Le Blanc-Mesnil

French commune
nomcommune=Le Blanc-Mesnil

---

mapcaption=Paris and inner ring départements
lat_long=coord|48|56|18|N|2|27|38|E|region:FR_type:city
région=Île-de-France
département=Seine-Saint-Denis
arrondissement=Le Raincy
canton=
insee=93007
cp=93150
devise=
maire=
mandat=
intercomm="none as of 2005"
date-intercomm=
longitude=
latitude=
alt moy=
alt mini=
alt maxi=
km²=8.05
sans=
51,600
46,936
date-sans=July 1, 2005 estimate)
(March 8, 1999 census
dens=6,410
date-dens=2005|

Le Blanc-Mesnil is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.6 km. (7.8 miles) from the center of Paris, between Charles de Gaulle International Airport and le Bourget Airport.

Name

The name Le Blanc-Mesnil was recorded for the first time in the 11th century as "Mansionile Blaun". This name is a compound of Medieval Latin "Mansionile", meaning "little houses", from Latin "mansio" (accusative "mansionem"), and of Germanic (Old Frankish) "blanch", "blaun", meaning "glossy, shining, white", which gave French "blanc" ("white") and English "blank".

The name is interpreted by some as a reference to the houses of Le Blanc-Mesnil which were whitened due to the flour dust coming from the windmills located there in ancient times. One researcher, however, thinks that "blanc" had also the meaning of "free" in Old French, and so the name would mean "free mesnil, free village", perhaps because the villagers had been freed from serfdom. None of these interpretations is certain.

Geography

Climate

Nearest municipalities

*Bondy
*Aulnay-sous-Bois
*Drancy
*Le Bourget
*Dugny
*Bonneuil-en-France in Val d'Oise and Gonesse.

Water and sanitation

History

Early beginnings

Middle ages and French Revolution

On 2 December 1792, a third of the territory of Aulnay was detached and became the commune of Le Blanc-Mesnil.

Nineteenth century

Twentieth century

Economy

Economic pole

* Parc d'activité du Coudray ;
* Zone industrielle de la Molette in Blanc-Mesnil, Bourget and Drancy. It includes Centre Albert Einstein, created in 1987 ;
* Parc Modus ;
* Garonor, logistic parc.
* Pont-Yblon ;
* Centre d'affaires international Paris Nord II ;
* Carré des Aviateurs ;
* Espace Descartes, for tourism business. Three hotels three stars, a Novotel hotel [ Site de Hotels World [http://www.hotels-world.com/tp.hotels/geo.1.2797853.Europe.France.Ile-de-France.Paris.Le_Blanc-Mesnil/Le_Blanc-Mesnil.htm] ] .

French and international companies

Several French companies have their world headquarters in Blanc-Mesnil, such as Forclum and Sicli.

Employment

Demography

Immigration

France immigration
collectivity_name=Le Blanc-Mesnil
census_year=1999
metropolitan_France=72.5
outside_metropolitan_France=27.5
overseas_France=3.9
foreign_French=2.7
EU-15=5.5
non-EU-15=15.4

Administration

Political life

The following political parties have a permanent base in Blanc-Mesnil:

* Parti Communiste Français
* Parti Socialiste
* UDF
* UMP
* Groupe des Verts

Politics

Mayors

Transport

Le Blanc-Mesnil is served by Le Blanc-Mesnil station on Paris RER line B.

Le Blanc-Mesnil is also served by Drancy station on Paris RER line B. This station (formerly called "Blanc-Mesnil-Drancy"), although administratively located on the territory of the neighboring commune of Drancy, is the closest from the town center of Le Blanc-Mesnil and is thus used by people in Le Blanc-Mesnil.

The bus company provides 17 lines of buses to travel within the city.

Ideally placed at the junction between the A1 and the A3.

2.5 km from Le Bourget airport, 7 km from Charles-de-Gaulle airport and 4.5 km from Parc des Expositions de Villepinte, you will be ideally place to get to Parc Astérix and Disneyland as well as the centre of Paris and the Stade de France.

Cityscape

Architecture

Districts and historical centres

Monuments

Religion

Catholic churches: Église Notre-Dame, Église Saint-Charles, Église Sainte-Thérèse.

Environment

Parks and gardens

* Jacques-Duclos Park
* Vineyards products the Clos blanc-mesnilois, a Chardonnay
* Vegetal wall of Forum culturel by Patrick Blanc
* "Place de l'eau"
* Jardin de Montillet
* Square Stalingrad

Ecopole

Culture

Entertainment

* Forum culturel
* Médiathèque Edouard Glissant, public library
* Deux pièces cuisine, recording studio
* Conservatoire à rayonnement départemental, music and dance school

ports

Blanc-Mesnil Sports (BMS), founded in 2005, is the city's sport club.

Education and health

Primary and secondary education

Higher education

Health

As of 1 January 2007, 16 pharmacies, about 31 general practitioners, and a half dozen ophthalmologists and dermatologists constitute the general medical staff of the city.

International relations

Le Blanc-Mesnil is twinned with
*Sandwell in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom, *Peterhof in Russia, and
*Debré-Berhan in Ethiopia.

For fifteen years, twinning between le Blanc-Mesnil and Debré-Berhan has been based on the development: drain of water, education, construction of roads. In a rare spirit, that of a collaboration of equal to equal.

Famous Blanc-mesnilois

* Élisabeth Vonarburg, writer of science-fiction.
* Patrick Hernandez, famous singer of Born to be alive, and Grand Corps Malade, slameur, are born in this town. Casey, Sheryo, and Bunzen, rappers.
* Gary Lugassy, tennis player, Tristan Valentin, Moussa Sissoko, Jérémy Abadie, footballer, are born in Blanc-Mesnil. Jonathan Biabiany played in BMS Football.
* Sylvie Guillem star dancer at Paris Opera

ee also

* Peterhof
* Sandwell
* Lamoignon

References

Bibliography

* "Le Blanc-Mesnil et son passé", Ernest Soitel, 1969.
* "Histoire anecdotique de Blanc-Mesnil", Albert Galicier, 1973.
* "Le Blanc-Mesnil des temps modernes : 1935-1985", 1986.
* "Le Blanc-Mesnil", Pierre Bourgeade, Gilles Smadja, Jean-Pierre Vallorani, Françoise Vasseur, 1992.
* "Le Blanc-Mesnil : citoyens de demain", Patrick Laigre et Jocelyne Héquet, 1993.
* "Le Blanc-Mesnil : 2000 regards", Photographies de Luc Choquer, François Crignon, Erwan Guillard, 1999.
* "Le Blanc-Mesnil", Christian Massart, 2005.

* "Twinning between Le Blanc-Mesnil and Debré-Berhan" (in English and French).

External links

* [http://www.blancmesnil.fr/ Official website]
* [http://www.forumculturel.asso.fr/ Forum culturel]
* [http://blog.forumculturel.asso.fr/ Blog du Forum culturel]