Rueil-Malmaison

Name

Rueil-Malmaison was originally called simply Rueil. In medieval times the name Rueil was spelled either Roialum, Riogilum, Rotoialum, Ruolium or Ruellium. This name is made of the Gaulish word ialo (meaning 'clearing, glade' or 'place of') suffixed to a radical meaning 'brook, stream' (Latin: rivus, Old French: rû), or maybe to a radical meaning 'ford' (Celtic ritu).

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 mala mansio, meaning 'ill-fated domain', 'estate of ill luck'. In the Early Middle Ages Malmaison was the site of a royal residence which was destroyed by the Vikings in 846.

History

The territory of Rueil has been frequented since very ancient times: during foundation work for the construction of a new neighbourhood near the Seine, at the "Closeaux" site, a Mesolithic site of an Azilian people (10,300 to 8,700 BCE) was uncovered. Remains of an Eurasian cave lion, dating back 12,000 years, were also discovered there.

The first historical mention of Rueil, or rather of Rotoialum villae, dates back to the 6th century CE, in the History of the Franks written by Gregory of Tours. The term refers to what was then a Roman-style villa. Also known as Roialum or Rotariolensem villam, it was a place of leisure and hunting for Merovingian kings from the 6th to the 8th century CE. The Rueil barracks of the Swiss Guard were constructed in 1756 under Louis XV by the architect Charles-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.

Around 870, Charles the Bald gave this estate to the Abbey of Saint-Denis. At the end of the 12th century, Benedictine monks built a chapel dedicated to Saint Cucufa in the former Béranger woods, which later, after the 18th century, became known as the "Saint-Cucufa woods".

During the Edward III's Chevauchée in 1346, Rueil was burned and thoroughly devastated by the Black Prince, taking a long time to recover from this disaster. In 1584, Antoine of Portugal, exiled in France, lived in Rueil and laid the first stone of a church on the site of the old one, which was in ruins.

In 1622, Christophe Perrot, a counsellor to the Parliament of Paris, had a château built on the site called Malmaison, an estate that would become, in the following century, the property of the future Empress Joséphine.

The monks sold the estate in 1633 to Cardinal Richelieu, who settled at the Château du Val, built for Jean Moisset, a financier under Henri IV. Far from the intrigues and noise of the city, it became his favourite residence. Richelieu also funded the completion of the Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul church by having its façade constructed by his architect Lemercier.

Sights

The Château de Malmaison, the residence of Napoleon's first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, is located in Rueil-Malmaison. It is home to a Napoleonic museum.

Saint-Pierre-Saint-Paul Church housing notable graves.

In poetry

Lydia Huntley Sigourney's poem Tomb of Josephine. was published in her volume 'Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands' published in 1842 and follows her visit to Europe in 1840.

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 5 km (3.1 mi) from Rueil, a trend first established by the move of Esso 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 Rueil-Malmaison station to accommodate these companies. The business district is equipped with a fibre-optic network.

Several major French companies have their world headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, such as Schneider Electric and VINCI. Schneider had its head office in Rueil-Malmaison since 2000; previously the building Schneider occupies housed the Schneider subsidiary Télémécanique.

Several large international companies have also located their French headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison, including as ExxonMobil, AstraZeneca, American Express and Unilever.

Infrastructure

Transport

Rueil-Malmaison is served by Rueil-Malmaison station on RER A. In the future, the commune will be served by the currently under construction Rueil – Suresnes – Mont Valérien station on Paris Métro Line 15 (part of the Grand Paris Express project), which will be located on the border with the commune of Suresnes, as well as a western extension of Île-de-France tramway Line 1.

Healthcare

The Stell Hospital, a teaching hospital of Sorbonne University, is located in Rueil-Malmaison.

Museums

The area has a local history museum, the Musée d'histoire locale de Rueil-Malmaison. Since 21 May 2016 it has been home to the Ancient Egyptian mummy of a five-year-old called Ta-Iset.

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 et lycée Passy-Buzenval

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

N'Golo Kanté grew up in a small flat with his family in Rueil-Malmaison.

Twin towns – sister cities

Rueil-Malmaison is twinned with: