Gif-sur-Yvette

Gif-sur-Yvette is a common French, located in the department of the the Essonne and the area Île-de-France. Its inhabitants is the Giffois .

Geography

The city is crossed by the river the Yvette and her affluent the Mérantaise. On the 1.160 hectares of total surface area, 407 hectares consist of green areas and are timbered.

Localities and variations

The town of Gif-sur-Yvette is made up of districts:
  • in the valley: Rougemonts, Mérantaise, the Town hall, Févrie, Coupières, Damiette, Courcelle, the Abbey, Coudraies;
  • on the plate of Moulon: Moulon (not of dwellings, but research institutes and of formation, of which Supélec);
  • on the plate of Hurepoix: Hacquinière, Belleville (created pre-war period) and Chevry (created in the Years 1970, and equipped with many infrastructures).

Moreover, the communal territory includes/understands several forests of which the wood of Hacquinière and the wood of Aigrefoin.

Communes bordering

The communes bordering on Gif-sur-Yvette are: Villiers-le-Bâcle, Saint-Aubin, Saclay, Orsay, Bore-hole-on-Yvette, Gometz-le-Châtel, Gometz-the-City, Saint-Rémy-the-Chevreuse.

History

The human presence is attested on the plate of Moulon as of the Neolithic era. Thereafter, agriculture develops, in particular at the time Roman.

With the favor of a preventive archaeological excavation, the remainders of a Celtic village (at the end of VI E - beginning O C) are discovered on the communal territory in February 2006 (a first in the north of France).

It is about a rather large village made up of about fifteen buildings built out of wood, on posts, with walls in Torchis.

Secondary buildings with vocation agricultural (barn, cattle shed, attic) and perhaps artisanal were discovered near these houses.

Perhaps this village fits in an agricultural paléopaysage and has a defensive capacity thanks to its establishment in edge of plate.

Between the XIIe and the XVIIIe century, an important Benedictine abbey is installed with GIF.

With the XIXe century, GIF remains very agricultural (in particular, culture of the strawberry).

In 1867, GIF is connected to the railway line of Seals (the future southern branch of the RER B).

After the First World War, the commune of GIF knows a considerable population growth. The city takes the name of Gif-sur-Yvette in 1930.

Just after the Second world war, Gif-sur-Yvette acquires an international scientific dimension, with the establishment of CNRS and ECA.

The city extends in 1975, with the creation of the district of Chevry, starting from grounds yielded by the communes of Gometz-the-City and Gometz-le-Châtel.

April 29th, 2007, the city undergoes a very strong storm, requiring the evacuation from 100 to 200 people. The district of the town hall, where the Mérantaise runs is flooded. Water reached there 2 meters by places.

Administration

Demography

Transport and economy

Gif-sur-Yvette is located in the scientific valley of the Yvette. Many establishments with vocation of teaching and research are established there, for example: the National center of the scientific research (CNRS), the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (ECA), the University of electricity (Supélec), the Laboratory of electronic engineering of Paris (LGEP, associated with Supélec) and the Institute of biotechnology of the plants. Is there also the National center of studies and formation of the National police force.

The CGT has since 1950 its permanent central school in Gif-sur-Yvette (Courcelle district), the center Benoît Frachon, located at the edge of the Yvette.

The city is crossed by the RER B (B5 connects) with two stations:

Famous inhabitants

  • Juliette Adam (1836-1936), founder of the New Review (1879) and stimulating of a famous literary living room under the Third Republic bought in 1882 the field of the Abbey where she lived of 1904 until her death.
  • the duke of Windsor resided during twenty years at the mill of Tilery.
  • the artist Fernand Leger is deceased the August 17th 1955 in the house where, in 1972, were held of the negotiations between Henry Kissinger and the Duke Tho who allowed to obtain the end of the Guerre of Vietnam.
  • the actor Richard Bohringer account among the inhabitants of the city. His/her daughter the actress Romane Bohringer followed her secondary studies there and also lived.
  • the actress and signal-model Noémie Lenoir lived in Gif-sur-Yvette, in the district of the Abbey.
  • Antoine Bagady, holder of the world records of walk on fire: 60 Mr.

Religious heritage

The Saint-Remi church, built at the 12th century and altered at the 15th century, mixes the Romance and the Gothic . It is classified since 1938.

There remain some ruins of a Abbaye bénédictine which goes back at least to the 12th century, but whose goods were placed at the disposal of the nation in 1789. This monument is registered since 1963.

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