Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine Département, Île-de-France Region, France

🇫🇷 Meudon is a municipality in the south-western suburbs of Paris, France. It is in the département of Hauts-de-Seine. It is located 9.1 km from the centre of Paris. The city is known for many historic monuments and some extraordinary trees. One of them, the Imperial Cedar, attracted the attention of Empress Eugénie and Queen Victoria. Another real estate project is planned for the historic park of the Napoleon III villa built by Charles Schacher.

Geography The town of Meudon is built on the hills and valleys of the Seine. The wood of Meudon lies for the most part to the west of the town. The north-west part of Meudon, overlooking the Seine, is known as Bellevue ("beautiful view").

History At Meudon, the argile plastique clay was extensively mined in the 19th century. The first fossil of the European diatryma Gastornis parisiensis was discovered in these deposits by Gaston Planté.

Archaeological sites show that Meudon has been populated since Neolithic times.

The Gauls called the area Mol-Dum (sand dune), and the Romans Latinized the name as Moldunum.

The handsome Galliera Institutions, on the hill of Fleury, were founded by the duchess of Galliera for the care of aged persons and orphans. The buildings were completed in 1885.

The old castle of Meudon was rebuilt in Renaissance style in the mid-sixteenth century. It was bought by Louis XIV as a residence for his son Louis, the Dauphin under whom Meudon became a centre of aristocratic life. After the death of the Dauphin in 1711, the château was neglected, emptied in the Revolutionary sales, and finally burned in 1871 at the close of the Franco-Prussian War, while it was occupied by Prussian soldiers. A branch of the Paris Observatory was founded on the ruins in 1877. The Meudon town hall is about 43 m (141.08 ft) in altitude above that of Paris and the climb from there to the observatory offers some rewarding views of Paris.

Automotive pioneering Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, the inventor of the 'world's first automobile', is reported to have carried out some early trials at Meudon in the early 1770s.

Pioneering aviation Chalais-Meudon was important in the pioneering of aviation, initially balloons and airships, but also the early heavier-than-air machines. A Corps d'Aérostatiers under the command of Jean-Marie-Joseph Coutelle was established in 1794, its balloons being used at the Battle of Fleurus. 'Hangar Y' was built in 1880 at the request of the military engineer Captain Charles Renard (1847–1905), for the construction of balloons and airships. The building is 70 m (230 ft) long, 24 m (79 ft) wide and around 26 m (85 ft) high. The airship La France, designed by Renard and Arthur Krebs, was built in Hangar Y in 1884 and was the first airship which was controllable during flight and which could return to its starting point.

Economy Although a choice residential district, access to the railway (RER) and the Seine river have made Meudon a manufacturing centre since the 1840s. Metal products and military explosives have been continuously produced there since then.

Scientific facilities In addition to the Observatory, what is today ONERA, a national aerospace research institute and wind tunnel has been present since the military opened its aerostatic (lighter-than-air) field in the Chalais park in 1877. From 1921 to 1981 the Air Museum was located here until it moved to Le Bourget Airport.

CNRS has a campus in Bellevue.

Transport: Public Meudon is well served by public transport operated jointly by the SNCF and the RATP.

Réseau Express Régional (RER) – Line C Meudon is served by line C of the RER by Meudon – Val Fleury station.

Transilien – Line N Meudon is also served by the Transilien Line N through Meudon station and Bellevue station.

Tramway – T2 and T6 The T2 tramway line links Pont de Bezons station to Porte de Versailles station. It stops by La Défense. Meudon is served by Brimborion and Meudon-sur-Seine stations.

The T6 tramway line runs from Châtillon to Viroflay. Meudon is served by Georges Millandy and Meudon la Forêt stations.

Transport: Bus Meudon is served by twelve lines of the RATP bus network, that have numerous stops in the city: • Line 162 runs from Arceuil – Cachan RER station to Villejuif Louis Aragon. • Line 169 runs from Pont de Sèvres to the Georges Pompidou hospital. • Line 179 runs from Pont de Sèvres to the Robinson RER station. • Line 190 runs from Petit Clamart to Mairie d'Issy. • Line 289 runs from Porte de Saint-Cloud to Clamart – Cité de la Plaine. • Line 290 runs from Le Plessis-Robinson to Issy-Val-de-Seine. • Line 291 runs from Pont de Sèvres to Vélizy Europe Sud. • Line 379 runs from Vélizy 2 to Antony – La Croix de Berny RER station. • Line 389 runs from Pont de Sèvres to Meudon-la-Forêt. • Line 390 runs from Vélizy Villacoublay to the Bourg-la-Reine RER station.

The area was once served by the Bellevue funicular, a model of which is in the local Museum of Art and History.