Mont-Saint-Aignan, Seine-Maritime Département, Normandy, France

🇫🇷 Mont-Saint-Aignan is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the region of Normandy, north-western France.

Due to the presence of higher education institutions (notably the University of Rouen and the NEOMA Business School) and the city's relatively small population, Mont-Saint-Aignan is considered the French city that has the largest proportion of students relative to its population (students represented in 2014 25,61% of the total population).

Geography The town is the fifth-largest suburb of the city of Rouen and lies directly adjacent to the north side of Rouen at the junction of the D121 and D43. In addition to its population of 21,265, there are also around 20,000 students at the University and the various Grandes Écoles.

History The town is ultimately named for the ancient Saint Aignan of Orleans.

The parishes of Saint-Aignan (Latin: Sanctus Anianus) and Mont-aux-Malades (Monte Infirmorum, which takes its name from a hospital) are mentioned in documents dating back to the 12th century. Henry II built a church there dedicated to Thomas Becket in 1176 in an attempt to make up for his unwitting role in the murder of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The modern commune of Mont-Saint-Aignan was created in the early 19th century (1815–1819) out of the merger of the communes of Monts-aux-Malades, Saint-Aignan and (partly) Saint-Denis-de-Bondeville.

Places of interest • The church of St. Jacques, dating from the eleventh century, used as a workshop after the Revolution • The church of St. Thomas, dating from the twelfth century • The sixteenth century church of St. Aignan • The nineteenth century church of St. André • The modern church of Notre-Dame-de-Miséricorde (1970) • The chapel of the Petit-Séminaire (1862) • Several ancient houses.

Education: Universities • University of Rouen • NEOMA Business School (former École Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen) • Institut de Formation Internationale (part of the Business School) • ésitpa (agriculture and agronomy) • ESIGELEC formerly in Mont-Saint-Aignan; moved in 2004 to nearby Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray • Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Rouen (INSA Rouen) also - since Oct 2009 - now wholly in Saint-Étienne-du-Rouvray.