Rueil-Malmaison () is a commune in the western 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. ...

, in the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a département in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the we ...

department,

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 ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. It is located from the centre of

. In 2017, it had a population of 78,152. It is one of the wealthiest suburbs of Paris.

Name

Rueil-Malmaison was originally called simply Rueil. In medieval times the name Rueil was spelled either , , , , or . This name is made of the Celtic word (meaning 'clearing, glade' or 'place of') suffixed to a radical meaning 'brook, stream' ( la, rivus, fro, rû), or maybe to a radical meaning ' ford' (Celtic ). In 1928, the name of the commune officially became Rueil-Malmaison in reference to its most famous tourist attraction, the Château de Malmaison, home of Napoleon's first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais. The name Malmaison comes from

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a Literary language, literary standard language, standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used f ...

, meaning 'ill-fated domain', 'estate of ill luck'. In the

Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the M ...

Malmaison was the site of a royal residence which was destroyed by the Vikings in 846.

History

Eglise Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul Rueil-Malmaison

The Rueil barracks of the Swiss Guard were constructed in 1756 under Louis XV by the architect Axel Guillaumot, and have been classified '' Monument historique'' since 1973. The Guard was formed by Louis XIII in 1616 and massacred at the Tuileries on 10 August 1792 during 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 conside ...

. Rueil is famous for the Château de Malmaison where Napoleon and his first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais lived. Upon her death in 1814, she was buried at the nearby Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church, which stands at the centre of the city. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Rueil was located on the front line. At the end of the 19th century, Impressionist painters like

Pierre-Auguste Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that " ...

, Édouard Manet and

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

came to paint the

Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plate ...

River which crosses the town.

Population

Sights

The Château de Malmaison, the residence of Napoléon's first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, is located in Rueil-Malmaison. It is home to a Napoleonic museum. File:2011 Chateau de Malmaison recto-verso.jpg, The Château de Malmaison, recto, verso File:Château de Malmaison - Appartement de Joséphine 001.jpg, Bedroom of Joséphine de Beauharnais and Napoléon File:Château de Malmaison - Salle de billard 001.jpg, Billiard room File:Château de Malmaison - Bibliothèque 001.jpg, Library of Napoleon File:Château de Malmaison - Salle à manger 002.jpg, Dining room

Economy

The main campus of the French Institute of Petroleum research organisation is in Rueil. The city has also become home to many large companies moving out of La Défense business district, located only from Rueil, a trend first established by the move of

Esso Esso () is a trade name, trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Exxon, Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Ess ...

headquarters to Rueil. There are about 850 service sector companies located in Rueil, 70 of which employ more than 100 people. A business district called ''Rueil-sur-Seine'' (previously known as "Rueil 2000") was created near the

RER A RER A is one of the five lines in the Réseau Express Régional (English: Regional Express Network), a hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system serving Paris, France and its suburbs. The line crosses the region from east to west, with all t ...

Rueil-Malmaison station Rueil-Malmaison is a railway station at Rueil-Malmaison on the A1 branch of the Paris RER commuter rail line. Railway stations in France opened in 1972 Réseau Express Régional stations in Hauts-de-Seine {{ParisRER-stub ...

to accommodate these companies. The business district is equipped with a fiber-optic network. Several major French companies have their world headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, such as Schneider Electric and

VINCI Vinci may refer to: Places *Vinci, Tuscany, a ''comune'' in the Province of Florence, Italy *Vinci (Golubac), a community in Braničevo District, Serbia People * Alessandro Vinci (born 1987), Italian footballer *Alessio Vinci (born 1968), Itali ...

. Schneider had its head office in Rueil-Malmaison since 2000; previously the building Schneider occupies housed the Schneider subsidiary Télémécanique.Schneider-Electric s'est installé chez une filiale
" Schneider Electric. Retrieved on 8 July 2010. Several large international companies have also located their French headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, such as

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November ...

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includ ...

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

and

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy ...

Infrastructure

Transportation

Rueil-Malmaison is served by

. In the future, the commune will be served by Rueil – Suresnes – Mont Valérien station on Line 15 of the Grand Paris Express (GPE), which will be located on the border with the commune of

Suresnes Suresnes () is a Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,145 as of 2016. The nearest communes are Nanterre, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmais ...

, as well as a western extension of Île-de-France tramway Line 1.

Healthcare

The

Stell Hospital The Stell Hospital is a teaching hospital in Rueil-Malmaison. It is a teaching hospital of Sorbonne University. It was established in August 1903 by American philanthropist Edward Tuck Edward Tuck (August 24, 1842 – April 30, 1938) was ...

, a

teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-locate ...

of Sorbonne University, is located in Rueil-Malmaison.

Education

Public schools: * 15 preschools * 15 elementary schools * Six junior high schools: Les Bons-Raisins, Henri-Dunant, La Malmaison, Les Martinets, Marcel-Pagnol, Jules-Verne * Two senior high schools: Lycée Richelieu, Lycée polyvalent Gustave-Eiffel Private schools: * * Collège et lycée Madeleine-Daniélou * Collège Notre-Dame * École maternelle et élémentaire Saint-Charles-Notre Dame * Ecole maternelle élémentaire Charles-Peguy * Ecole Montessori Bilingue de Rueil-Malmaison There are tertiary educational institutions in the area. Engineering College: * IFP School

Notable residents

Jean-Marie Le Pen Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015. Le Pen graduated from ...

and his wife, Jany Le Pen, used to live in a two-story house on Rue Hortense *

N'Golo Kanté N'Golo Kanté (born 29 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for club Chelsea and the France national team. Considered by many to be one of the world's best midfielders, Kanté is widely prais ...

grew up in a small flat with his family in Rueil-Malmaison

Twin towns and sister cities

Rueil-Malmaison is

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Ávila Ávila (, , ) is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Ávila. It lies on the right bank of the Adaja river. Located more than 1,130 m a ...

, Spain * Bad Soden, Germany * Le Bardo, Tunisia *

Bukhara Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...

, Uzbekistan, since 1999 *

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranea ...

, Croatia, since 2011 * Elmbridge, England, United Kingdom *

Fribourg , Location of , Location of () () or , ; or , ; gsw, label=Swiss German, Frybùrg ; it, Friburgo or ; rm, Friburg. is the capital of the Cantons of Switzerland, Swiss canton of Canton of Fribourg, Fribourg and district of Sarine (district), ...

, Switzerland *

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; sv, Helsingör), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a city in eastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 62,686 on 1 January 2018. Helsingør and Helsingborg in Sweden together form the northe ...

, Denmark *

Jelgava Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also #Name, other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the unit ...

, Latvia, since 2006 * Kiryat Malakhi, Israel, since 1985 * Kitzbühel, Austria, since 1979 * Lynchburg, United States *

Oaxaca ) , population_note = , population_rank = 10th , timezone1 = CST , utc_offset1 = −6 , timezone1_DST = CDT , utc_offset1_DST = −5 , postal_code_type = Postal ...

, Mexico *

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina * Sergiyev Posad, Russia, since 1989 * Timișoara, Romania * Tōgane, Japan, since 1990 * Zouk Mikael, Lebanon, since 2009

References

External links

Rueil-Malmaison Official website

official Tourist Board of Rueil Malmaison
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rueilmalmaison Communes of Hauts-de-Seine