Boulogne-Billancourt


Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs, and from the centre, of the French capital Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt.

Status

With an average household income in 2013 of €47,592, nearly twice the French average of €25,548, Boulogne-Billancourt is one of the wealthiest cities in France.
Boulogne-Billancourt is the most populous suburb of Paris and one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe. 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.

Name

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 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. 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

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 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 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.
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 Freres 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.
The automobile industry had a large presence with Renault on Île Seguin, and 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

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

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 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 program, 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:

Twin towns — sister cities

Boulogne-Billancourt is twinned with: