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Commune of Boulogne-Billancourt |
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| Location | |
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| Paris and inner ring départements | |
| Coordinates | |
| Administration | |
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| Country | France |
| Region | Île-de-France |
| Department | Hauts-de-Seine (sous-préfecture) |
| Arrondissement | Boulogne-Billancourt |
| Canton | Chief town of 3 cantons |
| Intercommunality | Communauté d'agglomération Val de Seine |
| Mayor | Pierre-Christophe Baguet (2008–2014) |
| Statistics | |
| Elevation | 28 m–40 m |
| Land area¹ | 6.17 km² |
| Population² (July 1, 2005 estimate) (March 8, 1999 census) |
110,300 106,367 |
| - Density | 17,877/km² (2005) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 92012/ 92100 |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| 2 Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel). | |
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Boulogne-Billancourt (often colloquially called simply Boulogne or Boulbi) is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 8.2 km. (5.1 miles) from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sous-préfecture of the Hauts-de-Seine département, being the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt.
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 recovered into business activities and is now home to major communication companies headquarters in the business district of the Val de Seine.
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Name
The original name of the commune was Boulogne-sur-Seine (meaning "Boulogne upon Seine").
In 1924, Boulogne-sur-Seine was officially renamed Boulogne-Billancourt, to reflect the development of the industrial neighbourhood of Billancourt annexed in 1860 (see history section below).
Before the 14th century, Boulogne was a small village called Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud (meaning "Menuls near 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 (northern France), then a famous pilgrimage center. 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 ("Our Lady of Boulogne the Minor"). Gradually, the village of Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud became known as Boulogne-la-Petite, and later as Boulogne-sur-Seine.
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 (meaning "friend, brother, kinsman"), thus having the meaning of "estate of Buolo".
History
On January 1, 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 (then called Boulogne-sur-Seine) 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 (including the area of Billancourt, which belonged to the disbanded commune of Auteuil).
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
Demographics
Immigration
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Demographic Evolution
| 1936 | 1954 | 1968 | 1975 | 1982 | 1990 | 1999 | 2005 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 97 379 | 93 998 | 109 008 | 103 578 | 102 582 | 101 743 | 106 367 | 110 300 |
Administration
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.
Miscellaneous
The headquarters of Renault lies in Boulogne-Billancourt.
The gardens Albert Kahn at 14, rue du Port, Boulogne-Billancourt are a national museum and include four hectares of gardens, joining together landscape scenes of various national traditions. The museum also includes historic photographs and film.
Births
Boulogne-Billancourt was the birthplace of:
- Pierre Bellemare, actor, writer
- Bertrand Blier (born March 14, 1939), screenwriter and film director; son of Bernard Blier
- Booba, MC
- Daniel Buren (born 1938), conceptual artist
- Guillaume Canet (born April 10, 1973), actor, screenwriter and director
- Leslie Caron (born 1931), film actress and dancer
- Benjamin Castaldi (born March 28, 1970), TV presenter and producer; son of actor Jean-Pierre Castaldi, former husband of fellow TV presenter Flavie Flament
- Mathieu Chedid (born December 21, 1971), composer, singer, guitarist; son of fellow singer and composer Louis Chedid and grandson of writer and poetess Andrée Chedid.
- Édith Cresson (born 1934), politician, former Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand's presidency
- Xavier de Roux (born 1940), politician
- Michel Deville (born April 13, 1931), screenwriter and film director
- Alain Feydeau (born July 21, 1934), actor
- Anna Gavalda (born 1970), best-selling novelist
- Hippolyte Girardot (born October 10, 1955), actor
- André Glucksmann (born 1937), political philosopher, writer
- Anne Goscinny (born May 19, 1968), daughter of comics-maker René Goscinny (Astérix), and writer Gilberte Goscinny
- David Hallyday, (born David Smet on August 14, 1962), composer, pop rock singer; son of singers Johnny Halliday (born Jean-Philippe Smet) and Sylvie Vartan, cousin of actress Laura Smet and actor Michael Vartan
- Henri Kagan (born 1930), chemist
- Sandrine Kiberlain (born February 25, 1968), actress; wife of fellow French actor Vincent Lindon
- Louise L. Lambrichs (born 1952), novelist and screenwriter
- Gérard Lanvin (born June 21, 1950), actor
- Corinne Lepage (born May 11, 1951), actress
- Marc Levy (born October 16, 1961), international best-sellers writer
- Thierry Lhermitte (born November 24, 1952), actor, co-writer (usually with the band of the Splendid), director, producer.
- Nelson Monfort (born March 12, 1954), TV presenter, translator, sports commentator for French public television.
- Roger Monteaux (born July 18, 1879), actor
- Bulle Ogier (born Marie-France Thielland on August 9, 1939), actress
- Claude Pinoteau, actor, director, writer, producer
- Jérôme Pradon (born June 3, 1964), stage actor
- Thierry Roland (born August 4, 1934), football specialist, sports journalist, TV commentator and presenter.
- Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (1845–1934), philanthropist and activist for Jewish affairs
- Véronique Sanson, singer
- Alain Sarde (born March 28, 1952), former actor, now writer and producer.
- Catherine Spaak (born April 3, 1945), actress
- Agnès Spaak (born April 29, 1944), actress
- Georgette Tissier (June 26, 1910–March 30, 1957 in Paris), actress
- Marie Trintignant (1962–2003), actress
- Gaspard Ulliel, (born November 25, 1984), actor, model
- Michael Vartan (born 1968), French-American actor
- Zazie (Isabelle de Truchis de Varennes, born 1964), singer-songwriter
Twin towns
Boulogne-Billancourt is twinned with:
- Since 1955:
- Since 1968:
- Since 1993:
In popular culture
The animated TV show Code Lyoko is reportedly set in Boulogne-Billancourt, according to comparison maps on Codelyoko.net.
External links
- Boulogne-Billancourt official website (French)
- History of Billancourt (French)
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