Guyancourt () is a commune in the

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.department in the

Île-de-France The Île-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 In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in north-central

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 ...

. It is located in the south-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 ...

, from the center of Paris, in the "

new town New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz (South Korean band), The Boyz * New (album), ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** New (Paul McCartney song), "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * New (EP), ''New'' (EP), ...

" of

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines () is a new town and an agglomeration community in the French department of Yvelines. It is one of the original five villes nouvelles ( new towns) of Paris and was named after the Saint Quentin Pond, which was chosen ...

Geography

The commune of Guyancourt comprises several districts. The first of them, corresponding to the old village, is known as "le village", the others are named: * Bouviers (Herdsmen), ancient

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of the village * Les Garennes (the warrens) * L'Europe (Europe) * Le Pont du Routoir (the bridge over the retting pit) * Les Saules (the Willows) * Le Parc (the Park) * Les Chênes (the Oaks) * Villaroy (the recently constructed districts of the city) The bordering communes are

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

to the northeast, Voisins-le-Bretonneux to the southwest,

Montigny-le-Bretonneux Montigny-le-Bretonneux () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Saint-Quentin-en-Yveli ...

to the west, Châteaufort to the southeast,

Magny-les-Hameaux Magny-les-Hameaux () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Population Education There are four preschools: Ecole Francis Jammes, Ecole André Gide, Ecole Petit Prince, and Ecole Jean Ba ...

to the south and Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole in the northwest. Although located in the

suburbs, more than half of the territory of the commune of Guyancourt is covered in natural spaces: forests, wood, parks, gardens and ponds.

History

Prehistoric

The site of the city was already inhabited by

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

tribes who left hundreds of vestiges such as arrows, flint scrapers, polished axes... which have been recovered in the districts of Bouviers, Troux and Villaroy.

Antiquity

The civilization continued through Roman times, as Mr. Leclère, a farmer, demonstrated in a fortuitous way in 1892 by unearthing an antique ballot box in his field.

The religious life

Work to restore the church Saint-Victor put the date of the sarcophages at the

Merovingian The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the ...

era (from the seventh century). It is believed that the construction of the first church dates from the fourteenth century. Several funerary vases and a tomb stone dating from the sixteenth century were updated. The church was renovated in the fifteenth century, then entirely rebuilt in the sixteenth century. The most recent restoration goes back to 1998.

Guyancourt and the Palace of Versailles

Guyancourt forms part of the "Grand Parc" of the sun king Soleil (

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

), which extended around the castle of Versailles. The essential vocation of the populous communes neighbouring the castle is market-gardening, to provide for the important needs for the Court.

French revolution

Thanks to the register of grievances sent to the governmental authorities (1789), we know that Guyancourtois, who were mostly modest peasants, lived with difficulty under conditions of famine.

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870

France is partly occupied by the

Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...

armies. The enemy spreads terror, the houses are plundered, the inhabitants maltreated. Four hundred of them (an enormous figure for the time) prefer to flee.

The 1900s

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Guyancourt was a large village where one cultivates corn, oats, beets, fodder and potatoes. The trades were numerous, with almost 16 wine merchants for 614 inhabitants. The war of 1914–1918 cost the lives of thirty-six Guyancourtois. The war of 1939–1945 also touched Guyancourt, which was liberated by August 25, 1944.

The end of the twentieth century

Starting from the beginning of the 1950s, the Paris area saw a considerable demographic growth. To structure the development of the suburbs, it was decided to create several

s around Paris, one of which being

. The new city of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines includes today seven communes (eleven in the beginning), one of which is Guyancourt. In 1950 Guyancourt was only one small village. The commune grew since 1970 to reach the figure of 27,000 inhabitants in 2004.

Population

Culture

International relations

Guyancourt is twinned with: *

Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a historic route between Edi ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, the birthplace of

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

* Pegnitz,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Notable people

* : Poet, writer, lampoonist, storyteller, lyric writer, novelist, local councillor and départemental. The author of about thirty works, he also assumed several mandates of mayor, advising general, and President of the urban community (then called the SAN, trade union of new agglomeration).

Economy

Industrial fabric

Guyancourt accommodates not only many SME and trade, but also several large companies, such as: * Le Technocentre

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 ...

(automobile) * The head office of

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French engineering group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the ...

Construction ** At one time parent company Bouygues had its head office in the

Kevin Roche Eamonn Kevin Roche (June 14, 1922 – March 1, 2019) was an Irish-born American Pritzker Prize-winning architect. Kevin Roche was the Archetype, archetypal Modern architecture, modernist and "member of an elite group of third generation modern ...

-designed Challenger complex. * The national case of

Crédit Agricole Crédit Agricole Group (), sometimes called La banque verte (, , due to its historical ties to farming), is a French international banking group and the world's largest cooperative financial institution. It is the second largest bank in France, ...

* The registered office of

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

Prost Grand Prix Prost Grand Prix was a Formula One racing team owned and managed by four-time Formula One world champion Alain Prost. The team participated in five seasons from 1997 to 2001. The team was the last France, French Formula One team based in France, ...

(closed now).

Education

Higher education and research

* Guyancourt is home to a campus of the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin. The buildings located in the commune relate to the lessons on human rights and the social sciences. * One also finds there research laboratories of the INRA (National Institute of Agronomic Research)

Primary and secondary schools

Junior high schools: *Collège Ariane *Collège Les Saules *Collège Paul-Eluard Senior high schools: * Lycée Polyvalent Descartes * Lycée de Villaroy * Lycée Émilie-de Breteuil *Lycée d'État d'Hôtellerie et de Tourisme
" Guyancourt. Retrieved on September 3, 2016.

Transportation

Guyancourt is served by no station of the Paris Métro, RER, or suburban rail network. The closest station to Guyancourt is

Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines–Montigny-le-Bretonneux station Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines–Montigny-le-Bretonneux () is a station on the Paris–Brest railway. It is served by Paris's express suburban rail system, the RER C, RER Line C and by suburban Transilien Line N and U services. The station opened in 19 ...

on Paris

RER line C RER C is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris and its suburbs. The line crosses the region from north to south. Briefly, betwee ...

, on the

Transilien La Défense Transilien Line U, also known as "La Défense - La Verrière" or more often simply "ligne U", is a tangential commuter train link, which serves the western Paris region from La Défense. It links the Paris's business district of La Défense to ...

suburban rail line, and on the Transilien Paris-Montparnasse suburban rail line. This station is located in the neighboring commune of

, from the town center of Guyancourt.

References

External links

Ville of Guyancourt, official site

Site of the district of Villaroy

New city of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines
{{authority control Communes of Yvelines Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines