Courbevoie () is a
commune located in the
Hauts-de-Seine
Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the ÃŽle-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 of the
ÃŽle-de-France
The ÃŽle-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...
region of France. It is a suburb 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 ...
, from the
center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the city limits of Paris.
La Défense
La Défense () is a major business district in France's Paris metropolitan area, west of the city limits. It is located in Île-de-France region's Departments of France, department of Hauts-de-Seine in the Communes of France, communes of Courbe ...
, a business district hosting the
tallest buildings in the Paris metropolitan area, spreads over the southern part of Courbevoie (as well as parts of
Puteaux
Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris.
La Défense, Paris's business district hosting the tallest buildings in the metropolitan ...
,
Nanterre
Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807.
The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...
and
La Garenne-Colombes
La Garenne-Colombes () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from Notre Dame de Paris, France's kilometre zero.
Name
The commune used to be part of the neighbouring city of Colombes. At t ...
).
Name
The name Courbevoie comes from
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 ...
''Curva Via'' and means "curved highway", allegedly in reference to a
Roman road
Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
from Paris to Normandy that made a sharp turn to climb the hill over which Courbevoie was built.
Administration
Courbevoie is divided into two
cantons
A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...
:
Canton of Courbevoie-1 and
Canton of Courbevoie-2.
History
A wooden bridge was built crossing the Seine at Courbevoie by order of
King Henry IV when in 1606 his royal coach fell into the river while being transported by ferry. Rebuilt in stone during the eighteenth century, this was replaced by a metal bridge in 1942.
The Convent of the Penitents founded in 1658 by Jean-Baptiste Forne was located in Courbevoie until the Revolution of 1789.
In 1840, the body of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
was transported from
Saint Helena
Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory.
Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...
, where he had been exiled and died, to
Cherbourg
Cherbourg is a former Communes of France, commune and Subprefectures in France, subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French departments of France, department of Manche. It was merged into the com ...
. It was then transferred to the steamer
''la Normandie'' and transported to
Val-de-la-Haye, where it was transferred to the small ferry ''la Dorade'' and transported to Courbevoie. It was then carried by road through the streets of Paris.
During the
repression of January and February 1894
The repression of January and February 1894 was an episode of the Ère des attentats (1892–1894), during which France engaged in significant Political repression, state repression against Anarchism, anarchists. The passage of the lois scélérat ...
, the police conducted raids targeting the
anarchists
Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...
living there, without much success.
The
Hôtel de Ville was completed in 1858.
Transport
Courbevoie is served by two stations on the
Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare
Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare is one of the sectors in the Paris Transilien suburban rail network. The trains on this sector depart from Gare Saint-Lazare in central Paris and serve the north and north-west of ÃŽle-de-France region with Transilien ...
suburban rail line:
Courbevoie
Courbevoie () is a Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the ÃŽle-de-France region of France. It is a suburb of Paris, from the Kilometre zero, center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the ci ...
and
Bécon-les-Bruyères. Courbevoie is also served by
Esplanade de La Défense station on
Paris Métro Line 1
Paris Métro Line 1 (French language, French: ''Ligne 1 du métro de Paris'') is one of the sixteen lines of the Paris Métro. It connects in the northwest and in the southeast. With a length of , it constitutes an important east–west transp ...
, in the business district of La Défense.
There are also a large number of city buses that come through the bustling La Défense station.
When it comes to air transportation, Courbevoie can be served by Paris's
Charles de Gaulle Airport
Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport , also known as Roissy Airport, is the primary international airport serving Paris, the capital city of France. The airport opened in 1974 and is located in Roissy-en-France, northeast of Paris. It is named for ...
as well as Paris-Orly to the south and Beauvais Airport to the north.
Education
Courbevoie has multiple preschools and elementary schools. Junior high schools include:
* Collège Alfred de Vigny
* Collège Georges Pompidou
* Collège Georges Seurat
* Collège Les Bruyères
* Collège Les Renardières
* Collège Sainte Geneviève
Senior high schools include:
*
École européenne Paris La Défense
École or Ecole may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* Éco ...
*
Lycée Paul Lapie de Courbevoie
*
Lycée Paul Painlevé Courbevoie
*
Collège Les renardières et Lycée Lucie Aubrac
*
Groupe scolaire Montalembert
*University of Pôle Léonard de Vinci
Notable people
*
Georges Lamothe (1842–1894), composer, pianist and organist
*
Henri Letocart (1866–1945), organist and composer
*
Hélène Krzyżanowska (1867–1937), pianist and composer
*
Albert Gleizes
Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...
(1881–1953),
cubist artist, painter, theorist
*
Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961), writer
*
Jacques Henri Lartigue (1894–1986), photographer and painter
*
Arletty (1898–1992), actress and singer
*
Roy Benson (1914–1977), stage magician
*
Louis de Funès (1914–1983), actor and comedian
*
Henri Betti (1917–2005), composer
*
Madeleine Kamman (1930–2018), cook, culinary teacher, and author
*
Jean-Pierre Worms (1934–2019), representative to the French Parliament
*
Michel Delpech (1946–2016), singer-songwriter
*
Michel Blanc (b. 1952), actor
*
Franck Tchiloemba (b. 1973), basketball player
*
Colomba Fofana (b. 1977), athlete
*
Lamine Kanté (b. 1987), basketball player
*
Massiré Kanté (b. 1989), footballer
*
Raoul Loé (b. 1989), footballer
*
Axel Augis (b. 1990), gymnast
*
William Rémy (b. 1991), footballer
*
Yoann Wachter (b. 1992), footballer
*
Marie-Bernadette Mbuyamba (b. 1993), basketball player
*
Bilal Coulibaly (b. 2004), basketball player
International relations
Courbevoie is
twinned with:
*
Enfield (
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
), United Kingdom
*
Freudenstadt (
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...
), Germany
*
Beit Mery (
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round.
Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...
), Lebanon
Mayors of Courbevoie
*
Antoine Le Frique (1800–1818)
*
Joseph Derbanne (October, 1818 – February, 1826)
*
Nicolas Rousselot (February 1826 – April 1830)
*
Jean-Baptiste Chevalier (April 1830 – August 1830)
*
Constant Grebaut (August 1830 – September 1840)
*
Désiré Maurenq (September 1840 – 1845)
*
Constant Grebaut (1845 – 26 August 1865)
*
Charles Blondel
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...
(26 August 1865 – 7 February 1872)
*
Jean-François Durenne (7 February 1872 – November 1873)
*
Jean-Baptiste Weiss (November 1873 – 20 February 1874)
*
Auguste Colas (20 February 1874 – 12 February 1878)
*
Frédéric Bourgin (12 February 1878 – October 1878)
*
Auguste Bailly (October 1878 – 19 May 1888)
*
Antoine Rolland (19 May 1888 – 15 May 1892)
*
Jules Lefevre (15 May 1892 – 27 January 1894)
*
François le Chippey (27 January 1894 – May 1896)
*
Léon Boursier (May 1896 – May 1908)
*
Charles Mering (May 1908 – December 1919)
*
Augustin Loiseau (December 1919 – October 1920)
*
Joseph Victor (October 1920 – May 1925)
*
Pierre Fouquart (May 1925 – September 1927)
*
André Grisoni (September 1927 – July 1944)
*
Gabriel Roche (September 1944 – 26 October 1947)
*
Marius Guerre (26 October 1947 – 20 December 1954)
*
Gabriel Roche (26 January 1955 – 15 March 1959)
*
Charles Deprez (26 March 1959 – 18 June 1995)
*
Jacques Kossowski (since 25 June 1995)
Demographics
Population
Immigration
Economy
Total S.A.
TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas explorat ...
has its head office in the
Tour Total
Tour Total (previously known as Tour Elf from 1985 to 1999, then Tour TotalFinaElf from 1999 to 2003) is an office skyscraper located in La Défense, Courbevoie, the high-rise business district west of and adjacent to the city of Paris, France, ...
in
La Défense
La Défense () is a major business district in France's Paris metropolitan area, west of the city limits. It is located in Île-de-France region's Departments of France, department of Hauts-de-Seine in the Communes of France, communes of Courbe ...
and in Courbevoie.
Areva
Areva S.A. was a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power, active between 2001 and 2018. It was headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through t ...
has its head office in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie.
Saint-Gobain also has its head office in Courbevoie.
The headquarters of
INPI, the French government office for patents, copyrights, and trademarks, is in Courbevoie.
Contact us
at INPI official web site
Gallery
Image:Courbevoie 4.JPG, Street at the border between Courbevoie and Asnières
Image:Georges Seurat 012.jpg, Bridge of Courbevoie, Georges Seurat
Georges Pierre Seurat ( , ; ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough ...
, 1886–1887
See also
* La Défense
La Défense () is a major business district in France's Paris metropolitan area, west of the city limits. It is located in Île-de-France region's Departments of France, department of Hauts-de-Seine in the Communes of France, communes of Courbe ...
business district.
* List of tallest structures in Paris
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
* Phare Tower, a 300-meter skyscraper now under construction
*Communes of the Hauts-de-Seine department
The following is a list of the 36 communes of the Hauts-de-Seine department of France.
Since January 2016, all communes of Hauts-de-Seine are part of the intercommunality Métropole du Grand Paris
{{Communes of France
Hauts-de-Seine
H ...
References
External links
Courbevoie official website
{{Authority control
Communes of Hauts-de-Seine
Cities in ÃŽle-de-France
Hauts-de-Seine communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia