Bougival is a commune in the Yvelinesdepartment in the Île-de-Franceregion in north-central France. It is located from the center of Paris, in its western suburbs. As the site where many of the French Masters painted country scenes along the Seine, the village today hosts a series of six historical placards, known as the "Impressionists Walk," at locations from which the noted painters depicted the scenes of Bougival. Bougival is also noted as the site of the Machine de Marly, a sprawling, complicated hydraulic pumping device that began supplying the massive quantity of water required by the fountains at Palace of Versailles in the late 17th century. Considered one of the foremost engineering accomplishments of its era, the cacophonous, breakdown-prone apparatus comprised fourteen waterwheels driven by the current of the Seine — in turn powering more than 250 pumps, delivering water up a 500-foot vertical rise through a series of pumping stations, holding tanks, reservoirs, pipes and mechanical linkages. In use until 1817, the machine was subsequently updated, replaced with another pumping building in 1858 and finally replaced by an electrical generator in 1963. The building itself remained until 1968. Remnants are visible today at the riverbank. In Bougival, Georges Bizet composed the opera Carmen at his home at Rue Ivan Tourguenievf on the Seine and noted Russian novelist and playwright Ivan Turgenev built a dacha, Les Frênes. A local monument commemorates the Montgolfier brothers, pioneers of flight, and the commune hosts the annual Festival of Bougival et des Coteaux de Seine.
History
In the 19th century, Bougival emerged as a fashionable suburb of Paris. Pauline Viardot had a villa there, as did her paramour Ivan Turgenev, who died in the town in 1883. Bougival was also known as the "Cradle of Impressionism" during the Belle Époque. Painters Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Sisley among others painted the light, sky, and water of this area. Alexandre Dumas, fils set parts of his novelThe Lady of the Camellias in Bougival. The Junior division of the British School of Paris was located in Bougival up until 2008. Prior to the English School, it was a Catholic all-girls school called Marymount in the 1960s. It was reported that the Germans occupied the estate during World War II, along with the nuns that lived there, due to the estate's vantage point of the Seine River. :fr:Rennequin Sualem|Rennequin Sualem
Transport
Bougival is served by Bougival station on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazaresuburban rail line. This station is located at the border between the commune of Bougival and the commune of La Celle-Saint-Cloud, on the La Celle-Saint-Cloud side of the border. Two multiple locks on the River Seine are located in Bougival.
There is a private school, Ecole privée Sainte-Thérèse/Collège privée Sainte Thérèse, that goes from preschool through junior high school level 3e. Nearby public secondary schools: Junior high schools:
