Chelles () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is located in the

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

department in the

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

from the center of Paris.

History

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

artifacts were discovered by chance at Chelles by the pioneering nineteenth-century anthropologist

Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet (29 August 1821 – 25 September 1898), French archaeologist and anthropologist, was born at Meylan, Isère. Biography Mortillet was educated at the Jesuit college of Chambéry and at the Paris Conservatoi ...

(1821–1898); he named the corresponding cultural stage of the Paleolithic after the commune: «

Chellean Abbevillian (formerly also ''Chellean'') is a term for the oldest lithic industry found in Europe, dated to between roughly 600,000 and 400,000 years ago. The original artifacts were collected from road construction sites on the Somme river near ...

» or «

Chellian In geology, and archeology, Chellian or Chellean was the name given by the French anthropologist G. de Mortillet to the first epoch of the Quaternary period when the earliest human remains were discovered. The word is derived from the French town C ...

», nowadays known as «

Oldowan The Oldowan (or Mode I) was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry during the early Lower Paleolithic spanning the late Pliocene and the first half of the Early Pleistocene. These early tools were simple, usually made by chipping one ...

». At the Merovingian villa of ''Calae'' the abbey of Notre-Dame-des-Chelles was founded by

Balthild Balthild ( 626 – 30 January 680) (; , 'bold sword' or 'bold spear), also spelled Bathilda, Bauthieult or Baudour, was queen consort of Neustria and Burgundy by marriage to Clovis II, the King of Neustria and Burgundy (639–658), and regent d ...

, a seventh-century queen of the Franks. It was largely demolished at the time of the French Revolution. The Hôtel de Ville was acquired by the commune in 1937.

Geography

There are two main streets in Chelles, Avenue Foch and Avenue de la Résistance.

Demographics

The inhabitants are called ''Chellois''.

Transport

Chelles is served by

Chelles–Gournay station Chelles–Gournay () is a railway station in Chelles, Seine-et-Marne, France. The station opened in 1849 and is on the Paris-Est–Strasbourg-Ville railway. The station is served by Transilien line P (East Paris) and RER Line E services operat ...

on Paris RER line and on the

Transilien Transilien () is the brand name given to the commuter rail and tram-train network operated by SNCF and serving Île-de-France, the region surrounding and including the city of Paris. The network consists of lines Transilien Line H, H, Transilie ...

Paris-Est The Gare de l'Est (; English: "Station of the East" or "East station"), officially Paris Est, is one of the seven large mainline railway station termini in Paris, France. It is located in the 10th arrondissement, not far southeast from the Ga ...

suburban rail line .

Education

the commune has 13,000 students in 46 public and private schools. The commune includes 19 public preschools and 16 public elementary schools. There are also: *Four public junior high schools: Collège Beau soleil, Collège Corot, Collège de l'Europe, Collège Pierre Weczerka and Collège Simone Veil - Beau Soleil and de l'Europe have Enseignement Général Professionnel Adapté (S.E.G.P.A) programmesCollèges
" Chelles. Retrieved on September 6, 2016. *Three public senior high schools/sixth-form colleges, Lycée Gaston Bachelard, Lycée Professionnel Louis Lumière, and Lycée Jehan de ChellesLycées
" Chelles. Retrieved on September 6, 2016. *One private school - Institution Gasnier Guy, with private preschool and elementary school (Gasnier Guy / Ste Bathilde), junior high school (Collège Gasnier Guy), and senior high school (Lycée Gasnier Guy) divisions Chelles includes a library, Bibliothèque Olympe de Gouges, and a media centre, Médiathèque Jean-Pierre Vernant.

Culture and recreation

The commune includes the Musée Alfred-Bonno. There is also a public swimming pool, and a public skate park which opened in 1999.Skatepark
." Chelles. Retrieved on September 6, 2016. Chelles is twinned with the city of

Lindau Lindau (, ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital ...

, Germany.

Gallery

File:Chelles parc Emile-Fouchard pano-1.jpg, Parc Emile Fouchard File:Chelles ile Refuge.jpg, Île Refuge, in the Marne river, is part of the Local Nature Reserve of the islands of Chelles File:Gournay-sur-Marne - Bridge.jpg, File:Bus312 213 garechellesallée.jpg, Chelles-Gournay train station File:Borne fleurdelysée 9, point km 18, Chelles, Seine-et-Marne.jpg, Where Roi Chilpéric was assassinated File:Chelles - Bibliotheque Georges Brassens.jpg, Georges Brassens Chelles Library File:Eglise de Chelles et son cimetière.jpg, Saint-André Church and Cemetery File:Ecole maternelle Curie.jpg, Curie nursery File:Chelles - Avenue de la Resistance.jpg, Avenue de la Résistance

References

External links

Official website

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chelles, Seine-Et-Marne Communes of Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia