Argenteuil

Argenteuil
Argenteuil map.png
Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs
Administration
Country France
Region Île-de-France
Department Val-d'Oise
Arrondissement Argenteuil
Intercommunality Argenteuil - Bezons
Mayor Philippe Doucet
(2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation 21–167 m (69–548 ft)
(avg. 42 m/138 ft)
Land area1 17.22 km2 (6.65 sq mi)
Population2 104,149  (2006)
 - Density 6,048 /km2 (15,660 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code 95018/ 95100
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Argenteuil (French pronunciation: [aʁʒɑ̃tœj]) is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.3 km (7.6 mi) from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil.

Argenteuil is the second most populous commune in the suburbs of Paris (after Boulogne-Billancourt) and by far the most populous one in the Val-d'Oise department, although it is not its prefecture, which is shared between the communes of Cergy and Pontoise.

Contents

Name

The name Argenteuil is recorded for the first time in a royal charter of 697 as Argentoialum, from a Latin/Gaulish root argento meaning "silver", "silvery", "shiny", perhaps in reference to the gleaming surface of the river Seine, on the banks of which Argenteuil is located, and from a Celtic suffix -ialo meaning "clearing, glade" or "place of".

History

Argenteuil was founded as a convent in the 7th century (→ Pierre Abélard, Convent of Argenteuil). The monastery that arose from the convent was destroyed during the French Revolution.

Argenteuil was known for the white asparagus and grapes grown there. The word Argenteuil is synonymous with white asparagus on menus. Once a rural escape for Parisians, it is now a suburb of Paris. Painters made Argenteuil famous, including Claude Monet, Jean-Étienne Delacroix, Auguste Renoir and Georges Braque.

Personalities

Transport

Argenteuil is served by two stations on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line: Argenteuil and Val d'Argenteuil.

Education

The Conservatoire à rayonnement départemental de Musique, Danse et Théâtre is located in Argenteuil.[1] André Bon is one of its former students.

Demographics

Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Argenteuil in 1999
Born in Metropolitan France Born outside Metropolitan France
77.5% 22.5%
Born in
Overseas France		 Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹ EU-15 immigrants² Non-EU-15 immigrants
2.1% 2.1% 4.3% 14.0%
¹This group is made up largely of pieds-noirs from Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France as of 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics.
²An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

Famous paintings of Argenteuil

"Autumn at Argenteuil", "Regatta at Argenteuil", "Red Boats, Argenteuil", "The Bridge at Argenteuil", "The Port at Argenteuil", "The Seine at Argenteuil"

"Argenteuil" and "Seine near Argenteuil" by Édouard Manet; "Regatta at Argenteuil", by Auguste Renoir; "The Bridge in Argenteuil", by Gustave Caillebotte

Gallery

Claude Monet - The Seine at Argenteuil, 1874

Édouard Manet — Argenteuil, 1875

Édouard Manet — The Seine near Argenteuil, 1874

Crime

Argenteuil has 186.43 criminal incidents per 1000 inhabitants, far higher than national average (83 per 1000) and even higher than the crime rate of the Val-d'Oise department (88.15 per 1000). Argenteuil is the more dangerous city of the Val-d'Oise département.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Argenteuil Conservatory". http://www.argenteuil.fr/article.php3?id_article=65. Retrieved 2009-08-28. 

External links

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