() is a commune in the northeastern 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 ...

. It is located from the center of Paris, between

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 ...

and Le Bourget Airport.

Name

The name Le Blanc-Mesnil was recorded for the first time in the 11th century as . This name is a compound of

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 ...

, meaning 'little houses', 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 ...

(

accusative In grammar, the accusative case (abbreviated ) of a noun is the grammatical case used to receive the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: "me", "him", "her", " ...

), and of Germanic (

Old Frankish Frankish ( reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 10th centuries. Franks under king Chlodio settled in Roman Gaul in the 5th century. O ...

) , , meaning 'glossy, shining, white', which gave French ('white') and English ''blank''. The name is interpreted by some as a reference to the houses of Le Blanc-Mesnil which were whitened due to the flour dust coming from the windmills located there in ancient times. One researcher, however, thinks that had also the meaning of 'free' in

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

, and so the name would mean 'free mesnil, free village', perhaps because the villagers had been freed from serfdom. None of these interpretations is certain.

Geography

Nearest municipalities

*Bondy *Aulnay-sous-Bois * Drancy *Le Bourget *Dugny *Bonneuil-en-France in Val d'Oise and Gonesse.

History

Prehistory and Antiquity

A discovery in 1984 concerning archeological excavation found three polished axes and modified flint attests a human presence in Le Blanc-Mesnil in the Neolithic period and the Gallo-Roman era. Shards of gallic ceramic were found. The Morée and Molette rivers nearby and the existence of an ancient Roman road support this theory.

French Revolution

On 2 December 1792, a third of the territory of Aulnay was detached and became the commune of . The current Hôtel de Ville, Le Blanc-Mesnil, Hôtel de Ville (town hall) was completed in 1967.

Heraldry

Economy

* * in Blanc-Mesnil, Bourget and Drancy. It includes ''Centre Albert Einstein'', created in 1987. * * Garonor * * * * , for tourism business. Three hotels three stars, a Novotel hotel.

French and international companies

Several French companies have their world headquarters in Blanc-Mesnil, such as Forclum and Sicli.

Population

Immigration

Administration

Political life

The following political parties have a permanent base in Blanc-Mesnil: * Parti Communiste Français * Parti Socialiste *

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy ( ; UDF) was a centre-right political party in France. The UDF was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to counterbalance the Gaullist preponderance over ...

(UDF) *

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

(UMP) * Groupe des Verts

Politics

Mayors

Transport

Le Blanc-Mesnil is served by Le Blanc-Mesnil station on Paris RER line B. Le Blanc-Mesnil is also served by Drancy station on Paris RER line B. This station (formerly called ), although administratively located on the territory of the neighboring commune of Drancy, is the closest from the town center of Le Blanc-Mesnil and is thus used by people in Le Blanc-Mesnil. The bus company provides 17 lines of buses to travel within the city. Ideally placed at the junction between the A1 and the A3. from Le Bourget airport, from

and from , one can easily get to and Disneyland as well as the centre of Paris and the .

Religion

Catholic churches: , , . Evangelic churches:

Education

The commune has the following schools: four preschools in the south, seven preschools in the centre of town, and six preschools in the north. It has four elementary schools in the south, six elementary schools in the centre, and six elementary schools in the north. Junior high schools: * * * * Senior high schools: * * * The

Jacques Prévert Jacques Prévert (; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the Poetic realism, poetic ...

serves as the municipal library.

Environment

Parks and gardens

* Jacques-Duclos Park * Vineyards produces , a

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, ; ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new a ...

* Vegetal wall of Forum culturel by Patrick Blanc * * * Square Stalingrad

Sports

Blanc-Mesnil Sports (BMS), founded in 2005, is the city's sport club.

International relations

Le Blanc-Mesnil is twinned with:Le Blanc-Mesnil official site
Les jumelages *

Sandwell Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough ...

in the West Midlands region of the

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 ...

, * Peterhof in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, * Debre Berhan in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, * Beni Douala in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. For fifteen years, twinning between le Blanc-Mesnil and Debre Berhan has been based on the development: water sanitation, education, construction of roads. In a rare spirit, that of a collaboration of equal to equal.

Personalities

* Jérémy Abadie, footballer * Adil Aouchiche, footballer * Amara Baby, footballer * Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, hockey player * Jonathan Biabiany, footballer * Jean-Felix Dorothee, footballer * Abdou Doumbia, footballer * Morgaro Gomis, footballer * Raphaël Guerreiro, footballer * Sylvie Guillem, star dancer at Paris Opera *

Patrick Hernandez Patrick Pierre Hernandez (born 6 April 1949) is a French singer who had a worldwide hit with " Born to Be Alive" in 1979. Biography Born to a Spanish father and an Italian/Austrian mother in Le Blanc-Mesnil, Seine-Saint-Denis, Hernandez grew ...

, famous singer of Born to Be Alive * Mickael Marolany, footballer * Fabien Marsaud, known as Grand Corps Malade, slam poet * Fabrice N'Sakala, footballer *

Moussa Sissoko Moussa Sissoko (born 16 August 1989) is a French professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for and captain (association football), captains club Watford F.C., Watford. He is a Midfielder#Box-to-box midfielder, bo ...

, footballer *

Ludovic Sylvestre Ludovic Sylvestre (born 5 February 1984) is a French former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the sporting director at Red Star F.C., Red Star. Career Youth career Born in the Communes of France, com ...

, footballer * Tristan Valentin, road bicycle racer * Élisabeth Vonarburg, writer of science-fiction

References

Bibliography

* ''Le Blanc-Mesnil et son passé'', Ernest Soitel, 1969. * ''Histoire anecdotique de Blanc-Mesnil'', Albert Galicier, 1973. * ''Le Blanc-Mesnil des temps modernes : 1935-1985'', 1986. * ''Le Blanc-Mesnil'', Pierre Bourgeade, Gilles Smadja, Jean-Pierre Vallorani, Françoise Vasseur, 1992. * ''Le Blanc-Mesnil : citoyens de demain'', Patrick Laigre et Jocelyne Héquet, 1993. * ''Le Blanc-Mesnil : 2000 regards'', Photographies de Luc Choquer, François Crignon, Erwan Guillard, 1999. * ''Le Blanc-Mesnil'', Christian Massart, 2005. * ''Twinning between Le Blanc-Mesnil and Debré-Berhan'' (in English and French).

External links

Official website

Forum culturel

Blog du Forum culturel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blancmesnil Communes of Seine-Saint-Denis