Sceaux () is a commune in the

Hauts-de-Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a department in the Île-de-France region of 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 west and ...

department in the southern 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 from the centre of Paris. In 2019, Sceaux had a population of 20,004. Sceaux is one of the most affluent areas of France and is known for its very high housing costs.

A wealthy city

Sceaux is famous for the

Château de Sceaux The Château de Sceaux () is a grand Château, country house in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, approximately south-southwest of the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris. Situated in a large park laid out by André Le Nôtre, partly in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, ...

, set in its large park (''Parc départemental de Sceaux''), designed by

André Le Nôtre André Le Nôtre (; 12 March 1613 – 15 September 1700), originally rendered as André Le Nostre, was a French landscape architect and the principal gardener of King Louis XIV of France. He was the landscape architect who designed Gardens ...

, measuring . The original ''château'' was transformed into a School of Agriculture during the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

and lost much of its luster. It was demolished at the beginning of the 19th century following its sale by the then French government. Sceaux castle was originally built by

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 ...

, the minister of finance to

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

and purchased by Louis' illegitimate son, the Duke of Maine in 1699. His duchesse held court in a glittering

salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

at Sceaux in the first decades of the eighteenth century. The present-day château, rebuilt between 1856 and 1862 in a

Louis XIII style The Louis XIII style or ''Louis Treize'' was a fashion in French art and French architecture, architecture, especially affecting the visual arts, visual and decorative arts. Its distinctness as a period in the history of French art has much to do ...

, is now the museum of

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 ...

open for visits. Housing costs in the area are very high, higher than in many districts of the Paris area, especially with streets facing the Parc de Sceaux.

Transport

Sceaux is served by three stations on Paris RER line B: Sceaux,

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 19 ...

, and Parc de Sceaux. The latter station is located at the border between the commune of Sceaux and the commune of Antony, on the Antony side of the border. It is also close to Paris-Orly Airport. Sceaux is connected to the A86 motorway that circles around Paris. The commune also offers a developed network of

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

which are often used by the ''Scéens'' (the name given to the residents of Sceaux).

Population

Education

Primary and secondary schools

The commune has the following primary schools: *Public preschools/nurseries (''maternelles''): des Blagis, du Centre, Clos-Saint-Marcel, du Petit-Chambord *Public elementary schools: des Blagis, du Centre, Clos-Saint-Marcel *One private preschool and elementary school: Écoles maternelle et élémentaire Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc Sceaux hosts two cités scolaires, combined junior high schools and public high schools/sixth-form colleges, the lycée Marie Curie and the lycée Lakanal.Etablissements d'enseignement secondaire et supérieur
." Sceaux. Retrieved on 9 September 2016. The lycée

Marie Curie Maria Salomea Skłodowska-Curie (; ; 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), known simply as Marie Curie ( ; ), was a Polish and naturalised-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was List of female ...

was named after the scientist who was married in, lived in, and was originally interred in Sceaux with her husband

Pierre Curie Pierre Curie ( ; ; 15 May 1859 – 19 April 1906) was a French physicist, Radiochemistry, radiochemist, and a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. He shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with his wife, ...

. The lycée Lakanal was named after a French politician, and an original member of the Institut de France,

Joseph Lakanal Joseph Lakanal (14 July 1762 – 14 February 1845) was a French politician, and an original member of the ''Institut de France''. Early career Born in Serres, in present-day Ariège, his name was originally ''Lacanal'', and was altered to ...

and has remained one of the most prestigious and hardest schools of Île-de-France. The school also offers a

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

and highly ranked " classes préparatoires" undergraduate training. French scientists and writers have graduated from lycée Lakanal, such as Nobel Prize winners

Maurice Allais Maurice Félix Charles Allais (31 May 19119 October 2010) was a French physicist and economist, the 1988 winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences "for his pioneering contributions to the theory of markets and efficient utilization ...

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; ; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His wo ...

Alain-Fournier Henri-Alban Fournier (; 3 October 1886 – 22 September 1914),Mémoire des hommes
Secrétariat ...

and

Frédéric Joliot-Curie Jean Frédéric Joliot-Curie (; ; 19 March 1900 – 14 August 1958) was a French chemist and physicist who received the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with his wife, Irène Joliot-Curie, for their discovery of induced radioactivity. They were t ...

. There is also a public vocational senior high, Lycée des métiers Florian. There is a private junior high school, Externat Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc.

Colleges and universities

The Faculté Jean Monnet, the college of Law and Management of University of Paris-XI (Orsay), the Institut Universitaire de Technologie of this university and L'Ecole Polytechnique Féminine (EPF) are also located in Sceaux.

Public libraries

The Bibliothèque municipale de Sceaux is the communal library.

Cultural life

Sceaux is home to one highly active national theatre, the Théâtre des Gémeaux, located in the Blagis quarter, which is part of the "Scène Nationale" network of the major theatres in France. The Théâtre des Gémeaux attracts audiences from all over Île-de-France and Paris. Its main event is the Spring dance festival with an international program of the highest quality. The commune also has a small movie theatre, the Trianon, where international movies are released in their respective language and subtitled in French. The theater is also known for showing

independent films An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, in ...

and hosting special events. Various music events take place at Sceaux. The

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

festival established by Alfred Loewenguth in 1969, the Festival de l'Orangerie, takes place in the

Orangery An orangery or orangerie is a room or dedicated building, historically where orange and other fruit trees are protected during the winter, as a large form of greenhouse or conservatory. In the modern day an orangery could refer to either ...

built by

Jules Hardouin-Mansart Jules Hardouin-Mansart (; 16 April 1646 – 11 May 1708) was a French Baroque architect and builder whose major work included the Place des Victoires (1684–1690); Place Vendôme (1690); the domed chapel of Les Invalides (1690), and the Gra ...

for the Marquis de Seignelay in 1686, in the Park at Sceaux. The Park also houses an open air opera every summer at the end of June. The Parc de Sceaux was the location of

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

's Parisian first visit with her

Who's That Girl World Tour The Who's That Girl World Tour (billed as Who's That Girl World Tour 1987) was the second concert tour by American singer and songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her 1986 third studio album '' True Blue'', as well as the 1987 soundtrack ''Wh ...

29 August 1987, front 131,000 people, the largest crowd of any concert in French history. In the classic French O-Level textbook series for English-speaking pupils, ''Le Francais d'Aujourd-hui'', the Bertillon family move out to Sceaux from inner-city Paris during the course of the book's main narrative.

Notable person

The mathematician

Augustin-Louis Cauchy Baron Augustin-Louis Cauchy ( , , ; ; 21 August 1789 – 23 May 1857) was a French mathematician, engineer, and physicist. He was one of the first to rigorously state and prove the key theorems of calculus (thereby creating real a ...

died in Sceaux in 1857.

Alain Delon Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; 8 November 1935 – 18 August 2024) was a French actor, film producer, screenwriter, singer, and businessman. Acknowledged as a cultural and cinematic leading man of the 20th century, Delon emerged as one of ...

(actor, singer, filmmaker, and businessman) was born in Sceaux in 1935

Wildlife

The Parc de Sceaux is home to a population of

red squirrels The red squirrel (''Sciurus vulgaris''), also called Eurasian red squirrel, is a species of tree squirrel in the genus ''Sciurus''. It is an arboreal and primarily herbivorous rodent and common throughout Eurasia. Taxonomy There have been o ...

estimated to number between 100 and 120.

Twin towns

Royal Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

(United Kingdom) * Brühl (Germany)

References

External links

Sceaux official website
(in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sceaux, Hauts-De-Seine Communes of Hauts-de-Seine