Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the western suburbs of

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 ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, located from the centre of Paris. It is a

subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Counties of Albania, Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several Districts of Albania, district ...

of the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west and ...

department and thus the seat of the larger

arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt The arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt is an Arrondissements of France, arrondissement of France in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region. It has 8 Communes of France, communes. It ...

. It is also part of the

Métropole du Grand Paris A (; French for "metropolis") is an administrative entity in France, in which several communes in France, communes cooperate, and which has the right to Taxation in France, levy local tax, an ''établissement public de coopération intercommunal ...

. Boulogne-Billancourt includes one island in 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 ...

: Île Seguin. Boulogne-Billancourt is one of the wealthiest regions in the Parisian area and in France. 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 The Val de Seine () is one of the most important central business district, business districts of the Demographics of Paris#Paris agglomeration, Paris agglomeration. Located southwest of the city, it spreads along a bend of the Seine, mainly in the ...

business district Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." A business entity is not necessar ...

Etymology

The original name of the commune was Boulogne-sur-Seine (meaning "Boulogne upon

"). 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 Philip IV (April–June 1268 – 29 November 1314), called Philip the Fair (), was King of France from 1285 to 1314. Jure uxoris, By virtue of his marriage with Joan I of Navarre, he was also King of Navarre and Count of Champagne as Philip&n ...

ordered the building in ''Menuls-lès-Saint-Cloud'' of a church dedicated to the virgin of the sanctuary of

Boulogne-sur-Mer Boulogne-sur-Mer (; ; ; or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Hauts-de-France, Northern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Pas-de-Calais. Boul ...

, 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 ("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''. 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 Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

''cortem'', accusative of ''cors'', meaning "enclosure", "estate", suffixed to the Germanic

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

Buolo (meaning "friend, brother, kinsman"), 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 (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). Some of the competitive

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

events of the

1900 Summer Olympics The 1900 Summer Olympics (), today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad () and also known as Paris 1900, were an international multi-sport event that took place in Paris, France, from 14 May to 28 October 1900. No opening or closin ...

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 Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...

, 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. Since then, Boulogne-Billancourt has been surrounded to the west, south and east by the

and to the north and north-east by the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is known for being the birthplace of three major French industries. It was the location, in 1906 for the very first

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

factory, that of Appareils d'Aviation Les Frères 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. In the mid 20th century, the company SNCAC had a manufacturing facility in Boulogne-Billancourt that was damaged by Allied bombing on 3 March 1942. The

automobile A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, peopl ...

industry had a large presence with

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

on Île Seguin, as well as

Salmson Salmson is a French engineering company. Initially a pump manufacturer, it turned to automobile and aeroplane manufacturing in the 20th century, returning to pump manufacturing in the 1960s, and re-expanded to a number of products and services ...

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 Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

. It was used as the setting of the TV show '' Code Lyoko''.

Demographics

Urbanism

* The ecologic neighbourhood of the ''Trapèze'' in Boulogne-Billancourt: the district stands on 74 hectares and will be able to house up to 18,000 inhabitants at the end of its construction. 65% of the district's energy is brought by geothermal power, which heats and freshens the buildings. Solar panels and a vegetable greenhouse were installed in the aim to link the district to sustainable energies. Bicycle and "soft" travels will of course be put first to reduce the pollution caused by cars, as well as other vehicles which do not run on electricity. * The Ambroise Paré Hospital is located in the city.

Administration

With the city of Sèvres, Boulogne-Billancourt is part of the 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.

Politics

Boulogne-Billancourt is represented by two

constituencies An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

and therefore two Members of Parliament.

Economy

Boulogne-Billancourt hosts the global headquarters of several multinational companies, including: *

Alcatel-Lucent Alcatel-Lucent S.A. () was a multinational telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France. The company focused on Fixed line telephone, fixed, Mobile phone, mobile and telecommunications convergence, ...

* Boursorama * Carrefour * Française des Jeux * Pika Édition *

TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is part ...

(

TF1 Tower The TF1 Tower () is a building in the Boulogne-Billancourt suburb of Paris, used as the headquarters of the French TV channel TF1 and several subsidiaries of the TF1 Group since 1992. Location The TF1 Tower is located at the corner of Quai du Po ...

) * Vallourec * Yoplait Prior to 2000 Schneider Electric's head office was in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Main sights

* The Musée Albert-Kahn at 14, Rue du Port, Boulogne-Billancourt is a national museum and includes four hectares of gardens, joining landscape scenes of various national traditions. The museum also includes historic photographs and film. * The Musée des Années Trente is a museum of artistic and industrial objects from the 1930s. * The Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1934.

Education

The public ''collèges'' (middle schools) 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'' (エベイユ学園 ''Ebeiyu Gakuen''), a supplementary Japanese education programme, 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: * Paul Bablot (1873–1923), racing driver * Pape Badiane (1980–2016), basketball player * Pierre Bellemare (1929–2018), actor and writer * Paul Belmondo (born 1963), racing driver * Pierre Bleuse (born 1977), music conductor * Bertrand Blier (1939–2025),

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

; son of Bernard Blier * Hubert Le Blon (1874–1910), automobilist and pioneer aviator * Christophe Boltanski (born 1962), writer and journalist * Booba (born 1976),

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

* Daniel Buren (born 1938), conceptual artist * Guillaume Canet (born 1973), actor, screenwriter and director * Leslie Caron (born 1931), film actress and dancer * Benjamin Castaldi (born 1970), TV presenter and producer; son of actor Jean-Pierre Castaldi, former husband of fellow TV presenter Flavie Flament * Matthieu Chedid (born 1971), composer, singer, guitarist; son of fellow singer and composer Louis Chedid and grandson of writer and poet Andrée Chedid * Michel Combes (born 1962), French businessman; the current CEO of

* Guillaume Connesson (born 1970), composer * Jean-François Copé (born 1964), politician * Édith Cresson (born 1934), politician, former

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...

under the presidency of François Mitterrand *

Xavier de Roux Xavier de Roux (; 4 December 1940 – 5 June 2015) was a French politician. He was a member of the Radical Party (France), Radical Party and a Deputy (legislator), deputy for the department Charente-Maritime in the National Assembly of France ...

(born 1940), politician * Michel Deville (1931–2023),

and

* Françoise Deslogères (1929-2020), ondist * Laurent Garnier (born 1966), electronic music producer and DJ * Anna Gavalda (born 1970), novelist * Hippolyte Girardot (born 1955), actor * André Glucksmann (1937–2015), political philosopher and writer * David Hallyday (born David Smet, 1966), composer, pop rock singer; son of singers Johnny Hallyday (born Jean-Philippe Smet) and

Sylvie Vartan Sylvie Vartan (; born Sylvie Georges Vartanian on 15 August 1944) is a Bulgarians in France, Bulgarian-French singer and actress. She is known as one of the most productive and tough-sounding yé-yé artists. Her performances often featured ela ...

, brother of actress Laura Smet, cousin of actor Michael Vartan * Raphaël Hamburger, (born 1981), music supervisor, son of singers

Michel Berger Michel Jean Hamburger (28 November 1947 – 2 August 1992), known professionally as Michel Berger, was a French singer and songwriter. He was a figure of France's pop music scene for two decades as a singer. As a songwriter he wrote for artists ...

(born Michel Hamburger) and France Gall * Raphaël Haroche, (born 1975), singer, songwriter and actor * Sébastien Akchoté-Bozović, known mononymously as Sebastian (born 1981), electronic music producer and DJ; * Jacques Huntzinger (born 1943), ambassador * Henri Kagan (born 1930), chemist * Jean Keraudy (1920-2001) prison escape artist * Keny Arkana (born 20 December 1982), Argentinian-French rapper and co-founder of the social movement La Rage du peuple * Sandrine Kiberlain (born 1968), actress; wife of fellow actor Vincent Lindon * Louise L. Lambrichs (born 1952), novelist and screenwriter * Gérard Lanvin (born 1950), actor * Corinne Lepage (born 1951), politician * Marc Levy (born 1961), novelist * Thierry Lhermitte (born 1952), actor, co-writer (usually with the band of the Splendid), director, producer * Nicolas Mahut (born 1982), tennis player * Patrick Modiano (born 1945), writer, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Literature * Nelson Monfort (born 1954), television presenter, translator, sports commentator for French public television * Thibault de Montaigu (born 1978), writer and journalist * Roger Monteaux (1879–1974), actor * Joachim, 8th Prince Murat (born 1944), aristocrat * Charles, Prince Napoléon (born 1950), aristocrat and descendant of Jerome Bonaparte * Bulle Ogier (born Marie-France Thielland, 1939), actress * Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza (1909–1981), Head of the Imperial House of Brazil * Florence Parly (born 1963), politician, Minister of the Armed Forces *

Claude Pinoteau Claude Pinoteau (; 25 May 1925 – 5 October 2012) was a French film director and scriptwriter. Born in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts de Seine, Île-de-France (region), Île-de-France, France. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, aged 87. (in French) ...

(1925–2012), actor, director, writer and producer * François Polgár (born 1946), choir conductor * Jérôme Pradon (born 1964), stage actor * Jean-François Ricard (born 1956), prosecutor of the National Terrorism Prosecution Office for the prosecution of

terrorism in France {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Terrorism in France , partof = the Opération Sentinelle, War on terror, Islamic terrorism in Europe , image = Lieu de l'attentat du 14 juillet 2016 à Nice cropped.jpg ...

* Thierry Roland (1934–2012), football specialist, sports journalist, television commentator and presenter * Baron Edmond James de Rothschild (1845–1934), philanthropist and activist for Jewish affairs * Tiphaine Samoyault (born 1968, French university lecturer, literary critic, and novelist * Véronique Sanson (born 1949), singer * Alain Sarde (born 1952), former actor, now writer and producer * Catherine Spaak (born 1945), actress * Agnès Spaak (born 1944), actress * Georgette Tissier (1910–1957), actress * Marie Trintignant (1962–2003), actress * Gaspard Ulliel, (1984-2022), actor, model * Michael Vartan (born 1968), French-American actor * Marin de Viry (born 1962), writer * Zazie (Isabelle de Truchis de Varennes, born 1964), singer-songwriter * Prince Lorenz of Belgium Archduke of Austria-Este, Prince Royal of Hungary (born 1955)

International relations

Boulogne-Billancourt is twinned with: * Anderlecht, Belgium * Hammersmith and Fulham (London), England, United Kingdom * Neukölln (Berlin), Germany * Marino, Italy * Pančevo, Serbia *

Ra'anana Ra'anana () is an affluent city in the southern Sharon, Israel, Sharon Plain of the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. It was founded in 1922 as an American-Jewish settlement, 1 km south of the village of Tabsur, where a ...

, Israel * Irving, United States *

Sousse Sousse, Sūsah , or Soussa (, ), is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf of Hammamet, which ...

, Tunisia

References

External links

Site officiel de Boulogne-Billancourt

Page Facebook de Boulogne-Billancourt

Compte Twitter de Boulogne-Billancourt

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boulognebillancourt Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt Cities in Île-de-France Communes of Hauts-de-Seine Subprefectures in France Venues of the 1900 Summer Olympics Olympic shooting venues Cities in France