Saint-Cloud, Hauts-de-Seine Département, Île-de-France Region, France

🇫🇷 Saint-Cloud is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. Like other communes of Hauts-de-Seine, Saint-Cloud is one of France's wealthiest towns, with the second-highest average household income of medium sized communities. Saint-Cloud is home to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (IBWM), located in the Parc de Saint-Cloud's Pavillon de Breteuil.

History The town is named after Clodoald, grandson of Clovis, who is supposed to have sought refuge in a hamlet on the Seine near Paris, then named Novigentum, like many other newly founded mercantile settlements outside the traditional towns. After he was canonized, the village where his tomb was located took the name of Sanctus Clodoaldus.

A park contains the ruins of the Château de Saint-Cloud, built in 1572 and destroyed by fire in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. The château was the residence of several French rulers and served as the main country residence of the cadet Orléans line until the French Revolution. The palace was also the site of the coup d'état led by Napoleon Bonaparte that overthrew the French Directory in 1799.

The town is also famous for the Saint-Cloud porcelain produced there from 1693 to 1766.

The Headquarters of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) was at 22 Rue Armengaud from 1966 until 1989, when it moved to Lyon.

Tourist Industry The main landmarks are the park of the demolished Château de Saint-Cloud and the Pavillon de Breteuil. The Saint-Cloud Racecourse, a racetrack for Thoroughbred flat racing, was built by Edmond Blanc in 1901 and hosts a number of important races, including the annual Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud.

Tribute to Santos-Dumont On the Avenue de Longchamp is a bronze statue commissioned by the Airclub of France representing the Greek mythological figure Icarus, in honour of Alberto Santos-Dumont. Inaugurated on October 19, 1913, it sits on a square near the old Aerostation of Saint-Cloud, where Santos-Dumont performed his experiments with heavier-than-air aircraft. Santos-Dumont was also responsible for the construction of the world's first hangar. A replica has occupied the hangar's site in Saint-Cloud since 1952 after the original was destroyed for its bronze during the Nazi military occupation.

Transport Saint-Cloud is served by two stations on the Transilien La Défense and Paris-Saint-Lazare suburban rail lines: Le Val d'Or and Saint-Cloud.

The town is also served by tramway Line T2, which runs alongside the Seine.

Central Saint-Cloud, known as le village ("the village"), is also served by the Métro station Boulogne–Pont de Saint-Cloud (Line 10), just across the Seine on the Boulogne-Billancourt side of the Pont de Saint-Cloud.

Hospital • René Huguenin Hospital

Education Public high schools: • Lycée Alexandre-Dumas • Lycée Santos-Dumont

It is also served by the public high school Lycée Jean Pierre Vernant in Sèvres.

Private high schools: • Institution Saint-Pie-X

International schools: • American School of Paris • Internationale Deutsche Schule Paris (German school)

A campus of the Paris Nanterre University is also located in the city.