Arcueil () is a
commune in the
Val-de-Marne
Val-de-Marne (, "Vale of the Marne") is a department of France located in the Île-de-France region. Named after the river Marne, it is situated in the Grand Paris metropolis to the southeast of the City of Paris. In 2019, Val-de-Marne had a ...
department in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the
center of Paris.
Name

The name Arcueil was recorded for the first time in 1119 as ''Arcoloï'', and later in the 12th century as ''Arcoïalum'', meaning "place of the arches" (
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
radical ''arcus'', "arch", and
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 ...
suffix ''-ialo'', "clearing, glade", "place of"), in reference to the
Roman aqueduct
The Romans constructed aqueducts throughout their Republic and later Empire, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported min ...
carrying water to the Roman city of ''
Lutetia
Lutetia, ( , ; ) also known as and ( ; ; ), was a Gallo-Roman culture, Gallo–Roman town and the predecessor of modern-day Paris. Traces of an earlier Neolithic settlement () have been found nearby, and a larger settlement was established ...
'' (modern Paris).
History

The arches of the Roman aqueduct crossed the
Bièvre valley near Arcueil and are still visible at the Chateau des Arcs.
Between 1613 and 1624 a bridge-aqueduct over . long was constructed to convey water from the spring of
Rungis
Rungis () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France, in the department of Val-de-Marne, Île-de-France.
It is best known as the location of the large wholesale food market serving the Paris metropolitan area and beyond, the '' Mar ...
, south of Arcueil, across the river
Bièvre to the
Luxembourg Palace
The Luxembourg Palace (, ) is at 15 Rue de Vaugirard in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was originally built (1615–1645) to the designs of the French architect Salomon de Brosse to be the royal residence of the regent Marie de' Med ...
in Paris. Between 1868 and 1872 another aqueduct, still longer, was superimposed above that of the 17th century, forming part of the system conveying water from the river
Vanne to Paris.
The commune of Arcueil was officially renamed ''Arcueil-Cachan'' in 1894, after the hamlet of
Cachan
Cachan () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.
The prestigious École Spéciale des Travaux Publics is located there.
Name
During the Middle Ages, Cachan was referred to in Medieval ...
located within the commune. On 26 December 1922, Cachan seceded from the commune of ''Arcueil-Cachan'' and became a commune in its own right. The reduced commune of ''Arcueil-Cachan'' was renamed simply Arcueil.
Economy
Orange France, formerly France Télécom S.A., has its headquarters in Arcueil.
Geography
The commune of Arcueil covers an area of . Its highest elevation is , its lowest point is .
[
Arcueil is served by two stations on Paris RER line B: ]Laplace
Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace (; ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French polymath, a scholar whose work has been instrumental in the fields of physics, astronomy, mathematics, engineering, statistics, and philosophy. He summariz ...
and Arcueil-Cachan.
Education
Primary schools:
* Five preschools: Henri Barbusse, Danielle Casanova, Jules Ferry, Olympe de Gouges, and Pauline Kergomard
* Five elementary schools: Henri Barbusse, Jules Ferry, Olympe de Gouges, Aimé Césaire, and Jean Macé
There is one junior high school, Collège Dulcie September and an engineering College, the .
Residents are served by the Lycée intercommunal Darius-Milhaud in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre
Le Kremlin-Bicêtre () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is from the center of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe.
Le Kremlin-Bicêtre is most famous as the location of the Bicêtre ...
.
Personalities
* Jean-Antoine de Baïf
Jean Antoine de Baïf (; 19 February 1532 – 19 September 1589) was a French poet and member of the '' Pléiade''.
Life
Jean Antoine de Baïf was born in Venice, the natural son of the scholar Lazare de Baïf, who was at that time French amb ...
(1532–1589), member of the "Pléiade".[''Arcueil, rue d'hier et d'aujourd'hui''. Arcueil: Centre Culturel Communal Erik Satie, 2006 ]
* Adrienne Bolland (1895–1975), first woman to fly an airplane across the Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
, was born in Arcueil.
* Claude Louis Berthollet
Claude Louis Berthollet (, 9 December 1748 – 6 November 1822) was a Savoyard-French chemist who became vice president of the French Senate in 1804. He is known for his scientific contributions to the theory of chemical equilibria via the ...
(1748–1822), chemist.
* Michel Bulteau, writer and cult film maker, is a native of Arcueil.
* Augustin-Louis Cauchy
Baron Augustin-Louis Cauchy ( , , ; ; 21 August 1789 – 23 May 1857) was a French mathematician, engineer, and physicist. He was one of the first to rigorously state and prove the key theorems of calculus (thereby creating real a ...
the mathematician, had, when a boy, fled Paris for Arcueil with his royalist parents during the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
.
* Pierre
Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
and Marie Curie
Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity.
She was List of female ...
installed at Arcueil an annex of the Institut du Radium for the chemical treatment of radioactive elements.
* Jean-Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 June 1952) is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer.
He is described as an "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs including corset ...
, fashion designer.
* Pierre-Simon de Laplace
Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace (; ; 23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827) was a French polymath, a scholar whose work has been instrumental in the fields of physics, astronomy, mathematics, engineering, statistics, and philosophy. He summariz ...
(1749–1827), mathematician, astronomer and physicist.
* Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Gug ...
(1844–1910) also called "Douanier Rousseau", notable naive painter.
* The Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade ( ; ; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814) was a French writer, libertine, political activist and nobleman best known for his libertine novels and imprisonment for sex crimes, blasphemy and pornography ...
, writer and libertine.
* Erik Satie
Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...
, composer, lived in Arcueil from 1898 to 1925. He is buried in the town.
* Dulcie September
Dulcie Evonne September (20 August 1935 – 29 March 1988) was a South African anti-apartheid political activist who was assassinated in Paris, France, in 1988.
Early life
The second eldest daughter of Jakobus and Susan September, September gre ...
, of the African National Congress
The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...
, when living in France lodged in Arcueil; an Arcueil high school is named after her.
Population
Data before 1922 in the table and graph below refer to the old commune Arcueil(-Cachan), before the commune of Cachan
Cachan () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.
The prestigious École Spéciale des Travaux Publics is located there.
Name
During the Middle Ages, Cachan was referred to in Medieval ...
was separated.[
]
See also
* Society of Arcueil The Society of Arcueil was a circle of French scientists who met regularly on summer weekends between 1806 and 1822 at the country houses of Claude Louis Berthollet and Pierre Simon Laplace at Arcueil, then a village 3 miles south of Paris.
Members ...
* Communes of the Val-de-Marne department
This page lists the 47 Communes of France, communes of the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, department of France on 1 January 2021. Since January 2016, all communes of the department are part of the intercommunality Métropole du Grand Paris.
...
* :fr:Aqueducs d'Arcueil et de Cachan French Wiki article on the history of the 3 aqueducts
References
External links
Official website
Arcueil Business Theatre
{{Authority control
Communes of Val-de-Marne