Grenelle () is a neighbourhood in southwestern

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. Si ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is a part of the 15th arrondissement of the city. There is currently a Boulevard de Grenelle which runs along the North delimitation of the ''quartier'', and a Rue de Grenelle, a few kilometers North-East in the 7th arrondissement.

History

In 52 BC, ''Garanella'' plain was the site of the

Battle of Lutetia The Battle of Lutetia was a battle on the plain of Grenelle in what is now Paris between Roman forces under Titus Labienus and an anti-Roman Gallic coalition in 52 BC during the Gallic Wars. It was a Roman victory. Prelude Caesar sent Labienus ...

between the troops of the

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

ish chief Camulogène and the

Roman legion The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period o ...

under General

Labienus Titus Labienus (c. 10017 March 45 BC) was a high-ranking military officer in the late Roman Republic. He served as tribune of the Plebs in 63 BC. Although mostly remembered as one of Julius Caesar's best lieutenants in Gaul, mentioned freq ...

. Despite their courageous resistance, the Gauls were defeated. Towards the middle of the 13th century, Grenelle became a

fiefdom A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of f ...

of the

Abbey of St Genevieve The Abbey of Saint Genevieve (French: ''Abbaye Sainte-Geneviève'') was a monastery in Paris. Reportedly built by Clovis I, Clovis, King of the Franks in 502, it became a centre of religious scholarship in the Middle Ages. It was suppressed at the ...

and became part of the village of Vaugirard. On May 15, 1824, two city councillors from Vaugirard, Jean-Léonard Violet and Alphonse Letellier, bought and divided up Grenelle plain. They did this rather quickly, and the new ''quartier'' '' Beaugrenelle'' was founded on June 27, 1824. Thenceforth, under the encouragement of a group of entrepreneurs (the ''Compagnie des Entrepreneurs'', founded by Violet and Letellier), the ''quartier'' continued to develop, occasionally provoking feelings of hostility from residents of old Vaugirard. Thus, on May 13, 1829, following the refusal of the city to install oil lamps, the residents of Beaugrenelle demanded to break off from Vaugirard, a separation which took place the next year. However, it was to be short-lived. On 1 January 1860, despite the objections of the residents of Grenelle,

Baron Haussmann Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

decided to annex Grenelle, Vaugirard, and Javel, thus creating the 15th arrondissement.

Notable events

* Explosion of the Powder Magazine at Grenelle, (1794) in which fifteen hundred people lost their lives — Decree for checking the progress of

Vandalism Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property. The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The ter ...

— The monuments of the arts and sciences placed under the care of the authorities. * The 1804 explosion of the Grenelle powder magazine shook Paris and caused many pregnant women to miscarry. * On March 8, 1871, during the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...

, the Army of Thiers refused to hand over cannons to their arguably-legal possessors, the Republican-aligned National Guard. The later resorted by burning down an Army barracks in Rue de Grenelle ("Grenelle Street").

References

{{authority control Districts of Paris 15th arrondissement of Paris Former communes of Seine Administrative districts of Paris