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Palaiseau () is a commune in the southern 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 centre of Paris. Palaiseau is a sub-prefecture of the
Essonne Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Palaiseau. Palaiseau was a royal domain in the 6th century then again in the 18th century on the important road from
Chartres Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...
to Paris. The population grew from the 19th century with the arrival of the railway connecting the town to Paris. Palaiseau then became a vacation spot, writers such as
George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. Being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balz ...
,
Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
, Charles Péguy built their villas near the stations. A ranking from the newspaper ''
Le Parisien ''Le Parisien'' (; ) is a French daily newspaper covering both international and national news, and local news of Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of ...
'' in 2018 ranks Palaiseau as the third town in
Essonne Essonne () is a department in the southern part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659, across 194 communes.Grandes écoles Grandes may refer to: *Agustín Muñoz Grandes, Spanish general and politician * Banksia ser. Grandes, a series of plant species native to Australia * Grandes y San Martín, a municipality located in the province of Ávila, Castile and León, Spain ...
" on its territory: the
École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
, the
Institut d'optique Graduate School The Institut d'optique Graduate School ("Institute of optics"), nicknamed SupOptique or IOGS, is a graduate school of Paris-Saclay University and ParisTech. History Armand de Gramont, a rich industrialist and friend of Marcel Proust, was the ma ...
, ENSTA ParisTech, ENSAE ParisTech, the Institut Mines-Télécom, AgroParisTech as well as research centers
Onera The Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales ( English: National office for aerospace studies and research) or ONERA, dubbed ''The French Aerospace Lab'' in English, is the French national aerospace research center. Originally f ...
,
Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in 1919 in Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris, where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock mark ...
,
Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...
and EDF. Inhabitants of Palaiseau are known as ''Palaisiens''.


Population


Education

, the primary schools in Palaiseau have 2,770 students. There are 12 public preschools (''maternelles'') and 10 public elementary schools. Public secondary schools: * Junior high schools: Collège César-Franck, Collège Charles-Péguy, Collège Joseph-Bara * Senior high schools: Lycée professionnel Henri-Poincaré, Lycée Camille Claudel The Institution Saint-Martin is a private school from preschool to high school.


Colleges and universities

ParisTech ParisTech () is a cluster of 7 grandes écoles based in Paris, France. It covers the whole spectrum of science, technology and management and has more than 12,000 students. The training programs in engineering bring them together. ParisTech sc ...
has a strong presence in Palaiseau, with four member institutes: the (one of the most prestigious engineering schools in France), École nationale de la statistique et de l'administration économique, École nationale supérieure de techniques avancées, and Institut d'optique Graduate School which are now located in Palaiseau, on the
Plateau de Saclay The Plateau de Saclay (), also called Silicon Valley Européenne (in English, European Silicon Valley), is located north of Essonne and south-east of Yvelines, 20 km south of Paris. It is bounded by the valley of the Yvette (river), Yvette (''V ...
. The first three institutes are now grouped together in the
Polytechnic Institute of Paris The Polytechnic Institute of Paris () is a Public university, public technological university located in Palaiseau, France. It consists of six engineering ''grandes écoles'': , ENSTA Paris, ENSAE Paris, École des ponts ParisTech, Télécom Paris ...
and the last one is a member of the
Paris-Saclay University Paris-Saclay University (, ) is a combined technological research institute and public research university in Orsay, France. Paris-Saclay was established in 2019 after the merger of four technical ''grandes écoles,'' as well as several technol ...
.


Transport

Palaiseau is served by 3 stations on Paris RER line B: Palaiseau, Palaiseau – Villebon and
Lozère Lozère (; ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie in Southern France, located near the Massif Central, bounded to the northeast by Haute-Loire, to the ...
(this last station is the closest to ''
École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
''). The station Massy-Palaiseau (RER B, RER C and also TGV, the French high-speed rail) is located in the nearby town of Massy.


Twin towns

Palaiseau is twinned with
Unna Unna () is a city of around 59,000 people in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the seat of the Unna (district), Unna district. The newly refurbished Unna station has trains to all major cities in North Rhine Westphalia including Dortmund, Köln H ...
,
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 ...
.


See also

*
Communes of the Essonne department The following is a list of the 194 communes of the Essonne department of France. The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2025):Mayors of Essonne Association

Official website
* {{Authority control Communes of Essonne Subprefectures in France