Le Plessis-Robinson () 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 southwestern 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 ...

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 located from the center of Paris. , it has 29,100 inhabitants.

History

Plessis was first mentioned in 839 as ''Plessiacus apud Castanetum'', meaning ''plessis'' near Castanetum. A ''plessis'' was a village surrounded by a fence made of branches. In 1112 the village church was founded, of which the romanesque tower still survives as the oldest monument of Le Plessis. At the end of the 12th the village was renamed Le Plessis-Raoul, after the local lord Raoul, chamberlain of king

Philip II of France Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), byname Philip Augustus (french: Philippe Auguste), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks, but from 1190 onward, Philip became the first French ...

. In 1407 it came into the hands of Jean Piquet de La Haye, who built a castle in the village, now called Le Plessis-Piquet. In 1614 a monastery of the

Congregation of the Feuillants The Feuillants were a Catholic congregation originating in the 1570s as a reform group within the Cistercians in its namesake Les Feuillants Abbey in France, which declared itself an independent order. In 1630 it separated into a French branch ...

was built in the village. In 1682

Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...

, Minister of Finances under

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

had a pond dug which fed the fountains of the nearby

Château de Sceaux The Château de Sceaux is a grand country house in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, approximately from the centre of Paris, France. Located in a park laid out by André Le Nôtre, visitors can tour the house, outbuildings and gardens. The Petit Château o ...

Pierre de Montesquiou d'Artagnan Pierre de Montesquiou, comte d'Artagnan and later comte de Montesquiou (1640 – 12 August 1725) was a French soldier and Marshal of France. A scion of the famous French Montesquiou family, he was the fourth son of Henri I de Montesquiou, se ...

purchased the estate in 1699, and expanded the gardens. In 1790, as a result of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, Antoine Moullé was elected the first mayor of Le Plessis. The commune was renamed Le Plessis-Liberté. The monastery was nationalised and demolished.History of Le Plessis-Robinson (Middle Ages until Revolution)
/ref> The commune was renamed back to Le Plessis-Piquet in 1801.
/ref> In 1848, a ''

guinguette The guinguette was a popular drinking establishment in the suburbs of Paris and of other cities in France. Guinguettes would also serve as restaurants and often as dance venues. The origin of the term comes from ''guinguet'', indicating a local ...

'' (

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

) was established in the area as a suite of interconnected

tree house A tree house, tree fort or treeshed is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a han ...

s. It was named ''Le grand Robinson'' after the tree house described in ''

Swiss Family Robinson ''The Swiss Family Robinson'' (German: ''Der Schweizerische Robinson'') is a novel by Johann David Wyss, first published in 1812, about a Swiss family of immigrants whose ship en route to Port Jackson, Australia, goes off course and is shipwreck ...

'', a novel itself named after ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' () is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a tra ...

''. Several other popular establishments arose in the area and remained popular until the 1960s. In 1909, the commune of Le Plessis-Piquet was officially renamed Le Plessis-Robinson, after ''Le grand Robinson''.History of Le Plessis-Robinson (Guinguettes)
/ref> In 1854,

Louis Hachette Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ...

bought the castle and the grounds. He later became the mayor of Le Plessis-Piquet and a city councillor. The village and the castle were ruined in the Franco-Prussian War, but the castle was rebuilt by the Hachette family.

Population

New Urbanism

Today Le Plessis-Robinson is considered as the most significant project of

New Urbanism New Urbanism is an urban design movement which promotes environmentally friendly habits by creating walkable neighbourhoods containing a wide range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually inf ...

in France. Philippe Pemezec, mayor between 1989 and 2018, started a project to reshape the city, in collaboration with the architects Marc & Nada Breitman, winners of the 2018

Driehaus Prize The Driehaus Architecture Prize, fully named The Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame, is a global award to honor a major contributor in the field of contemporary traditional and classical architecture. The Driehaus Prize was ...

and part of the New Classical movement.

Transport

Le Plessis-Robinson is not served by the Paris Métro, RER, or the suburban rail network. The closest station to Le Plessis-Robinson is

Robinson Robinson may refer to: People and names * Robinson (name) Fictional characters * Robinson Crusoe, the main character, and title of a novel by Daniel Defoe, published in 1719 Geography * Robinson projection, a map projection used since the 1960 ...

station on Paris RER line B. This station is located in the neighboring commune of Sceaux, from the town center of Le Plessis-Robinson.

Education

Primary schools include two groups of nurseries and preschools, five standalone nurseries/preschools (''maternelles''), four standalone elementaries, and Ecole Raymond Aumont. Secondary schools:Les établissements
" Le Plessis-Robinson. Retrieved on September 9, 2016. * Two junior high schools: Collège Claude Nicolas Ledoux and Collège Romain Rolland * One senior high school: Lycée Montesquieu

Sites of interest

*Château park

Twin towns

Le Plessis-Robinson is twinned with the following towns:Commune website
/ref> *

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

* Arabkir,

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

References

External links

Le Plessis-Robinson City Hall
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plessisrobinson Communes of Hauts-de-Seine New Urbanism communities New Classical architecture