Montreuil, sometimes unofficially called Montreuil-sous-Bois, is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. It is the fourth most populous suburb of Paris. Montreuil is located near the Bois de Vincennes park.
Name
The name Montreuil was recorded for the first time in a royal edict of 722 as Monasteriolum, meaning "little monastery" in Medieval Latin. The settlement of Montreuil started as a group of houses built around a small monastery.
History
Under the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XVI the "Peach Walls" which provided the royal court with the fruits were located in Montreuil. It was also later home to the Lumière brothers and George Méliès whose workshops were located in lower Montreuil. On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighboring communes. On that occasion, the commune of Charonne was disbanded and divided between the city of Paris, Montreuil, and Bagnolet. Montreuil received a small part of the territory of Charonne. Today Montreuil is divided into several districts:
Montreuil's inhabitants often exaggeratedly nickname the town the "second Malian town after Bamako", or sometimes "Mali-sous-Bois" or "Bamako-sur-Seine" even if the Seine doesn't cross the town. Montreuil has indeed a very important Malian population : more than inhabitants according to the INSEE in 1999, between and people according to the mairie, which estimates that Montreuil has the largest Malian community in France. 10% of the population is Malian or has Malian origins.
The commune's educational services are operated out of the Opale B Administrative Building. Montreuil has eight collèges, three lycées, two lycées techniques, and the IUT of the University of Paris 8. Senior high schools/sixth form colleges:
The Montreuil Library consists of the Robert-Desnos Central Library, the Daniel-Renoult Library, the Colonel-Fabien Library, and the Paul-Eluard Library. Robert-Desnos, in a park near the commune's town hall, is the largest library in the commune. It houses a disco and Internet access points. Daniel-Renoult, near Montreau Park, serves the Montreau-Ruffins Théophile Sueur community. Colonel-Fabien, in the Ramenas-Fabien-Léo Lagrange community, is near the Intercommunal Hospital. Paul-Eluard is near the La Grande Porte shopping centre and is within of the RobespierreParis Métro station and Rue de Paris.
Notable residents and personalities
Pierre de Montreuil, famous 13th century architect, died in 1267 in Paris
