Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France.Commune d'Aubervilliers (93001), INSEE
Geography
Localisation
Aubervilliers is one of three communes in the Plaine Saint-Denis, north-east of the centre of Paris.
The Canal Saint-Denis traverses the commune on the western side from north to south.
Transport and communications Aubervilliers is a commune close to Paris and has numerous means of transport including: the A86 autoroute from L'Île-Saint-Denis in the west to Drancy in the east with Exit 9 on the northern border of the commune, Route nationale N301 from Stains in the north and joining the Paris ring road in the south, the D20 from Gennevilliers in the west, the D27 from Bobigny in the east, and the D115 from Pantin in the south-east. The Paris ring road is just outside the southern border of the commune and there are two access routes to it: by the Porte d'Aubervilliers and by the Porte de la Villette. These roads provide easy access to the network of roads and motorways around Paris as well as Le Bourget and Charles de Gaulle airports.
The Canal Saint-Denis once had important river ports and there was the Paris-Hirson railway and an industrial railway for Saint-Denis/Aubervilliers which served the Plaine Saint-Denis.
Public transport in the commune
The RER railway passes through the north of the commune and the station of La Courneuve-Aubervilliers, located just north of the commune on the N301 road, serves Aubervilliers. There are also two Metro stations on the south-western border on Avenue Jean-Jaures: Aubervilliers-Pantin-Quatre Chemins at the corner of Ave. de la Republique, and Fort d'Aubervilliers at the corner of Ave. de la Division Leclerc.
The commune is served by: Paris Métro Line 7 : stations Aubervilliers-Pantin-Quatre Chemins and Fort d'Aubervilliers; Sixteen bus routes: ; Gare de La Plaine-Stade de France: as far as Saint-Denis and Aubervilliers; Gare de La Courneuve - Aubervilliers: located in La Courneuve commune about 1 km to the north of the commune border. Paris Métro Line 12 since 18 December 2012 with the opening of the Front Populaire station and ultimately, in May 2022, it got extended to Mairie d'Aubervilliers station, with 1 intermediate stop at Aimé Césaire station. Ligne 3b of the Île-de-France tramway since 15 December 2012 with the opening of the Porte d'Aubervilliers located in the Paris area near the commune.
Urbanism Typology Aubervilliers is an urban commune, as it is one of the dense or intermediate density communes, as defined by the Insee communal density grid. It belongs to the urban unit of Paris, an inter-departmental conurbation comprising 407 communes and 10,785,092 inhabitants in 2017, of which it is a suburban commune.
The commune is also part of the functional area of Paris where it is located in the main population and employment centre of the functional area. This area comprises 1,929 communes.
Urban morphology The main quarters or districts of the commune are: Quatre-Chemins; Quarante-Cinq at La Villette; Maladrerie (and its 800 lodgings which form a Sensitive urban zone or ZFU); Pont-Blanc/Vallès/Hemet (the agglomération is called Vallès la Frette); Landy (split between Aubervilliers and Saint-Denis); Cité Crèvecœur (Crèvecœur Housing Estate); Cité du 112 (112 Housing Estate); Cité République (official name) (République Housing Estate); Sadi-Carnot; Les Presles; Cité Heurtault (Heurtault Housing Estate); Les Fleurs; Cité Gabriel-Péri (Gabriel-Péri Housing EState); Les Fusains; Square of roses; Le fort.
Toponymy The town is mentioned in the Latinised form Albertivillare in 1059.Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, Etymological Dictionary of place names in France, Larousse, Paris, 1963 It is from this that the inhabitants are known as Albertivillarien.
The place name of -villiers (a variant of -villier, -villers, -viller, coming from the Low Latin villare, derived from villa - progressively meaning "farm", "village", then "town") is a characteristic appellative for agricultural domains in the Merovingian and Carolingian periods. The first part is the Germanic personal name Adalbertus from which are derived the names Albert (English form) and Aubert (French form) and also became a surname. It is homonymous with a hamlet in Seine-et-Marne, Aubervilliers, and Auberville in Normandy (the others are explained by the Old Norse personal name Osbern giving Auber, the name of a Norman family).
History
Origins As with many communes in the outer suburbs the town had long been a rural area. Formerly known as Notre-Dame-des-Vertus, the village was on a plain which produced the best vegetables around Paris.
Middle Ages Aubervilliers first appears in the archives in 1059 as Albertivillare, meaning "estate of Adalbert". In the following year Henry I donated it to the Priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs. In 1111 the serfs were freed in Aubervilliers. In 1182 the priory of Saint-Martin-des-Champs, located in Paris, granted Paris butchers the right to freely graze their cattle in the fields after the harvest was over. In 1221, Guillaume Bateste, lord of Franconville, became the first Lord of Vivier les Aubervilliers. The church, which at the beginning of the 13th century depended on one of the parishes of Saint Denis, soon became famous for the miraculous appearance of an image of the Virgin.Historic dictionary of the environs of Paris, Dr. Ermete Pierotti
In 1336 Father Jacques Du Breul, Prior of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, reported the Miracle of the rain: A young girl busy preparing flowers to adorn the statue of the Virgin in the church saw her face streaming with tears when the rain began to fall on the parched crops. In 1338 King Philip VI of France and his queen went to Aubervilliers to visit the image. From 1340 to 1792 people went there in droves each year from Paris and its surroundings. In 1402 Michel de Laillier, Lord of Ermenonville, became Lord of Vivier les Aubervilliers. In 1429 the town was occupied by the English but was retaken by Michel de Laillier in 1436. Louis XI went there in November 1474 to the house of Pierre L’Orfèvre, the new Lord of Vivier from then until August 1478. The image of the Virgin in lead that the king wore on his hat was a representation of the one at Aubervilliers.
In 1531 the Lordship of Vivier les Aubervilliers was sold to the Montholon family which held it until 1779. The facade and tower of the church were built in the reign of Henry II. Civil wars which the Armagnacs stirred up in France led to the destruction of the village but the abundant alms of the many pilgrims who came from all sides allowed a prompt reconstruction. On 10 November 1567 the Battle of Saint-Denis took place in the Plaine Saint-Denis between the Catholic army of Anne de Montmorency and the Protestant troops of the Prince of Condé.
Henri IV stayed in Aubervilliers during the Siege of Paris in 1590.
From the Renaissance to the 18th century The visit by Louis XIII in 1613, then again in 1614 and 1628, allowed the development of pilgrimage to Notre-Dame des Virtues. Jacques Gallemant, pastor of Aubervilliers, allowed a community of Oratorians to settle in Aubervilliers in 1618. They took charge of the Church of Notre-Dame-des-VertusMinistry of Culture, Mérimée and developed an important pilgrimage around the statue of the Virgin of Aubervilliers. The installation from 1622 of a "House of Notre-Dame des Vertus" by the Oratorians of John de Bérulle then its progressive extension throughout the 17th century made Aubervilliers an important centre of French Catholic spirituality. Thinkers, "pious and famous faithful" such as Francis de Sales, Vincent de Paul, John Eudes (he stayed for two years), Jean-Jacques Ollier, Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the philosopher Nicolas Malebranche, and the son of the great Jean Racine - the poet Louis Racine participated in a pilgrimage there and returned. At the end of the 17th century and in the first half of the 18th century, the House of Oratorians of Aubervilliers became a "stronghold" of the Jansenist dissent.
In 1649, during the Fronde, Aubervilliers fell into misery. Crops were destroyed, death reigned and population declined. There were 125 deaths in 1652 in a population of about 1,500 inhabitants. Nevertheless, the small town was reborn although until the 19th century it was populated by farmers. Proximity to the Paris markets promoted Market gardening, especially on the Plain of Vertus which was famous for its onions and a wide range of vegetables.Treatise on food (...), Louis Lémery, Paris, 1755; The theory and practice of gardening and agriculture, Roger Schabol (Father), Paris, 1767; Economic dictionary: containing the art of valuing land (...), Noël Chomel, Paris, 1767; Methodical Encyclopedia: Art of Oratory and gardening (...), Jacques Lacombes, Paris, 1797 etc. (There are dozens of references) see BnF online - Gallica The existence of the Mazier farm at 70 Rue Heurtault is attested by a document in 1699.
French Revolution and Empire On 12 August 1787 the first meeting of the Municipal Assembly of Aubervilliers took place. In 1789 there was a list of grievances, complaints and remonstrances written by Mesme Monard, the parish priest, and one of the leaders against the Oratorians. On 24 January 1790 the election of the first mayor of Aubervilliers took place: Nicolas Lemoine was elected. In 1792 the boundary of the commune of Aubervilliers was delineated.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Plain of Aubervilliers was, in 1814 and 1815, the scene of a bloody battle between French troops and the Prussians who took and re-took it several times. The French soldiers were overpowered by numbers and were eventually forced to abandon it.
From the Restoration to the Paris Commune
On 13 May 1821 the Canal Saint-Denis opened. In 1832, an outbreak of cholera decimated the population. In 1840 a factory was set up to manufacture soap from resin. The Fort d'Aubervilliers was built in 1843 - it was part of the Thiers wall, a structure authorised in 1840 by Adolphe Thiers to protect Paris and, where appropriate, to subdue its rebellions forming an elongated belt around Paris. It was used for the repression of the Paris Commune. The grounds of the fort and its surroundings are part of Aubervilliers commune. In 1861 the Central Market was created.
On 1 January 1860, the city of Paris was enlarged by annexing neighbouring communes. On that occasion, a small part of the commune of Aubervilliers was annexed to the city of Paris. At the same time, the commune of La Chapelle-Saint-Denis was disbanded and divided between the city of Paris, Aubervilliers, Saint-Denis, and Saint-Ouen. Aubervilliers received a small part of the territory of La Chapelle-Saint-Denis.
The Industrial Revolution and the expansion of Paris radically changed the situation in Aubervilliers. Industries were established next to the canal. On 6 October 1862 Baron Hainguerlot began the operation of General Stores in Saint-Denis. In 1866 he moved to Aubervilliers. In 1866 Saint-Gobain purchased a factory manufacturing sulphuric acid from John Frédéric Boyd which was located on Rue du Landy. On 12 September 1867 Lady LequinAlso called Dame Delabarre began operating a Match factory at a place called La Motte, Rue du Vivier.Today called Rue Henri-Barbusse. This factory was managed by the Compagnie générale des allumettes (General Match Company) from 1874 then by the State Department of Manufacturing from 1890. Rebuilt between 1902 et 1904, today it is occupied by the Documentation française.