Asnières-sur-Seine


Asnières-sur-Seine is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies on the left bank of the River Seine, some eight kilometres from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital.

Name

Asnières-sur-Seine was originally known simply as Asnières. The name was recorded for the first time in a papal bull of 1158 – as Asnerias, from Medieval Latin asinaria, meaning "donkey farm". The poor soil of Asnières, where heather grew in medieval times, was probably deemed suitable only for the breeding of donkeys. By the early 20th century it had become a favourite boating centre for Parisians, and its industries included boat building.
On 15 February 1968 the commune was officially renamed Asnières-sur-Seine to distinguish it from other French communes also called Asnières.

Demographics

Immigration

Departmental representation

The commune is divided between two cantons :
– a major producer of cooking and table oils and part of the Avril Group – has its headquarters in Asnières.

Education

Public schools

:
include:

Public transport

Asnières-sur-Seine is served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 13: Gabriel Péri, Les Agnettes, and Les Courtilles, the last named being the terminus of the line.
Line 1 of the Île-de-France tramway also serves the metro station at Les Courtilles, connecting it to Noisy-le-Sec.
Trains on Lines J and L of the Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare suburban rail network call at Asnières-sur-Seine station, while those on Line L also serve Bois-Colombes station which lies just outside the western limit of the commune.
A number of bus routes – lines 140, 165, 175, 177, and 276 – run through Asnières and connect it to its neighbouring communes.

Roads

Car traffic in Asnières is difficult. Most of the traffic is on the banks of the Seine around the city. The crossing of the Asnières bridge is extremely crowded and slow during peak hours. The Grand rue Charles-de-Gaulle then the Avenue d'Argenteuil are also difficult to pass because serving Bois-Colombes and northern towns. Moreover, the city has very few parking spaces, and garages and private parking spaces are scarce and expensive.
Between 2010 and 2013, there was a development plan to change the streets of the city being one-way and become practicable in both directions for bicycles.

Sport

In addition to the Courtilles ice rink, the town has ten gyms, six stadiums, a shooting range, two tennis clubs, a skate park, a Parisian boules court and a swimming pool.
The Asnières Volley 92 participates in Ligue B and plays at the Courtilles gymnasium. The city also has a handball club in agreement with neighboring cities. For the 2017-2018 season, the first team evolves in Pool 2 in National 2. Finally, the city counts, with the Molosses, an American football club, created in 1992, evolving in Casque d'Or, 2-time vice-champion of France of D1.
A full-contact club, known as ABC is also managed by a coaching team composed with ex-France and European champions. Around 100 members take part in trainings three times a Week. The judo and jujitsu club Arts Martiaux d'Asnières uses several of the town's gyms.

Asnières in art

Georges Seurat

Bathers at Asnières by Georges Seurat depicts a scene of 19th century leisure and developing industry in this suburb of Paris.
Between 1884 and 1886 Seurat painted Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte, using a new technique – which came to be known as pointillism – of forming an image from patterns of tiny coloured dots.

Vincent van Gogh

made a series of paintings of Asnières. Influenced by impressionism and pointillism, he modified his traditional style and used vivid colour, shorter brushstrokes, and perspective to engage the viewer. His views of the banks of the Seine represent an important progression towards his later landscape paintings. In Asnières, within walking distance of his brother Theo's flat in Montmartre, van Gogh painted parks, cafés, restaurants, and the river.

Notable residents

The old château was the death place of Anne Marie Victoire de Bourbon, daughter of Henri Jules de Bourbon and thus grand daughter of le Grand Condé, cousin to Louis XIV.
Asnières was the birthplace of
The Franco-Irish composer and pianist George Alexandre O'Kelly died here in 1914.
The Hutu Rwandan businessman and suspected war criminal Félicien Kabuga was arrested here on 16 May 2020 after 26 years as a fugitive for crimes against humanity committed during the Rwandan genocide. Specifically, he is accused of funding the genocide as well as buying thousands of machetes and importing them into Rwanda for use as weapons to kill Tutsis during the genocide.

Local landmarks