Cergy () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the French

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Val-d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.

, in northwestern suburbs of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "

new town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

" of

Cergy-Pontoise Cergy-Pontoise () is a New town#France, new town and an Agglomeration communities in France, agglomeration community in France, in the Val-d'Oise and Yvelines departments of France, departments, northwest of Paris on the river Oise (river), Oise. I ...

, created in the 1960s, of which it is the central and most populated commune. Although neighbouring

Pontoise Pontoise () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the " new town" of Cergy-Pontoise. Administration Pontoise is the official ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-d'Oise ''dépa ...

is the official ''

préfecture In France, a prefecture (french: préfecture) may be: * the ''chef-lieu de département'', the commune in which the administration of a department is located; * the ''chef-lieu de région'', the commune in which the administration of a region is l ...

'' (capital) of the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivity, territorial collectivities"), between the regions of France, admin ...

'', the ''préfecture'' building and administration, as well as the department council (''conseil général''), are located inside the commune of Cergy, which is regarded as the ''de facto'' capital of Val-d'Oise. The ''

sous-préfecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several districts, sometimes translated as subprefecture ...

'' building and administration, on the other hand, are located inside the commune of Pontoise.

Name

The name Cergy comes from

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...

''Sergiacum'', meaning "estate of Sergius", a

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, language, morals and way of life in a uniquely Gaulish context ...

landowner.

Administration

Cergy is the chief town of two cantons: Cergy-1 and Cergy-2.

Twin towns and sister cities

* Columbia, Maryland, United States. *

Erkrath Erkrath () is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Erkrath is situated on the river Düssel, directly east of Düsseldorf and west of Wuppertal, close to the famous Neandertal. It has two stations, Er ...

, Germany. *

Liaoyang Liaoyang () is a prefecture-level city of east-central Liaoning province, China, situated on the Taizi River. It is approximately one hour south of Shenyang, the provincial capital, by car. Liaoyang is home to Liaoning University's College of Fo ...

, People's Republic of China. *

Porto Novo Porto-Novo (Portuguese: "New Port", , ; yo, Àjàṣẹ́, ), also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe, is the capital of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. Situated on an inlet of the Gulf of Gu ...

, Benin. *

Tres Cantos Tres Cantos is a municipality of Spain located in Community of Madrid. Originally belonging to Colmenar Viejo, it seceded from the latter municipality in 1991, becoming the youngest municipality in the region. The urbanised area was conceived as a ...

, Spain *

West Lancashire West Lancashire is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. The council is based in Ormskirk, and the largest town in the borough is Skelmersdale. At the 2011 Census, the population of the borough was 110,685 ...

, United Kingdom. Cergy is also informally twinned with a village in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

and a village in

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

Demographics

When Cergy was selected to become the center of a "

", it was only a village. The commune had only 2,895 inhabitants in 1968. It then started to develop very quickly, exceeding 10,000 inhabitants in the mid-1970s and then 20,000 in the early-1980s. It is in this decade that its growth was most spectacular, since the city exceeded 48,000 inhabitants in 1990. The increase continued since, but at a notably slower pace, to reach 54,500 at 2004 estimates. However, in December 2001, the commune lost a portion of its territory (net with a 1999 population of 62 persons) to the adjacent commune of

Courdimanche Courdimanche () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. Population Education Schools in the commune include: *École maternelle les Croizettes (preschool) *École élémentaire des Croizettes *Groupe sco ...

. The official census figures have thus been revised downward from the 1999 official 54,781 to 54,719, and the land area from to 11.65 km².

Immigration

Port Cergy

Port Cergy is a

marina A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats. A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...

on the

River Oise The Oise ( ; ) is a river of Belgium and France, flowing for from its source in the Belgian province of Hainaut, south of Chimay. It crosses the border with France after about . It flows into the Seine at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, a north-wester ...

at pk 9. The site comprises both housing and recreational yachts as well as a boating school. The marina can hold 103 ships ranging 5 to 22m long and. The northern part of the site is reserved for restaurants and shops and have been built around a small bain.

Ham

Ham Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...

is a small village to the south of Cergy. The village used to be part of the Sergentery and then

Neuville-sur-Oise Neuville-sur-Oise () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department, in the northwest suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise, created in the 1960s. Neuville-sur-Oise is a rather anonymous village between Jouy-le-M ...

but has since been amalgamated in the commune of Cergy. On its territory is the outdoor leisure centre 'Base de Loisirs de Cergy-Neuville'.

Transport

Cergy is served by three stations on Paris RER line A and on the

Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare is one of the sectors in the Paris Transilien suburban rail network. The trains on this sector depart from Gare Saint-Lazare in central Paris and serve the north and north-west of Île-de-France region with Transilien ...

suburban rail line: Cergy-Préfecture, Cergy-Saint-Christophe, and Cergy-le-Haut. Cergy is served by direct buses from

Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle, ), also known as Roissy Airport or simply Paris CDG, is the principal airport serving the French capital, Paris ( and its metropolitan area), and the largest intern ...

. The bus compan
STIVO
provides 17 lines of buses to travel within the agglomeration of Cergy.

Education

Secondary schools:Collèges et lycées
" Cergy. Retrieved on 6 September 2016. "Lycée polyvalent A. Kastler ..6 avenue de la Palette, sur la commune de Pontoise " * Junior high schools (''collèges''): Gérard Philipe, La Justice, Les Explorateurs, Les Touleuses, Moulin à Vent * Senior high schools/sixth-form colleges: Lycée polyvalent Galilée and Lycée polyvalent Jules Verne

Lycée Alfred Kastler de Cergy-Pontoise Lycée Alfred Kastler de Cergy-Pontoise is a senior high school located in Pontoise, Val-d'Oise, France, in the Paris metropolitan area, serving both Pontoise and Cergy.Cergy-Pontoise University Cergy-Pontoise University (French: ''Université de Cergy-Pontoise'') was a French university, located in Cergy-Pontoise, France. On 1 January 2020, the university merged with the International School of Information Processing Sciences (EISTI) an ...

CY Tech CY Tech, formerly EISTI (''École internationale des sciences du traitement de l'information''), is a French graduate engineering school created in 1983. It is located across three campuses (Cergy, Pau, Saint-Germain-en-Laye) and specialises ...

, formerly EISTI (''École internationale des sciences du traitement de l'information'') *

ESSEC The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (more commonly ESSEC Business School or ESSEC) is a major French business and management school, with non-profit association status (French association law of 1901) founded in 1907 ...

Business School (''

grande école A ''grande école'' () is a specialised university that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. The grandes écoles offer teaching, research and professional training in s ...

'') * ENSEA École Nationale Supérieure de l'Électronique et de ses Applications *

ITIN Itin, itín or ITIN may refer to *Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, a United States tax processing number *International Token Identification Number, a unique identifier of tokens build upon Blockchain technology *Ilya Itin (born 1967), Ru ...

, IT-Institute (École supérieure d'informatique, réseaux et systèmes d'information)
Web site of Professional Bachelor’s degree in International Trade and International Tourism (Cergy-Pontoise University)

Security

Known as being a violent city in the past, with a criminal rate of 137.62 incidents per 1000 inhabitants, Cergy-Pontoise has experienced a significant decrease of violence in the past years. Reaching, in the year of 2008, a rate of 9,87 criminal incidents per 1000 inhabitants, which is still a high criminal rate.

In popular culture

The town was used as a filming location for

Henri Verneuil Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International Fi ...

's film I... comme Icare released in 1979, starring

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, Ivo held strong ...

. The EDF-GDF tower designed by architect Renzo Moro is the building from which the shots were fired to assassinate president Marc Jarry. The country that the movie depicts is not named, although the United States is perhaps suggested. The filmmakers chose the modern and innovative architecture of the new city to avoid depicting any particular country. The town was also the location of the 1987 film My Girlfriend's Boyfriend directed by

Eric Rohmer The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...