Bussy-Saint-Georges () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is located from the center of Paris, in the

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

department in the

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 ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...

in north-central

Geography

In the East, at the distance from

and in the heart of

Marne-la-Vallée Marne-la-Vallée () is a new town located near Paris, France. Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios Park, Val d'Europe, Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée, ESIEE Paris, and École des Ponts ParisTech are located in Marne-la-Vallée. ...

, Bussy-Saint-Georges has a privileged position thanks to a high-density motorway network. From Bussy, the direct access to the A4 motorway and the nearby A104 offer easy access to the whole country. The city centre is only away from Disneyland Paris. With easy access to the RER line , close to the

TGV The TGV (french: Train à Grande Vitesse, "high-speed train"; previously french: TurboTrain à Grande Vitesse, label=none) is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by SNCF. SNCF worked on a high-speed rail network from 1966 to 19 ...

railway station of Chessy – Marne-la-Vallée and two international airports Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle and Orly, the city has a central position in the transport network. Bussy-Saint-Georges is located in the perimeter of the new city of Marne-la-Vallée as defined by the national government in 1966. But Marne-la-Vallée is just a geographical entity, precisely divided in 4 sectors. The city is in sector 3 of Marne-la-Vallée, also called Val-de-Bussy. In Val-de-Bussy of Marne-la-Vallée, Bussy-Saint-Georges is from 1985 the leading and main support of the built-up area, as a real and independent new town (french: Ville nouvelle) with a unique status of local and new town. The others towns decided to be organized around a common agglomeration system of new towns.

Population

The city has benefited from one of the largest growth rates in France. The population has multiplied by 56 in 30 years, between 1982 and 2012. Bussy-Saint-Georges has a strong power of attraction on young families. 50% of the Buxangeorgiens are less than 30 years old.

Surrounding towns

* Bussy-Saint-Martin * Chanteloup-en-Brie *

Collégien Collégien () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of O ...

* Favières * Ferrières-en-Brie * Guermantes * Jossigny * Pontcarré Bussy-Saint-Georges has built its identity on a green model environment with parks and gardens. They represent 155 hectares of integrated green spaces, of soft connecting links, ten squares and parks in the city centre, eight pools and more than 8,200 trees today.

History

In the origins, the village of Bussy appeared in 841 under the Roman name of ''Villa Buxido''. In 855 the territory formed a large parish under the protection of Saint-Georges. Nevertheless, the full name of Bussy-Saint-Georges only appeared in the 13th century. The name of Bussy comes from ''Buscus'' because of the city's native environment initially composed of woods and many groves. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Bussy-Saint-Martin et Bussy-Saint-Georges was unified under a unique landlord authority, the lords of Bussy. Here is the list of the successive lords of Bussy: * de Buci family from 1196 to 1490; * de la Rosque from 1490 to the end of the 16th century; * Louis Guibert and his heirs from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 18th century; * at the beginning of the 18th century until the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

, the family of Pondre, lord of Guermantes. In 1789, Bussy-Saint-Georges was under the authority of the

Généralité ''Recettes générales'', commonly known as ''généralités'' (), were the administrative divisions of France under the Ancien Régime and are often considered to prefigure the current '' préfectures''. At the time of the French Revolution, ther ...

of Paris. During the 19th century, the town was in the county of Lagny, with a population from 500 to 550 inhabitants. Two ordinances, 6 June 1826 and 15 August 1827 reduced the territory of Bussy in favour of the territories of Ferrières and Jossigny. Since 1985, Bussy-Saint-Georges has been integrated into the perimeter of the new town plan of Marne-la-Vallée and received a total of 180.50 hectares as additional territories coming from the nearest towns (Bussy-Saint-Martin, Collégien, Ferrières). In July 2017, M. Hugues Rondeau, who has been the mayor from 1998 until 2014, was considered as guilty by French justice for illegal taking of interest and condemned to six months of suspended prison, payment of 60.000 euros for damage and interest, and ineligibility for five years. In May 2019, he was banned from public service for life by the Court.

Administration

Bussy-Saint-Georges is in the Canton of Torcy, in the administrative ''

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety ...

'' of Seine-et-Marne; its

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 ...

Melun Melun () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the centre of the capital. Melun is the prefecture of the Seine-et-Ma ...

. The ''

canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

'' brings together six towns and 38,236 inhabitants. Before its creation in 1975, the city of Bussy was in the Canton of Lagny-sur-Marne, finally divided in smaller new subdivisions considering the growth of population. The canton of Torcy is now part of the

arrondissement of Torcy The arrondissement of Torcy is an arrondissement of France in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region. It has 50 communes. Its population is 459,961 (2019), and its area is . Composition The communes of the arrondissement of ...

created in 1993. The

subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefectures. ...

was opened on 1 January 2006. This ''

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements ...

'' is the least geographically extended but the most populated of the department, with 10 cantons, 43 towns representing 343,583 inhabitants. The

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, built in 1850, stands in the old village, on the ''Place de la Mairie'' (Town hall square).

Main sights

* The tower, the only vestige of the lord’s castle of de Buci, a fortress offering a strategic refuge dominating the valleys ''de la Brosse'' and ''de la Gondoire'', dated from 12th century. The current ''place de Verdun'' is on the previous location of the castle, which was surrounded by the ditches filled with water by the same source of a fountain which still exists in the ''place du marché''. The graveyard, in the north of the tower, beyond the fortifications, was discovered during a private house building in 1960. The tower is 21 meters high and 9 meters large. * The Farm of Roquemont. It takes its name from la Rosque’s fief, Bussy-Saint-Georges lords from 1490 to 1594; it was also the main source of the lords for the benefit of Bussy fief. Later, the farm was called the great farm of Bussy-Saint-Georges. * The Russon mill, a water mill is located in the street of ''de la Brosse''. The former owner has restored it. The mill was a component of the outbuildings of the Farm of Roquemont. It was used as a mill only for a few months and was otherwise used as accommodation for the farm hands. * The Wash-house, built in the mid-19th century. Bussy already used a very old wash-house close to spring in Ferrières: the wash-house of Cessoy. But it was too far from the center of the village and difficult to reach for the washerwomen who used barrows for the laundry. The city council bargained with the family de Guermantesfor to acquire land attached to another spring, in the upper side of the street du Moulin, for building the second wash-house. Currently, the wash-house of Cessoy is private, in contrast to the public one in the street du Moulin. * The Farm of ''Génitoy''. The name, ''genesterium'' in Latin or ''genestay'' in Old French, later ''génitoire ''or'' génitoy'', originates from the abundant Genista flowers. The farm was also an important fief with a castle. In 1672, Madame de Montespan had a baby in the castle of Génitoy, one of the

Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

's son: Louis-César de Bourbon, count of

Vexin Vexin () is an historical county of northwestern France. It covers a verdant plateau on the right bank (north) of the Seine running roughly east to west between Pontoise and Romilly-sur-Andelle (about 20 km from Rouen), and north to south ...

. * ''La Jonchère''. At the beginning of the 19th century, this was a great farm. The owner was M. Martin de Longchamps, who also owned Fontenelles. It was a ''féculerie'' in 1836, which dominated all the intensive potato production in the region. Unfortunately from 1845

potato blight ''Phytophthora infestans'' is an oomycete or water mold, a fungus-like microorganism that causes the serious potato and tomato disease known as late blight or potato blight. Early blight, caused by ''Alternaria solani'', is also often called "po ...

affected the activity and then completely stopped it. The farmers decided to replace it with sugar beet. The ''domaine de la Jonchère'' was used for establishing the installations of the new product. * The current village church was constructed on the location of a medieval church. François de la Rosque, parish priest, member of the lord of Bussy’s family, celebrated the consecration of the church in 1580. The construction was finished in 1595 and the baptism of the three bells followed on August 22, 1600: ''Louise'', in reference to the foundation of the St-Louis chapel, ''Isabelle'', a first name of the wife of Louis Guibert, and ''Georges'', patron saint of the parish. The church was restored in the 19th century and, at the request of the inhabitants who were disappointed for not hearing the Angélus, the bell tower was raised in 1866 to the current height of 32 meters. The church became public property in 1905. Under the porch of the monument, there is an 18th-century gravestone. It covered the body of abbot Duchesne buried in the chancel of the church. Inside, the body and the transept have a refined ogival style. The beams hold a painted vault in the arch. On the right side, there is a Saint-Georges sculpture. On the left is a chapel, probably for the

translation of relics In Christianity, the translation of relics is the removal of holy objects from one locality to another (usually a higher-status location); usually only the movement of the remains of the saint's body would be treated so formally, with secondary ...

in 1431, given to the parish of Bussy-Saint-Georges by the abott Duchesne, restored in 1904 thanks to a group of the Visitation of the Virgin. The baptistery has a renaissance underbody and the washbowl of a ceremony is decorated with four angel’s heads. We can also notice an embedded stone font on the left of the entrance. * The modern church of ''Notre-Dame du Val'', built in 1997 by the architectural office Gonot-Marcenat. Fully made with modern components, the dome is in natural copper. The location is at ''33, boulevard Thibaud-de-Champagne.'' * ''Rêve de la Mère'': a statue erected in 2010 dedicated to the

Boat people Vietnamese boat people ( vi, Thuyền nhân Việt Nam), also known simply as boat people, refers to the refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration and humanitarian crisis was at its h ...

and refugees from the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Bussy-Saint-Georges is home to a significant Vietnamese population, and the statue is a symbol for Vietnamese refugees seeing France as a free nation and is a reminder for French-born Vietnamese of their ancestral roots and culture.

Culture and leisure

* City Library: The ''Médiathèque de l’Europe'' was inaugurated in October 2006. In it can be found CDs, books (novels, comics, documentaries, magazines etc.), DVDs, music scores… :The library also welcomes a large range of activities put in place by the cultural department of the city. Currently, the hours of opening concern the following days: Tuesday from 2pm to 7pm, Wednesday 10am – 12:30am and 2pm to 6pm, Thursday 2pm – 6pm, and Sunday 10am – 12:30am and 2pm – 6pm. * Conservatoire: The ''Jean-Sébastien-Bach Conservatoire'' of Bussy-Saint-Georges opened its doors in 1995. Widened in 2004, the expanse for the reception of people was doubled. In 2006 more than 700 pupils and 45 employees were involved, 28 individual instrumental disciplines (some of these instruments are "rare" such as

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

, viola de gamba or traditional Chinese ones:

pipa The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a () is a traditional Chinese musical instrument, belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ran ...

guzheng The zheng () or gu zheng (), is a Chinese plucked zither. The modern guzheng commonly has 21, 25, or 26 strings, is long, and is tuned in a major pentatonic scale. It has a large, resonant soundboard made from '' Paulownia'' wood. Other ...

) and 10 steel band disciplines.

Education

Bussy-Saint-Georges is home to: * 9 preschools, 9 primary schools * 3 public junior high schools ( Jacques-Yves-Cousteau, Anne-Frank, Claude-Monet) and a private junior high school, Maurice-RondeauCollèges, lycées, enseignement supérieur
." Bussy-Saint-Georges. Retrieved on September 3, 2016. * 2 senior high schools/sixth-form colleges ** Lycée Martin-Luther-King ** Lycée Maurice-Rondeau * capacity of 200 young children in day-care centers * an artistic conservatoire * a city library University of Marne-la-Vallée is the area university, and the vicinity has other post-secondary institutions.

Sport

* Michel Jazy Sport Complex, including a dance room, gymnastic structures, tennis courts, martial art areas, volleyball area. * Maurice Herzog Sport Complex, including athletics training tracks, football space, archery practicing area, gymnastic room, climbing wall, a table tennis room. * Laura Flessel Sport Complex. * 5 tennis courts on the path of ''deux Châteaux'', 2 outdoor courts on the golfers’ promenade, 2 outdoor courts at the Graveyard street. *An international golf area covering 750,000 square metres.

Economy

Within its territory, the city has an industrial region (Gustave Eiffel Park) located in the south of the city. Among the listed companies, there are Tech Data, SME Distribution (Sony), IBM, Air liquide, Asialand, BT France companies,... There are also a Senior Teaching Technical Book Center (''Centre technique du livre de l'enseignement supérieur'') and the Technical Center of the French National Library (''Centre technique de la

Bibliothèque nationale de France The Bibliothèque nationale de France (, 'National Library of France'; BnF) is the national library of France, located in Paris on two main sites known respectively as ''Richelieu'' and ''François-Mitterrand''. It is the national repository ...

''). The city economic growth continues with the creation of new city planning areas or ''Zone d’Aménagement Concerté'', such as the ZAC Léonardo-de-Vinci (30 hectares) or the Rucherie (80 hectares). But the debts of the town may be considered as huge.

Transport

In the center of the city, there is the Bussy-Saint-Georges station of the RER line . There is also a bus network ("Pep’s").

Festivals

All through the year, the city of Bussy-Saint-Georges offers to its inhabitants a large list of celebrations: * Wishes of the Buxangeorgiens: January * Festival of Asia (

Tết Tết (), short for Tết Nguyên Đán ( Chữ Hán: 節元旦), Spring Festival, Lunar New Year, or Vietnamese Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations in Vietnamese culture. The colloquial term "Tết" is a shortened form of ...

): February * Carnival days: March * Saint George's day: April * ''Journée nationale du souvenir de la déportation et ravivage de la flamme du souvenir'': April * Commemoration of the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

: 8 May * antique roadshow days: June * Commemoration for dead soldiers in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

: 8 June * Commemoration of the Général de Gaulle's call: 18 June * Nation day (pyrotechnics): 13 July * Golf Open of the city: September * Forum of the associations: September * ''Les virades de l’Espoir'' (important march for the custic fibrosis cure research): September * Secondhand trade days: September * Commemoration of the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

in 1918: 11 November * Night of the

Beaujolais Beaujolais ( , ) is a French ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) wine generally made of the Gamay grape, which has a thin skin and is low in tannins. Like most AOC wines they are not labeled varietally. Whites from the region, which mak ...

: November * Commemoration for dead soldiers during the north-African wars: 5 December *

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

Time (''marché de noël'', animations, ''patinoire''): December and January.

People

* Maurice Boitel, painter

International relations

Bussy-Saint-Georges is twinned with: * Radcliffe-on-Trent, United Kingdom, since 1999 *

Kiryat Ekron Kiryat Ekron or Qiryath Eqron ( he, קִרְיַת עֶקְרוֹן) is a town located on the coastal plain in the Central District of Israel. Located immediately south of the city of Rehovot on Highway 411 next to the Bilu Junction, in it had a ...

, Israel, since 1998 * San Giuliano Milanese, Italy, since 2002 *

Meiningen Meiningen () is a town in the southern part of the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in the region of Franconia and has a population of around 25,000 (2021).

, Germany, since 2006

List of mayors

*Jacques Macquin (1953-1971) *Guy Sadaune (1971-1973) *Maurice Koehl (1973-1983) *Daniel Doussot (1983-1989) *Dominique Blondel (1989-1994) *Bernard Ménager (1994-1998) *Hugues Rondeau (1998-2014) * Chantal Brunel (2014-2016) *Yann Dubosc (2016–Present)