Vélizy-Villacoublay () is a commune in the

Yvelines Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.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 ...

in north-central

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 south-western 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 ...

from the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

and east of

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

. Its inhabitants are called Véliziens.

Geography

Established on the Parisian plateau, the town of Vélizy-Villacoublay borders

Meudon Meudon () is a French Communes of France, commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, on the left bank of the Seine. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of P ...

in the north-east,

Clamart Clamart () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. The town is divided into two parts, separated by a forest: ''bas Clamart'', the historical centre, and ''petit Clamart'' with urban ...

in the east, Bièvres in the south-east,

Viroflay Viroflay () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris from the center and from the Palace of Versailles. The town motto is ''Lux mea lex'' which i ...

in the north-west, and

Chaville Chaville () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and Île-de-France region of north-central France. It lies some from the centre of Paris in the south-western suburbs of the French capital. Geography Chaville is bordered by the follo ...

in the north. Vélizy-Villacoublay is a very urbanized town bordering the Meudon forest, which spans over of communal land. There are six districts: Mozart, le Clos, le Mail, Louvois, la Pointe Ouest et Vélizy-le-Bas (with l'Ursine and le Bocage).

History

The word "Vélizy" comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

. "Villacoublay" is formed from the same word, combined with the Gallo-Roman patronym "Escoblenus". Originally called simply Vélizy, the name of the commune became officially Vélizy-Villacoublay in 1938. The territory was formed from three distinct manors: Vélizy, Villacoublay, and Ursine, established in the 11th century. The domains were progressively annexed into the royal estate beginning in the 12th century (Vélizy was annexed at the end of the 13th century). The airbase in Villacoublay, Vélizy – Villacoublay Air Base, was built in 1911. In 1974 the Vélizy 2

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

was opened. The body of

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

was flown to

RAF Northolt Royal Air Force Northolt or more simply RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in South Ruislip, from Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon, western Greater London, England, approximately north of ...

, west London, from here after her death in

on August 31, 1997.

Population

Main sights

*The Saint-Denis church *The Saint-Jean-Baptiste church, in modern style. *The barracks of the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS). *l'Onde Cultural Center, finished in December 2000 and designed by the architect Claude Vasconi, which is composed of one hall with 670 seats, a multidisciplinary room of 200 seats, two large dance halls, an orchestra room, 12 studios, 4 classrooms, a recording room, and a percussion room.

Transport

Vélizy-Villacoublay is served by no station of the Paris Métro, RER, or suburban rail network. The closest station to Vélizy-Villacoublay is

Chaville–Vélizy station Chaville–Vélizy is a railway station of the RER C train line located on the border between Chaville and Vélizy. External links

* Réseau Express Régional stations Railway stations in Yvelines {{ParisRER-stub ...

on Paris

RER line C RER C 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 and its suburbs. The line crosses the region from north to south. Briefly, betwee ...

. This station is located in the neighboring commune of

, from the town center of Vélizy-Villacoublay. Since 2014, Vélizy-Villacoublay has been served by tramway line T6 with 7 stations. The town is also served by the

A86 autoroute The A86 (sometimes called "Paris super-périphérique") is the second ring road around Paris, France. It follows an irregular path around Paris with the distance from the city centre (Notre Dame de Paris, Notre Dame) varying in the range. The ...

, the 118 national route (RN118), and the RN286. The A86 includes a two-leveled tunnel between

Rueil-Malmaison Rueil-Malmaison () or simply Rueil is a Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department, Île-de-France Regions of France, region. It is located from the centre of Paris. It is ...

and Vélizy-Villacoublay. It is also served by a

Veolia Transport Veolia Transport (formerly Connex and CGEA Transport) was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev, later renamed Transdev. Veolia Tr ...

bus line (Connex), of the

RATP The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under the name (). Its logo represents the Seine's meandering path th ...

Economy

*Biggest Shopping Center of

: Vélizy-2 *Car dealerships:

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

Mini The Mini is a very small two-door, four-seat car, produced for four decades over a single generation, with many names and variants, by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors British Leyland and the Rover Group, and finally ...

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

*Numerous companies and offices: **Aeronautic:

EADS Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate defence and space and helicopter divisions. Airbus has long been th ...

MBDA MBDA is a European multinational corporation specialized in the design, development and manufacturing of Missile, missiles and related systems.Messier-Dowty, Messier-Bugatti **Agricultural:

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

**Automotive: manufacturing plants of

PSA Peugeot Citroën Peugeot S.A., trading as Groupe PSA () (formerly PSA Peugeot Citroën from 1991 to 2016) was a French multinational automotive manufacturing company which produced automobiles and motorcycles under the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhal ...

Renault Trucks Renault Trucks was a French commercial truck manufacturer with corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Originally part of Renault, it was a subsidiary of Volvo since 2001. In July 2024, John Cockerill (company) completed the takeover ...

**Biotechnology:

Novacyt Novacyt Group ( ) is an Anglo-French biotechnology group focused on clinical diagnostics, with offices in Camberley, Surrey, United Kingdom and Vélizy-Villacoublay, France. The company produces in vitro and molecular diagnostic tests, supplying a ...

**Building and Public Works Sector:

Eiffage Eiffage S.A. () is a French civil engineering construction company. it was the third largest company of its type in France, and the fifth largest in Europe. History The company was formed in 1992 through the merger of several long standing comp ...

**Electronics:

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; ; ) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek Pre-Socratic philosophy, pre-Socratic Philosophy, philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. Thales was one of the Seven Sages of Greece, Seven Sages, founding figure ...

, Ateme, Dassault Systèmes. **Research: Laboratoire d'ingénierie des systèmes de Versailles **Telecommunications:

Alcatel-Lucent Alcatel-Lucent S.A. () was a multinational telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France. The company focused on Fixed line telephone, fixed, Mobile phone, mobile and telecommunications convergence, ...

Bouygues Télécom Bouygues Telecom S.A. () is a French mobile phone, Internet service provider and IPTV company, part of the Bouygues group. It is the third oldest mobile network operator in France, after Orange and SFR, and before Free Mobile, and provides 2G ...

, Ekinops, Transcom,

Sagem SAGEM (, translated as "Company of General Applications of Electricity and Mechanics") was a French company involved in defense electronics, consumer electronics, and communication systems. Founded in 1924, SAGEM initially specialised in mechani ...

**Information technology:

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

Dassault Systèmes Dassault Systèmes SE () (abbreviated 3DS) is a French Multinational corporation, multinational software corporation which develops software for 3D product design, simulation, manufacturing and other 3D related products. Founded in 1981, it is ...

Quintiles IQVIA, formerly Quintiles and IMS Health, Inc., is an American Fortune 500 and S&P 500 multinational company serving the combined industries of health information technology and clinical research. IQVIA is a provider of biopharmaceutical develop ...

IMS Health IMS Health was an American company that provided information, services and technology for the healthcare industry. IMS stood for Intercontinental Medical Statistics. It was the largest vendor of U.S. physician prescribing data. IMS Health was fou ...

**Video Games:

Blizzard A blizzard is a severe Winter storm, snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow th ...

(Vivendi-Universal Games) *French Air Force Base 107 Vélizy – Villacoublay Air Base (HQ of

French Special Forces The Commandement des Opérations Spéciales (, "Special Operations Command") or COS is a joint staff charged with overseeing the various special forces of the French Army, Navy and Air and Space Force, bringing them all under a single operationa ...

) *Group 61 of the CRS

Education

ISTY The Institut des Sciences et Techniques des Yvelines or ISTY is a French public engineering school specialized in the field of computer science and mechatronics, attached to the Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University. References Ex ...

University Institute of Technology of Vélizy A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (, ; UVSQ), also known as Paris-Saclay University (), is a French public university created in 1991, located in the Departments of France, department of Yvelines and, since 2002, in Hauts-de-Sein ...

Twin towns – sister cities

Vélizy-Villacoublay is twinned with: *

Alytus Alytus () is a city with Town privileges, municipal rights in southern Lithuania. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, sixth-largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, 14th-largest city in the Baltic ...

, Lithuania *

Dietzenbach Dietzenbach () is the seat of Offenbach district in the ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany and lies roughly 12 km southeast of Frankfurt am Main on the waterstream Bieber. Before the Second World War, the current town w ...

, Germany *

Harlow Harlow is a town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a Planned community, new town in 1947, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire, and occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the ...

, England, United Kingdom

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Velizyvillacoublay Communes of Yvelines Yvelines communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia