Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis

Montreuil
Skyline of Montreuil
Paris and inner ring departments
Location within Île-de-France region  Montreuil
Administration
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement	Bobigny
Mayor	Dominique Voynet (Les Verts) (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 without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 48°51′40″N 2°26′37″E / 48.8611111111°N 2.44361111111°E / 48.8611111111; 2.44361111111

Montreuil (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃.tʁœj], 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.

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:

• Le bas Montreuil (which joins together the old workshops (bordering on Saint-Mandé), the marché aux puces (bordering on Paris, carries of Montreuil),
• The Mairie (town hall) (the malls, la croix de Chavaux, the mairie, and the church),
• La noue (parc des Guilands, city of du Val, Robespierre, bordering on Bagnolet),
• Le Bel Air (Jean Moulin housing estate, park des Beaumonts, city of Bel Air, city of Grand Pechers),
• La Boissière (all the north of Montreuil, bordering on Noisy-le-Sec, Rosny-sous-Bois and Fontenay-sous-Bois).

Main artistic heritage

• Decorations (ceramics and frescoes) in the state school "Voltaire" by Maurice Boitel (1954).

Heraldry

The herald arms of Montreuil is coloured as follows : Azur-coloured base, one gold-coloured chevron between three golden peach branches , and in center top a golden Fleur-de-lis .

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.

Streets in Montreuil

The city is divided into three cantons :

• The canton of Montreuil-Est (East): 33,730 inhabitants (37.2%);
• The canton of Montreuil-Nord (North): 28,436 inhabitants (31.4%);
• The canton of Montreuil-Ouest (West): 28,508 inhabitants (31.4%).

Economy

Ubisoft has its corporate head office in Montreuil.^[1] The Air France Paris office (of Air France-KLM) is in Montreuil.^[2][3][4]

Education

The commune's educational services are operated out of the Opale B Administrative Building.^[5] Montreuil has eight collèges, three lycées, two lycées techniques, and the IUT of the University of Paris 8.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.^[8] Daniel-Renoult, near Montreau Park, serves the Montreau-Ruffins Théophile Sueur community.^[9] Colonel-Fabien, in the Ramenas-Fabien-Léo Lagrange community, is near the Intercommunal Hospital.^[10] Paul-Eluard is near the La Grande Porte shopping centre and is within 50 metres (160 ft) of the Robespierre Paris Métro station and Rue de Paris.^[11]

Notable residents

• Djamel Abdoun, Algerian footballer who played at the 2010 FIFA World Cup
• Oumar Bakari,footballer
• Olivier Dacourt,footballer
• Cyril Eboki Poh,footballer
• Luigi Glombard,footballer
• Quentin Othon,footballer
• Ralph Petty Founder of the Combes Gallery in Paris, Associate Professor of Fine Arts at the American University of Paris
• Mamadou Samassa (goalkeeper born 1990), footballer
• Oumar Sissoko,footballer
• Abel Thermeus,footballer
• Steven Thicot,footballer

Transport

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

See also

• Hornec gang

References

1. ^ "World Presence France." Ubisoft. Retrieved on 20 August 2011. "Worldwide Headquarters 28 rue Armand Carrel 93 108 Montreuil Cedex "
2. ^ "Contact Us." Air France-KLM ONE. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
3. ^ "AIR FRANCE office, Paris." Air France-KLM. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
4. ^ "Montreuil et 6 secteurs." Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
5. ^ "Inscrire son enfant à l'école." Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
6. ^ "Jeunesse (12-25 ans) > Enseignement." Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
7. ^ "Réseau." Montreuil Library. Retrieved on 18 June 2010.
8. ^ "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."
9. ^ "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."
10. ^ "Colonel-Fabien." Montreuil Library. Retrieved on 18 June 2010. "Au coeur du quartier Ramenas-Fabien- Léo Lagrange, près du Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal,"
11. ^ "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."

• INSEE

External links

• Official website (French)