Montreuil, also known unofficially as Montreuil-sous-Bois , is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.6 km from the centre of Paris, in the Seine-Saint-Denis department and in the Métropole du Grand Paris. With a population of 111,367 as of 2020, Montreuil is the third most populous suburb of Paris after Boulogne-Billancourt and Saint-Denis. It is located north of Paris's Bois de Vincennes (in the 12th arrondissement), on the border with Val-de-Marne.

Name

The name Montreuil was recorded for the first time in a royal edict of 722 as Monasteriolum, meaning "little monastery" in Medieval Latin. The settlement of Montreuil started as a group of houses built around a small Merovingian monastery.

History

A small monastery was recorded on the site during the Merovingian period on a hill that overlooked Vincennes, which is most likely where Montreuil gained its name. Under the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XVI the "Peach Walls" which provided the royal court with the fruits were located in Montreuil. It was also later home to the Lumière brothers and George Méliès whose workshops were located in lower Montreuil. On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighboring communes. On that occasion, the commune of Charonne was disbanded and divided between the city of Paris, Montreuil, and Bagnolet. Montreuil received a small part of the territory of Charonne. Today Montreuil is divided into several districts:

Main artistic heritage

Heraldry

Geography

Climate

Montreuil has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb). The average annual temperature in Montreuil is 12.0 C. The average annual rainfall is 669.9 mm with May as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 20.2 C, and lowest in January, at around 4.6 C. The highest temperature ever recorded in Montreuil was 40.0 C on 25 July 2019 and 12 August 2003; the coldest temperature ever recorded was -17.7 C on 17 January 1985.

Demographics

Population

Immigration

Montreuil's inhabitants often exaggeratedly nickname the town the "second Malian town after Bamako", or sometimes "Mali-sous-Bois" or "Bamako-sur-Seine" even though the Seine does not cross the town. Montreuil has indeed a very important Malian population: more than 2,000 inhabitants according to the INSEE in 1999, between 6,000 and 10,000 people according to the mairie, which estimates that Montreuil has the largest Malian community in France. 10% of the population is Malian or has Malian origins.

Administration

The mayor of Montreuil is the member of Parti communiste français Patrice Bessac, who was elected on the second round of 2014 municipal elections, defeating the former ex-Communist mayor Jean-Pierre Brard in a four-way second round. He was re-elected in the first round of the 2020 elections with 51.34% votes, though with 33.67% participation (down from 53.11% in the 2014 election) due to the COVID-19 crisis (which also caused a delay of the 2nd turn in other cities). The city is divided into two cantons: canton of Montreuil-1 and canton of Montreuil-2.

Economy

Video game company Ubisoft has its corporate head office in Montreuil. The Air France Paris office (of Air France-KLM) is in Montreuil.

Education

The commune's educational services are operated out of the Opale B Administrative Building. Montreuil has eight collèges, three lycées, two lycées techniques, and the IUT of the University of Paris 8. Senior high schools/sixth form colleges: The Montreuil Library (Bibliothèque de Montreuil) consists of the Robert-Desnos Central Library, the Daniel-Renoult Library, the Colonel-Fabien Library, and the Paul-Eluard Library. Robert-Desnos, in a park near the commune's town hall, is the largest library in the commune. It houses a music library and Internet access points. Daniel-Renoult, near Montreau Park, serves the Montreau-Ruffins Théophile Sueur community. Colonel-Fabien, in the Ramenas-Fabien-Léo Lagrange community, is near the Intercommunal Hospital. Paul-Eluard is near the La Grande Porte shopping centre and is within 50 m of the Robespierre Paris Métro station and Rue de Paris.

Notable residents and personalities

Transport

Montreuil is served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 9: Robespierre, Croix de Chavaux, and Mairie de Montreuil. There are several new Métro (Line 11 - Montreuil-Hôpital ) and tramway (extension of the T1 tramway ) stations under construction. The region is also working on the extension of the Métro Line 1 to Val-de-Fontenay, with a possible new station in the East of Montreuil (Grands Pêchers).

International relations

Montreuil is twinned with Cottbus, Brandenburg, Germany and a few other towns and cities of Africa, Asia and Europe.