Wissous () 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

Essonne Essonne () is a department of France in the southern Île-de-France region. It is named after the river Essonne. In 2019, it had a population of 1,301,659 across 194 communes.department in

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (, ; literally "Isle of France") is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France. Centred on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the country and often called the ''Région parisienne'' (; en, Pa ...

in northern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Paris-Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly an ...

is partially located in the commune.

Population

Inhabitants of Wissous are known as ''Wissoussiens''.

History

Wissous appears in an 11th-century French manuscript as a town called "Vizoor." The first mayor of Wissous was elected in 1790. Wissous experienced significant development since the beginning of the 20th century, with its population increasing by eightfold from 1900 to 2011.Histoire de la ville
" Wissous. Retrieved on 10 February 2011. File:Plan d'eau Wissous.jpg, Saint-Eloi district File:Parc Arthur Clark Wissous.jpg, Arthur Clark park File:Eglise Wissous.jpg, Saint Denis church File:Lavoir de Wissous.jpg,

Lavoir A lavoir (wash-house) is a public place set aside for the washing of clothes. Communal washing places were common in Europe until industrial washing was introduced, and this process in turn was replaced by domestic washing machines and by laun ...

Location

Wissous is located in the Longboyau plain, between the valleys of the Bièvre, the

Orge The Orge () is a long river in France, left tributary of the Seine. Its source is in the village Saint-Martin-de-Bréthencourt. Its course crosses the '' départements'' of Yvelines and Essonne. It flows northwest through the towns of Dourdan, ...

, the Seine, and the Yvette.

Economy

OpenSkies OpenSkies was a French airline owned by International Airlines Group (IAG) which operated under the Level brand prior to closing down, and before that operated under its own brand name. Its headquarters were located in Rungis, near Paris. ...

, an airline, is headquartered in

Paray Vieille Poste Paray-Vieille-Poste () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. Paris-Orly Airport is partially located in the commune. History Paray-Vieille-Poste originated from the old village of Paray, which had about 6 ...

, near Wissous. Prior to its re-establishment as OpenSkies, the airline

L'Avion Elysair SAS, operating as L'Avion (French for "The plane"), was an airline headquartered in Paray Vieille Poste, France, near Wissous. It operated business class-only long-haul service between Orly Airport, Paris and Newark Liberty Internationa ...

(Elysair SAS) was headquartered in that location.

Kyocera is a Japanese multinational ceramics and electronics manufacturer headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. It manufactures industrial ceramics, solar power generating systems, telecommunic ...

Fineceramics Group has its design centre in Orlytech in Paray-Vieille-Poste, near Wissous.

Education

Schools in Wissous include: *Groupe scolaire Victor-Baloche (combined elementary school and preschool) *Ecole maternelle La Fontaine (preschool) *Ecole élémentaire La Fontaine The commune includes a library.

Coat of arms and logo

The coat of arms contains three fleurs de lys, symbolizing Ile-de-France, on an azure background. On a red background, there are six ears of corn, which represent the agricultural activity in the commune. Each two ears have one gear underneath; the gears represent the importance of economic activity. The commune's logo, placed on official documents, has one fleur de lys, one gear, and one ear of corn.Blason et logo
" Wissous. Retrieved on 10 February 2011. File:Gare de Wissous.jpg, Wissous old Station of SNCF File:La Photo - WISSOUS - Station de la Grande Ceinture.JPG, Wissous old Station, c. 1905 File:Atelier Orlyval.jpg,

Orlyval Orlyval is a light metro shuttle service at Paris's Orly Airport using the Véhicule Automatique Léger (VAL, English: ''automatic light vehicle)'' driverless, rubber-tyred people mover technology. The line, which opened on 2 October 1991, off ...