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The Plateau de Saclay (), also called Silicon Valley Européenne (in English, European Silicon Valley), is located north of
Essonne Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. It is bounded by the valley of the
Yvette Yvette (, ) is a feminine given name, the French feminine form of Yves (given name), Yves, which means Taxus, yew or archery, archer in some cases. Variations * Catalan language, Catalan: Ivet * Czech language, Czech: Yveta * Dutch language, ...
(''
Vallée de Chevreuse Vallée de Chevreuse (, ''Chevreuse Valley'') is the valley of the Yvette River in the Yvelines and Essonne departments. It encompasses the communes around Chevreuse (Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, Choisel, Dampierre-en-Yvelines, Dampierre, etc.) w ...
'') to the south and east, and the valley of the Bièvre to the north. It hosts world-class universities, engineering and management schools and research centers, such as
Paris-Saclay University Paris-Saclay University (, ) is a combined technological research institute and public research university in Orsay, France. Paris-Saclay was established in 2019 after the merger of four technical ''grandes écoles,'' as well as several technol ...
,
École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
,
ENSAE Paris ENSAE Paris, officially École nationale de la statistique et de l'administration économique de Paris (; "Paris National School of Statistics and Economical Management"), is a grande école in France and a member of IP Paris ( Institut Polytec ...
,
Telecom Paris Telecom may refer to: * Telecommunications ** A telecommunications company ** The telecommunications industry * Telecom Animation Film, a Japanese studio See also * Telcom (disambiguation) * Telekom (disambiguation) * List of telecommunication ...
, HEC,
ENSTA ParisTech The ENSTA Paris, officially École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées (; ), is a French graduate school of engineering (''école d'ingénieurs''). Founded in 1741, it is the oldest ''grande école'' in France. It is located in Palaisea ...
,
CentraleSupélec CentraleSupélec (, CS) is one of the most prestigious and selective grandes écoles in France and is a member of the graduate engineering school of Paris-Saclay University in Gif-sur-Yvette, France. It was established on 1 January 2015, as a ...
,
Agro ParisTech AgroParisTech (; officially ''Institut national des sciences et industries du vivant et de l’environnement'', or Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences)English naming according tEnglish brochure is a French h ...
, IOGS, IHES, CEA,
Inria The National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology (Inria) () is a French national research institution focusing on computer science and applied mathematics. It was created under the name French Institute for Research in Comp ...
,
Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock mark ...
research center, one
Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...
research facility, and national scientific instruments such as the
SOLEIL SOLEIL ("Sun" in French) is a synchrotron facility near Paris, France. It performed its first acceleration of electrons on May 14, 2006. The name ''SOLEIL'' is a backronym for ''Source Optimisée de Lumière d’Énergie Intermédiaire du LURE'' ...
synchrotron and the
NeuroSpin The CEA Paris-Saclay center is one of nine centers belonging to the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). Following a reorganization in 2017, the center consists of multiple sites, including the CEA Saclay site (formerly a ...
Project. In order to create an even more attractive campus, other engineering schools and high-value centers are planned:
EDF EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, their Belgian subsidiary * Environmental Defense Fund, ...
headquarters for instance.


Geography

The plateau is located about 165 meters above sea level. It is traversed by ditches that drain water. These works, as well as the ''étang de Saclay'', located near the town of
Saclay Saclay () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is best known for the large scientific facility CEA Saclay, mostly dealing with nuclear and particle physics. Population Inhabit ...
, were intended to supply water to Versailles Castle (and in particular its fountains). It includes the municipalities of
Gif-sur-Yvette Gif-sur-Yvette (, "Gif-on- Yvette") is a commune in southwestern Île-de-France, France. It is located in the Vallée de Chevreuse, from the centre of Paris (at Notre-Dame), in the Essonne department on the departmental border with Yvelin ...
(''Quartier de Moulon''),
Orsay Orsay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. A fortifie ...
,
Palaiseau Palaiseau () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Palaiseau is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Palaiseau. Palaiseau was a royal doma ...
,
Saclay Saclay () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is best known for the large scientific facility CEA Saclay, mostly dealing with nuclear and particle physics. Population Inhabit ...
, Saint-Aubin,
Vauhallan Vauhallan () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. Population Inhabitants of Vauhallan are known as ''Vauhallanais'' in French. See also *Communes of the Essonne department The following is a list o ...
, Villiers-le-Bâcle in the department of
Essonne Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.Toussus-le-Noble Toussus-le-Noble () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. History In 1969, the communes of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble were separated from the Essonne department and added to Yvelin ...
, Châteaufort, Les Loges-en-Josas and Buc in
Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles ( new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen ...
(''plateau de Villaroy'').


Ponds and ditches

When, from 1670,
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
built his Versailles Castle, he asked Le Nôtre to create a sumptuous park enlivened by a myriad of fountains, waterfalls and ponds. Necessary to bring the water to
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
,
Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...
put out two major projects: * The ''
Machine de Marly The Machine de Marly (), also known as the Marly Machine or the Machine of Marly, was a large hydraulic system in Yvelines, France, built in 1684 to pump water from the river Seine and deliver it to the Palace of Versailles.Thompson 2006, p. ...
'' was supposed to pump up the waters of the
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
to the ''Plaine de
Louveciennes Louveciennes () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, between Versailles (city), V ...
''. * Collection and storm water drainage from
Trappes Trappes () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yvelines departments of France, department, Île-de-France Regions of France, region, Northern France. It is a banlieue located in the western outer suburbs of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, c ...
and
Saclay Saclay () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is best known for the large scientific facility CEA Saclay, mostly dealing with nuclear and particle physics. Population Inhabit ...
via channels. It is a hydraulic system with a unique set of ponds all connected by 200 km of open ditches spread over 13000 hectares (32000 acres ), which was created to supply the fountains of Versailles Castle by mere gravity. On the ''plateau de Saclay'', six ditches, including the Saint-Aubin ditch, the Favreuse ditch and the Corbeville ditch, feed the old pond ''étang Vieux'' (37 hectares (91 acres)) and the new pond ''étang Neuf'' (33 hectares (81 acres)) near Saclay with a capacity of approximately 1.6 million m³.


Economics / Urban

The ''plateau de Saclay'' has a long agricultural tradition. However, it became an important center of education, scientific research and research and development after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and especially since the 1960s. Many ''
grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...
'' and research centers are located on the plateau, and it is anticipated that the
campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...
becomes one of the most important in Europe in the coming years. Municipalities are part of the plateau agglomeration communities: * the ''
Communauté d'agglomération Paris-Saclay The ''Communauté d'agglomération'' ''Paris-Saclay'' ''(or CPS)'' is an administrative entity in the Essonne département, near Paris. The administrative center is Orsay.Villiers-le-Bâcle,
Saclay Saclay () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is best known for the large scientific facility CEA Saclay, mostly dealing with nuclear and particle physics. Population Inhabit ...
,
Vauhallan Vauhallan () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. Population Inhabitants of Vauhallan are known as ''Vauhallanais'' in French. See also *Communes of the Essonne department The following is a list o ...
, Igny, Saint-Aubin,
Orsay Orsay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. A fortifie ...
,
Palaiseau Palaiseau () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Palaiseau is a sub-prefecture of the Essonne department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Palaiseau. Palaiseau was a royal doma ...
,
Bures-sur-Yvette Bures-sur-Yvette (, "Bures-on- Yvette") is a commune in the Essonne department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is a southern Parisian outer suburb in the Vallée de Chevreuse, with a population of 9,254 as of 2021. Geograp ...
,
Gif-sur-Yvette Gif-sur-Yvette (, "Gif-on- Yvette") is a commune in southwestern Île-de-France, France. It is located in the Vallée de Chevreuse, from the centre of Paris (at Notre-Dame), in the Essonne department on the departmental border with Yvelin ...
,
Gometz-le-Châtel Gometz-le-Châtel () is a commune in the Essonne department of France. It is a southern suburb of Paris, 25 km from the center of Paris. Geography This village is near Les Ulis, Bures-sur-Yvette, Gif-sur-Yvette and Gometz-la-Ville, alon ...
... * the ''Communauté d'agglomération Versailles Grand Parc'' : Buc,
Jouy-en-Josas Jouy-en-Josas () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is located in the southwestern outer suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris, on the departmental border with Essonne. Jouy- ...
, Les Loges-en-Josas,
Toussus-le-Noble Toussus-le-Noble () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. History In 1969, the communes of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble were separated from the Essonne department and added to Yvelin ...
, Bièvres ... It is crossed from north to south by the ''
Route nationale 118 Route nationale 118 is now a French route nationale from Sèvres to Les Ulis. History The route was created in 1972. It takes the place of route nationale 187 between Sèvres and Meudon, Meudon la Forêt, of the route nationale 306 between Sacla ...
'', the axis
Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...
-
Les Ulis Les Ulis () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department, from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris, France. A planned community, it comprises outer suburbs (banlieues) built in the 1970s on the southwestern ...
. It is not directly served by the RER, but the RER lines B and C respectively serve the ''
Vallée de Chevreuse Vallée de Chevreuse (, ''Chevreuse Valley'') is the valley of the Yvette River in the Yvelines and Essonne departments. It encompasses the communes around Chevreuse (Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, Choisel, Dampierre-en-Yvelines, Dampierre, etc.) w ...
'' and the valley of the Bièvre, surrounding the plateau. Within the framework of the project "''
Grand Paris The Metropolis of Greater Paris (, ),There is an English translation. also known as Greater Paris, is a ''métropole'' covering the Paris, City of Paris and its nearest surrounding suburbs that was created from Sarkozy's renovation of the city. ...
''", the final scheme adopted on 26 May 2011 by the ''Société du Grand Paris'' concerning the transport network ''Grand Paris Express'' provides an automated metro line linking
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
('' Gare de Versailles-Chantiers'') to the
Paris-Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (, ) is one of two international airports serving Paris, France, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris. It serves as a seconda ...
via the ''plateau de Saclay''. Réseau de transport public du Grand paris
/ref> The Skytrain project raises, however, hostility of the population.


''Le Quartier de Moulon''

The '' Quartier de Moulon'' is the south-eastern part of the ''Saclay Plateau'', located in the municipalities of
Gif-sur-Yvette Gif-sur-Yvette (, "Gif-on- Yvette") is a commune in southwestern Île-de-France, France. It is located in the Vallée de Chevreuse, from the centre of Paris (at Notre-Dame), in the Essonne department on the departmental border with Yvelin ...
and
Orsay Orsay () is a Communes of France, commune in the Essonne Departments of France, department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. A fortifie ...
. This is another place for research and
higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...
('' Campus d'Orsay'').


History

Recent work on the ''plateau'' by archaeologists from Inrap and
CNRS The French National Centre for Scientific Research (, , CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 staff, including 11,137 tenured researchers, 13,415 eng ...
show the presence of an almost continuous occupation since the first
Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...
. A
Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...
is located on the site of Moulon. In 2006, a Gallic village was discovered on the ''plateau de Moulon''. It was probably composed of one hundred members:
artisans An artisan (from , ) is a skilled worker, skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by handicraft, hand. These objects may be wikt:functional, functional or strictly beauty, decorative, for example furnit ...
,
farmers A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mi ...
and
ranchers A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to li ...
. The ferme d'Orsigny (Orsigny farm) (resulting from the combination of two working farms) occupies the site of an ancient Gallo-Roman (''Orsiniacum'') villa, which itself followed a
Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...
settlement. The site was reoccupied by the
Merovingians The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...
after its destruction by fire. From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, Orsigny was refounded by the monks of
Saint-Germain-des-Prés Saint-Germain-des-Prés () is one of the four administrative quarters of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France, located around the church of the former Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Its official borders are the River Seine on the nor ...
. It became, in the sixteenth century, a hamlet around a farm belonging to the family Mérault, which managed to establish an area of 256 hectares, divided later. In 1644, the hamlet was depopulated, an heiress of Mérault donated the domain to the
congregation of the mission The Congregation of the Mission (), abbreviated CM and commonly called the Vincentians or Lazarists, is a Catholic Church, Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Vincent de Paul. It is associated with the Vin ...
of St. Vincent de Paul. It reached the area of 345 hectares in 1670. In 1789, the church property was nationalized and sold to Parisians.


See also

*
Paris-Saclay Paris-Saclay is a research-intensive and business cluster currently under construction in the south of Paris, France. It encompasses research facilities, two French major universities with higher education institutions (''grandes écoles'') and ...


References

{{coord, 48.74, 2.17, display=title
Saclay Saclay () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is best known for the large scientific facility CEA Saclay, mostly dealing with nuclear and particle physics. Population Inhabit ...
Landforms of Essonne Landforms of Yvelines Paris-Saclay Landforms of Île-de-France