Boulogne-Billancourt


Boulogne-Billancourt is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the western inner suburbs of Paris, France, located from the centre of Paris at Notre Dame. 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. 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.
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Etymology

The original name of the commune was Boulogne-sur-Seine.
Before the 14th century, Boulogne was a small village called Menuls-lès-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 centre 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. 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, thus having the meaning of "estate of Buolo".

History

In 1860, the city of Paris absorbed the territory of the former communes that were located inside the Thiers fortifications. On that occasion, the communes of Auteuil and Passy were disbanded and divided between Boulogne-Billancourt 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.
Some of the competitive shooting events of the 1900 Summer Olympics took place in Boulogne-Billancourt.
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, 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. In the mid 20th century, the company SNCAC had a manufacturing facility in Boulogne-Billancourt that was damaged by Allied bombing on 3 March 1942.
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

  • 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.
  • The Ambroise Paré Hospital is located in the city.

Administration

With the city of Sèvres, Boulogne-Billancourt is part of the Agglomeration communities in France 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.

Economy

Boulogne-Billancourt hosts the global headquarters of several multinational companies, including:
Prior to 2000 Schneider Electric's head office was in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Main sights

  • 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.
  • The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1934.

Education

The public collèges 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. 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.
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.
The Association Eveil Japon, a supplementary Japanese education programme, is located in Boulogne-Billancourt. 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

Boulogne-Billancourt is twinned with: