Bobigny () is a commune, or town, in the northeastern suburbs of Paris,

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...

, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Bobigny is the

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

(capital city) of the

Seine-Saint-Denis () is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobig ...

department, as well as the seat of the

Arrondissement of Bobigny The arrondissement of Bobigny is an arrondissement of France in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in the Île-de-France region. It has 9 communes. Its population is 431,444 (2019), and its area is . Composition The communes of the arrondissement ...

. It is the 11th most populous ''commune'' in Seine-Saint-Denis (2019). Inhabitants are called ''Balbyniens''. Bobigny is the seat of the Seine-Saint-Denis prefecture. The first

IKEA IKEA (; ) is a Dutch multinational conglomerate based in the Netherlands that designs and sells , kitchen appliances, decoration, home accessories, and various other goods and home services. Started in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA has been ...

store in France was located in this commune.

Transport

Bobigny is served by two stations on Paris Métro Line 5: Bobigny – Pantin – Raymond Queneau and Bobigny – Pablo Picasso. It can also be reached from the outer terminus of Paris Métro Line 7 at La Courneuve.

Economy

Valeo Valeo is a French global automotive supplier headquartered in France, listed on the Paris Stock Exchange ( CAC-40 Index). It supplies a wide range of products to automakers and the aftermarket. The Group employs 113,600 people in 33 countries wo ...

has management branches (Valeo Transmissions group and Valeo Friction Materials group) here. It was also the manufacturing base used by

Meccano Meccano is a brand of model construction system created in 1898 by Frank Hornby in Liverpool, England. The system consists of reusable metal strips, plates, angle girders, wheels, axles and gears, and plastic parts that are connected using nut ...

for French '' Dinky Toys'' from 1933 until 1970, when the factory was closed and later demolished. Production of Dinky Toys was then transferred to the Meccano factory in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

until 1972, when the last new model, a Renault 4 la poste, was produced.

Toponymy

Its name is derived from Roman-period ''Balbiniacum'', "the place of Balbo or Balbinus or Balbinius"; or "of the dumb or silent man/men" (

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

Irish Gaelic Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was th ...

''balbh'' = "dumb, silent").

History

During World War II, approximately 20,000 Jews were shipped from a railway station in Bobigny. Their ultimate destinations were the Nazi camps.

Population

List of mayors

Education

The commune has 14 public preschools (''écoles maternelles''), 15 public elementary schools, four public junior high schools, three public senior high schools/sixth-form colleges, and one private school.Scolarité et enseignements
" Bobigny. Retrieved on 4 September 2016. * Junior high schools: Collège Auguste Delaune, Collège Jean-Pierre Timbaud, Collège Pierre Sémard, and Collège République et SEGPA
" Bobigny. Retrieved on 4 September 2016. *Senior high/Sixth-form:

Lycée professionnel Alfred Costes In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children betwee ...

Lycée Louise Michel In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children betwee ...

Lycée polyvalent André Sabatier In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children betwee ...

* École, collège et lycée Charles Péguy is a private school from elementary to senior high/sixth-form There is also a school of hotel management, École hôtelière de Bobigny. The Bobigny campus of

Paris 13 University Sorbonne Paris North University (french: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) is a public university based in Paris, France. It is one of the thirteen universities that succeeded the University of Paris in 1968. It is a multidisciplinary university l ...

is its second-largest. It focuses on the medical sciences, and hosts a strong medical degree.

Personalities

Bobigny is the birthplace of: *

Charles Itandje Charles Hubert Itandje (born 2 November 1982) is a retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in France, Itandje represented the Cameroon national team. Club career Lens Born in Bobigny (a suburb of Paris) of Cameroonian ...

(born 1982), football goalkeeper *

Gaël Monfils Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. His career hig ...

, tennis player * Valentin Courrent, rugby player * Odsonne Edouard, football player Bobigny is the place of death of: • Jacques Brel, Belgian singer-songwriter.

Heraldry

International relations

Bobigny is twinned with: *

Serpukhov Serpukhov ( rus, Серпухов, p=ˈsʲɛrpʊxəf) is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Oka and the Nara Rivers, south from Moscow ( from Moscow Ring Road) on the Moscow—Simferopol highway. The Moscow—Tul ...

Moscow Oblast Moscow Oblast ( rus, Моско́вская о́бласть, r=Moskovskaya oblast', p=mɐˈskofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ), or Podmoskovye ( rus, Подмоско́вье, p=pədmɐˈskovʲjə, literally " under Moscow"), is a federal subject of R ...

(Russia) *

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of ...

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squ ...

(Germany)

References

External links

Official website
(in French) {{Authority control Communes of Seine-Saint-Denis Prefectures in France