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Montreuil
	Commune of Montreuil
	; Boulevard Rouget de Lisle in Montreuil.
	Location
	Paris and inner ring départements
Coordinates	48°51′40″N 2°26′37″E / 48.86111°N 2.44361°E
Administration
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement	Bobigny
Canton	Chief town of 3 cantons
Intercommunality	none as of 2009
Mayor	Dominique Voynet (Green); (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	52–117 m (170–380 ft); (avg. 70 m/230 ft)
Land area1	8.92 km2 (3.44 sq mi)
Population2	101,587 (1 January 2006)
- Density	11,389 /km2 (29,500 /sq mi)
	Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	93048/ 93100
	1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
	2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 48°51′40″N 2°26′37″E / 48.86111°N 2.44361°E / 48.86111; 2.44361

Montreuil (sometimes unofficially called Montreuil-sous-Bois) is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.6 km (4.1 mi) from the center of Paris. It is the third most populous suburb of Paris (after Boulogne-Billancourt and Argenteuil). Montreuil is located near the Bois de Vincennes park.

[edit] 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 this small monastery.

[edit] History

This city sheltered under the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XVI the "Peach Walls" which provided the royal court with the fruits. Later it sheltered the Lumière brothers and George Méliès in their workshops 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:

Le bas Montreuil (which joins together the old workshops (bordering on Saint-Mandé), the marché aux puces (bordering on Paris, carries of Montreuil),
The Mairie (town hall) (the malls, la croix de Chavaux, the mairie, and the church),
La noue (parc des Guilands, city of du Val, Robespierre, bordering on Bagnolet),
Le Bel Air (Jean Moulin housing estate, park des Beaumonts, city of Bel Air, city of Grand Pechers),
La Boissière (all the north of Montreuil, bordering on Noisy-le-Sec, Rosny-sous-Bois and Fontenay-sous-Bois).

[edit] Main artistic heritage

Decorations (ceramics and frescoes) in the state school "Voltaire" by Maurice Boitel (1954).

[edit] Heraldry

Arms of Montreuil	the arms of Montreuil are blazoned : Azure, a chevron Or between 3 peach branches argent fructed Or, and in chief a fleur de lys Or.

[edit] Demographics

[edit] Immigration

Place of birth of residents of Montreuil in 1999
Born in Metropolitan France	Born outside Metropolitan France
73.1%	26.9%
	Born in Overseas France	Born in foreign countries with French citizenship at birth¹	EU-15 immigrants²	Non-EU-15 immigrants
	2.3%	2.8%	4.8%	17.0%

¹This group is made up largely of pieds-noirs from Northwest Africa, followed by former colonial citizens who had French citizenship at birth (such as was often the case for the native elite in French colonies), and to a lesser extent foreign-born children of French expatriates. Note that a foreign country is understood as a country not part of France as of 1999, so a person born for example in 1950 in Algeria, when Algeria was an integral part of France, is nonetheless listed as a person born in a foreign country in French statistics.
² An immigrant is a person born in a foreign country not having French citizenship at birth. Note that an immigrant may have acquired French citizenship since moving to France, but is still considered an immigrant in French statistics. On the other hand, persons born in France with foreign citizenship (the children of immigrants) are not listed as immigrants.

[edit] Administration

The mayor of Montreuil is the Green Senator Dominique Voynet, who was elected on the second round of 2008 municipal elections, defeating the former ex-Communist mayor Jean-Pierre Brard.

Since 1984, the mayor of Montreuil had been Jean-Pierre Brard, a colourful ex-Communist who left few indifferent. His supporters point to the large amounts of good quality social housing and an active cultural policy. His critics point to harsh treatment of travellers and Roms, and a tendency to control all kinds of voluntary organizations around the city.

He caused particular controversy in 2004 and 2005 by his wishing to go further than the law banning ostentatious religious symbols in schools. He tried, with some success, to ban mothers wearing headscarves from accompanying school outings for example.

He has always been interested in fighting against what he terms "sects", but has also surrounded himself with some supporters who are very extreme in their opposition to the influence of religions.

The city is divided into three cantons :