Évry () is a former commune in the southern 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. Si ...

, France, prefecture of the department of

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.Évry-Courcouronnes Évry-Courcouronnes () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France, prefecture of the department of Essonne. It was established on 1 January 2019 from the amalgamation of the communes of Évry and Courcouronnes. The city is the home ...

. It is located from the center 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 Évry Ville Nouvelle, created in the 1960s, of which it is the central and most populated commune. Significant nearby communes include

Courcouronnes Courcouronnes () is a former commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Évry-Courcouronnes. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Évry Ville Nouvelle, crea ...

Corbeil-Essonnes Corbeil-Essonnes () on the River Seine is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Although neighboring Évry is the official seat of the Arrondissement of Évry, the sub-prefecture building ...

, Ris-Orangis,

Brétigny-sur-Orge Brétigny-sur-Orge (, literally ''Brétigny on Orge'') is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France, from the city center. Origin of the city name The name of the settlement is attested as ''Britiniacum'' in 1146, as ''Bretigniacum ...

, and Draveil.

Name

Originally the commune was called ''Évry-sur-Seine'' (meaning "Évry upon

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...

"). The name "Évry" comes from the Gallic name ''Eburacon'' or ''Eburiacos'', meaning "land of Eburos" (a Gallic

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. Patronymics are still in use, including mandatory use, in many countries worldwide, alt ...

), perhaps the leader of a Gallic tribe in the area before the conquest of

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 ...

by the Romans. After the conquest, the name was corrupted into

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

''Apriacum'', then

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 ...

''Avriacum'', and later ''Evriacum''. In 1881 the name of the commune was changed into ''Évry-Petit-Bourg'' at the request of entrepreneur

Paul Decauville Paul Decauville (1846–1922) was a French engineer and businessman. He was also mayor of Evry-Petit Bourg and senator from Seine-et-Oise. He is the founder of a manufacturing company that bears his name ( Decauville, established in 1875), pro ...

, owner of ''Ateliers de Petit-Bourg'', a large boiler works located in Évry and at the time the largest employer in the area. The factory owed its name to the hamlet of Petit-Bourg (one of the three hamlets on the territory of Évry) where it was built. On 29 June 1965 the name of the ''commune'' was shortened into "Évry" only. Évry had just been chosen to become a "

" of the suburbs of Paris, destined to host tens of thousands of suburbanites, and so the name "Petit-Bourg" (literally meaning "little borough, small town" in modern French, although etymologists think that this name was in fact the corruption of an old Gallic word with a totally different meaning) was deemed too old fashioned and improper for the new large suburban city of Évry to be built.

History

In 1965 Évry became part of the French

initiative and took its current name. Before then it was known as "Évry-Petit-Bourg" and had a population of only a few thousand. When Évry was built, Orly was the primary international airport of France, and many international companies, such as

Digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals ** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

, and

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational corporation, multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the A ...

, established their head offices in Évry. However, with the expansion of Charles de Gaulle Roissy airport, all the larger companies have moved out, causing the downfall of the many smaller service companies which catered to the lunchtime needs of the thousands of staff who were either displaced or made redundant. Amongst the few international companies remaining are the hotel and catering firm of Accor and the supermarket chain of

Carrefour Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, whic ...

. Although both have a postal Cedex address in Évry, geographically they are in

. The town has tried to counteract this exodus by increasing the capacity of the commercial center, the

Agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order o ...

, to 235 shops, mostly selling the same wares (54 ready-made women's wear, 14 shoe shops, 28 men's wear, 13 children's wear, 15 jewellers, 9 mobile phone shops, 9 opticians, and 19 restaurants and snack bars). The economy of the Agora has also been hit by the recession. A total of 29 shops and one restaurant are vacant. 24 are on the upper level where the rents are almost double that of the lower level shops. During the week the car parks are now "pay by the hour" to discourage rail commuters from saturating the parking space during the day to the detriment of shoppers. Weekend parking is free. Another measure taken by the local authorities has been to declare certain quarters a "''zone franche''" which means that businesses starting up in these areas are exempt from

corporation tax A corporate tax, also called corporation tax or company tax, is a direct tax imposed on the income or capital of corporations or analogous legal entities. Many countries impose such taxes at the national level, and a similar tax may be imposed a ...

along with many other social benefits and aids which makes Évry an attractive town for future entrepreneurs. The Cathedral of the Resurrection, dedicated to

Saint Corbinien Saint Corbinian ( la, Corbinianus; french: Corbinien; german: Korbinian; 670 – 8 September c. 730 AD) was a Frankish bishop. After living as a hermit near Chartres for fourteen years, he made a pilgrimage to Rome. Pope Gregory II sent him to B ...

, is one of the few 20th century cathedrals built in a truly modern style (see also

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The cur ...

Basil Spence 1962,

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, officially known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King and locally nicknamed "Paddy's Wigwam", is the seat of the Archbishop of Liverpool and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Li ...

Frederick Gibberd Sir Frederick Ernest Gibberd (7 January 1908 – 9 January 1984) was an English architect, town planner and landscape designer. He is particularly known for his work in Harlow, Essex, and for the BISF house, a design for a prefabricated counci ...

1967). The total cost was 13.72M€. The total surface is 1,600 m², and it is 34m high. It can receive 1,400 people.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

made a visit on 22 August 1997, and although car parks were requisitioned as far away as

, apart from invited guests, fewer than 500 people turned out for the event, which means that Évry may hold the world record for the smallest crowd at a papal appearance. In 2003, the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

mayor, Manuel Valls (born 13 August 1962, in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Catalonia, Spain, French nationality by naturalisation in 1982), and who is also the

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

deputé (Member of Parliament) and a qualified ''

avocat {{Short pages monitor

Education

the commune has 42 schools with 7,200 students. The commune has six junior high schools:Collèges et Lycées
" Évry. Retrieved on 3 September 2016
p. 2
/ref> * Collège des Pyramides * Collège Galilée * Collège Le Village * Collège Montesquieu * Collège Paul Éluard Senior high schools: * Lycée Auguste Perret * Lycée Charles Baudelaire * Lycée du Parc des Loges

Lycée François Truffaut In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children betwee ...

is in nearby Bondoufle, Lycée Pierre Mendès France is in nearby Ris-Orangis, Lycée Georges Brassens is in nearby

, and Lycée Robert Doisneau is in nearby

. Private schools * Collège-Lycée Notre-Dame-De-Sion University: *

University of Évry Val d'Essonne The Université d'Évry Val-d'Essonne (''Université d'Évry Val-d'Essonne'' or UEVE) is a French public university located in Évry-Courcouronnes, Île-de-France, and is one of the founding members of Paris-Saclay University. The UEVE is expec ...

''Grande école'': * École nationale supérieure d'informatique pour l'industrie et l'entreprise *

Telecom Business School Institut Mines-Télécom Business School (formerly known as ''INT Management'' from its foundation in 1979 to its rebranding in 2009 then Telecom Business School from 2009 to 2018) is a French state-funded Management School, a member of Institut M ...

* Telecom SudParis

Religion

Évry has the following religious edifices (in descending order of attendance): * Grand Mosque of Évry and Islamic Centre (largest in France)
picture
* Cathedral of the Resurrection * Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (

Mormons Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into sever ...

) * Evangelist Centre (Protestant) * Adventist Church * Parish church of St Peter & St Paul (extremely rare 12th century building oriented north–south instead of east/west) * Synagogue * Notre Dame de l'Esperance * Convent of Notre Dame de Sion There is also a very strong presence of

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

in Évry, with a new Kingdom Hall on the Route Nationale 7 nearly opposite the pagoda. The Grand Mosque of Évry with its 5,525 m² is one of the largest in Europe, and is of

Moroccan architecture Moroccan architecture refers to the architecture characteristic of Morocco throughout its history and up to modern times. The country's diverse geography and long history, marked by successive waves of settlers through both migration and militar ...

. The minaret is 25m tall. It has a large prayer room and can accommodate a total of 5.000 people. Évry is a "multicultural" community, yet problems rarely arise. The construction of the mosque was mostly funded by King Fahd of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the Ara ...

and the interior decoration by the Moroccan king Hassan II. The total cost was €6.8 million. Although the true story of the kidnapping and death of

Ben Barka use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...

is still a mystery, many people believe he is buried either under the mosque or in the nearby forest of La Garenne. The Pagoda Khanh-Anh will be the largest

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism repres ...

in Europe (3,287 m²) and will accommodate 1,500 people. The initial cost was estimated at €7.6 million, mostly funded by the Vietnamese community, but is expected to have doubled by the end of the construction. Work began in 1996 and is yet to be completed. The statue of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

, 4 metres tall and weighing 5 tons, arrived from

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

on 20 October 2002. The pagoda will be the headquarters of the European Buddhist Congregation and will be a training school for future monks and nuns. The

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

consecrated the edifice on 12 August 2008. He made a speech in English which was translated by interpreters into French and Vietnamese. 1,500 adepts were admitted into the grounds coming from as far away as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, but only 500 visitors watched the ceremony on a giant screen erected in the nearby park.

Parks and recreation

Parc-du-Lac Courcouronnes is a relatively large park with a walking trail and a small lake, located in Evry-Courcouronnes. It is home to the famous "Dame du Lac", a very large climbing wall constructed by architect Pierre Skelezy in 1975.

Political activity

The following political parties have a permanent base in Évry: * Parti Communiste Français *

Parti Radical de Gauche The Radical Party of the Left (french: Parti radical de gauche, PRG) is a social-liberal political party in France. A party in the Radical tradition, since 1972 the PRG was a close ally of the major party of the centre-left in France, the Soc ...

* Parti Socialiste * UDF * UMP * Groupe des Verts * Groupe "Défi pour Évry" * Groupe "Nous, Citoyens d'Évry"

Miscellaneous

The composer

Gioachino Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...

had a country residence in Évry to be near his friend Edmond de Goncourt, who lived on the opposite bank of the

in Draveil. It was here that he wrote the greater part of his opera ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( it, Il barbiere di Siviglia, ossia L'inutile precauzione ) is an '' opera buffa'' in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was ba ...

''. On 16 November 1943, Resistance fighter

Missak Manouchian Missak Manouchian ( Western hy, Միսաք Մանուշեան; , 1 September 1906 – 21 February 1944) was a French-Armenian poet and communist activist. An Armenian genocide survivor, he moved to France from an orphanage in Lebanon in 1925. ...

was arrested during a gun battle on the banks of the Seine, a few hundred yards from Évry railway station after his group had been outnumbered. A memorial marks the exact place where he was arrested. Towards the end of the war,

General Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France ...

crossed the Seine with his tanks at Évry en route from

Avranches Avranches (; nrf, Avraunches) is a commune in the Manche department, and the region of Normandy, northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called ''Avranchinais''. History By the end of the Roman period ...

going towards the east. The anniversary of the liberation of Évry on 23 August 1944, is celebrated annually at the Patton Memorial. Note: Although there is a plaque at the site where the US Army crossed the Seine at Évry Petit Bourg claiming that General Patton crossed the Seine at this site, the claim that Patton crossed here is incorrect. Units of Patton's 3rd Army crossed the Seine south of Paris on Aug 26, 1944 at Sens and Troyes, 20-30 mi south of Évry. The pontoon bridge at Évry Petit Bourg was constructed on Aug 26, 1944 by the 238th Engineer Combat Battalion, part of the US VII Corps under Gen. J. Lawton Collins, US First Army (Gen. Courtney Hodges). The tanks that crossed at Évry belonged to the 3d Armored Division of the US First Army, not Patton's 3d Army. Although Évry is a modern "new town", which is generally synonymous with "concrete jungle", 50% of its surface area is parkland and open space. The main thoroughfares are very wide avenues, and trees are to be found everywhere. In the nationwide intercommunal competition "Ville Fleurie" (flowered town) Évry has been awarded the high status of "3 flowers", usually won by country villages. To encourage this aspect of the town an annual "Balcon Fleuri" (flowered balcony) competition is held. A similar balcony competition is held each December for the best exterior Christmas decorations. Some people consider the modern cathedral as an architectural beauty while others liken the design to that of a

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheri ...

. Évry is the home of the European space project Ariane, at the Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES).

Notable personalities

* Maud Medenou, basketball player *

Aurélien Ngeyitala Aurélien Ngeyitala Lola (born 29 May 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Championnat National 3 club . Born in France, he is a former DR Congo youth international. Early life Ngeyitala was born in Évry, France, ...

, footballer * Niska, rapper *

Koba LaD Marcel Junior Loutarila (; born April 3, 2000), better known as Koba LaD (), is a French rapper from Évry, Île-de-France. He grew up in famous Bâtiment 7 in Évry, where Bolémvn came from. His name Koba is inspired from the fictional char ...

, rapper * Kodès, rapper * Bolemvn, rapper

Twinnings

Évry is twinned with the

London Borough of Bexley The London Borough of Bexley () is a London borough in south-east London, forming part of Outer London. It has a population of 248,287. The main settlements are Sidcup, Erith, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Welling and Old Bexley. The London Borou ...

in England. This is because, originally, Évry was designed to be a predominantly management and executive class town. Évry is also twinned with

Nowy Targ Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Goral Dialect: ''Miasto'') is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Gorce Mounta ...

in Poland,

Troisdorf Troisdorf () is a city in the Rhein-Sieg-Kreis (district), in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Troisdorf is located approximately 22 kilometers south of Cologne and 13 kilometers north east of Bonn. Division of the city Troisdorf co ...

in Germany, Estelí in Nicaragua, and Repentigny in Quebec, Canada. The Agglomération d'Évry has twinning pacts with

Kayes Kayes ( Bambara: ߞߊߦߌ tr. ''Kayi'', Soninké: ''Xaayi'') is a city in western Mali on the Sénégal River with a population of 127,368 at the 2009 census. Kayes is the capital of the administrative region of the same name. The name "Kayes ...

in Mali and

Khan Younis Khan Yunis ( ar, خان يونس, also spelled Khan Younis or Khan Yunus; translation: ''Caravansary fJonah'') is a city in the southern Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, Khan Yunis had a population of 142 ...

in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. (Maison du Monde, 509, Patio des Terrasses, Évry, sharing the address with a branch of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

.) The latest addition to the overseas contacts is a "''parrainage''" (godfather) pact with

Bozovici Bozovici ( hu, Bozovics; german: Bosowitsch; cs, Božoviče) is a commune in Caraș-Severin County, western Romania with a population of 2,924 people. It is composed of four villages: Bozovici, Poneasca (''Ponyászkatelep''), Prilipeț (''Prilipec ...

in Romania.

Sports

Several évryens clubs illustrated in various disciplines such as AS Evry in

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

who played in the third division national league and the Paris Île-de-France, the Corsairs of Evry in

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

. evolving into a second division championship and sometimes national French elite; the Peaux Rouges in

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

who play in the third national division, and the North South Viry Evry Essonne athletics. The town regularly hosts national meetings such as the French Dance Federation in 1981. Being city-stage of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

in 2001, it was also bid to host the Grand Prix of France. In June 2012, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) announced that the now-closed Ris-Orangis horse racing track in Évry had been chosen as the site for a proposed new stadium for the national rugby union team. The new ground was intended to feature 82,000 seats, a retractable roof, and a slide-out pitch, and was to be at the center of a 133-hectare shopping and entertainment complex. Plans originally called for the stadium to open in 2017, but FFR abandoned the project in December 2016 after numerous delays.

References

External links

Évry town hall

Évry agglomerationÉvry branch of the Communist Party

University of Évry

Cathedral of the Resurrection in Évry

Cathedral and diocese
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evry Former communes of Essonne New towns in Île-de-France Essonne communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia New towns started in the 1960s Populated places disestablished in 2019 States and territories disestablished in 2019