, as well as other vehicles which do not run on electricity.[8]
  • The Ambroise Paré Hospital is located in the city.

Administration

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

Transport

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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

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

Constituency Member[9] Party
Hauts-de-Seine's 9th constituency Emmanuel Pellerin La République En Marche!
Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency Claire Guichard La République En Marche!

Economy

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

Prior to 2000 Schneider Electric's head office was in Boulogne-Billancourt.[16]

Main sights

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Musée Albert-Kahn
  • The Musée Albert-Kahn at 14, Rue du Port, Boulogne-Billancourt is a national museum and includes four hectares of gardens, joining landscape scenes of various national traditions. The museum also includes historic photographs and film.
  • The Musée des Années Trente is a museum of artistic and industrial objects from the 1930s.

Education

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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.[17] 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.[18]

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.[19]

The Association Eveil Japon (エベイユ学園 Ebeiyu Gakuen), a supplementary Japanese education programme, is located in Boulogne-Billancourt.[20] A campus of the École supérieure des sciences commerciales d'Angers is also located in the city.

Notable people

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Boulogne-Billancourt was the birthplace of:

International relations

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Boulogne-Billancourt is twinned with:[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 6 June 2023.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ "Salaire à Boulogne-Billancourt (92100, Hauts-de-Seine)" (in French). JDN. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
  4. ^ "1900 Summer Olympics official report" (PDF) (in French). La84foundation.org. p. 16. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  5. ^ Davilla, James J.; Soltan, Arthur (1997). French Aircraft of the First World War. Mountain View, CA: Flying Machines Press. p. 541. ISBN 978-1891268090.
  6. ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Boulogne-Billancourt, EHESS (in French).
  7. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  8. ^ Samuel, Mikaëla (13 September 2013). ""Boulogne, le plus grand écoquartier de France"". Le Figaro (in French). ISSN 0182-5852. Retrieved 12 May 2017.
  9. ^ "Assemblée nationale ~ Les députés, le vote de la loi, le Parlement français". Assemblée nationale.
  10. ^ "Contact Us". Alcatel-Lucent. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  11. ^ "Boursorama – Siège Social, Adresse et Contact". business-directory.fr. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
  12. ^ "Legal Infos". Carrefour. Archived from the original on 30 April 2012. Retrieved 3 May 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, [...]"
  13. ^ "FAQ". Pika Édition. Archived from the original on 14 June 2011. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  14. ^ "Boulogne-Billancourt - RSAS". Renault. Archived from the original on 23 September 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  15. ^ "Vallourec: Contact Us". Vallourec. Archived from the original on 18 August 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2017.
  16. ^ "Schneider-Electric s'est installé chez une filiale" (in French). journaldunet.com. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
  17. ^ "L'ENSEIGNEMENT DU SECOND DEGRÉ" (Archive). Commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. Retrieved on 16 May 2014.
  18. ^ "Naissance du lycée Archived 2016-09-18 at the Wayback Machine." Lycée Jacques-Prévert. Retrieved on 9 September 2016.
  19. ^ "L'ENSEIGNEMENT PRIVÉ" (Archive). Commune of Boulogne-Billancourt. Retrieved on 16 May 2014.
  20. ^ "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"
  21. ^ "Jumelages". boulognebillancourt.com (in French). Boulogne-Billancourt. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
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