Le Blanc-Mesnil

Le Blanc-Mesnil is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 12.6 km from the center of Paris, between Charles de Gaulle 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.

Nearest municipalities

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

Prehistory and Antiquity
A discovery in 1984 concerning archeological excavation found three polished axes and modified flint attests a human presence in Le Blanc-Mesnil in the Neolithic period and the Gallo-Roman era. Shards of gallic ceramic were found.

The Morée and Molette rivers nearby and the existence of an ancient roman road support this theory.

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

Economy

 * 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
 * Pont-Yblon
 * Centre d'affaires international Paris Nord II
 * Carré des Aviateurs
 * Espace Descartes, for tourism business. Three hotels three stars, a Novotel hotel.

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

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


 * Parti Communiste Français
 * Parti Socialiste
 * Union for French Democracy (UDF)
 * Union for a Popular Movement (UMP)
 * Groupe des Verts

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, one can easily get to Parc Astérix and Disneyland as well as the centre of Paris and the Stade de France.

Religion
Catholic churches: Église Notre-Dame, Église Saint-Charles, Église Sainte-Thérèse. Evangelic churches: Charisma Église Chrétienne

Education
The commune has the following schools: four preschools in the south, seven preschools in the centre of town, and six preschools in the north. It has four elementary schools in the south, six elementary schools in the centre, and six elementary schools in the north.

Junior high schools:
 * Collège Aimé et Eugénie Cotton
 * Collège Descartes
 * Collège Marcel Cachin
 * Collège Nelson Mandela

Senior high schools:
 * Lycée professionnel Aristide Briand
 * Lycée Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
 * Lycée Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Médiathèque Edouard Glissant/Bibliothèque Jacques Prévert serves as the municipal library.

Parks and gardens

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

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

International relations
Le Blanc-Mesnil is twinned with:
 * Sandwell in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom,
 * Peterhof in Russia,
 * Debre Berhan in Ethiopia,
 * Beni Douala in Algeria.

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

Personalities

 * Jérémy Abadie, footballer
 * Adil Aouchiche, footballer
 * Amara Baby, footballer
 * Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, hockey player
 * Jonathan Biabiany, footballer
 * Jean-Felix Dorothee, footballer
 * Abdou Doumbia, footballer
 * Morgaro Gomis, footballer
 * Raphaël Guerreiro, footballer
 * Sylvie Guillem, star dancer at Paris Opera
 * Patrick Hernandez, famous singer of Born to Be Alive
 * Mickael Marolany, footballer
 * Fabien Marsaud, known as Grand Corps Malade, slam poet
 * Fabrice N'Sakala, footballer
 * Moussa Sissoko, footballer
 * Ludovic Sylvestre, footballer
 * Tristan Valentin, road bicycle racer
 * Élisabeth Vonarburg, writer of science-fiction