Mantes-la-Jolie, Yvelines Département, Île-de-France Region, France

History | Sights | Economy | Transport | Colleges and universities | Art

🇫🇷 Mantes-la-Jolie is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region of north-central France. It is located to the west of Paris, 48.4 km from the centre of the capital. Mantes-la-Jolie is a subprefecture.

The city is divided into four districts each with a characteristic urban form: • Centre-ville: city centre, a dense and commercial area • Gassicourt: residential area • Val Fourré: large housing district • Hautes Garennes: a non-urbanized area.

History Mantes was halfway between the centres of power of the dukes of Normandy at Rouen and the Kings of France at Paris. Along with most of northern France, it changed hands frequently in the Hundred Years' War. Philip Augustus died at Mantes, 14 July 1223.

Louis XIV instituted the manufacture of musical instruments in Mantes, and it was chosen as the centre of brass and woodwind instrument manufacture. In the 19th century, painters were attracted to the town, particularly Corot, whose paintings of the bridge and the cathedral are celebrated. Prokofiev spent the summer of 1920 there orchestrating the ballet Chout.

Originally officially called Mantes-sur-Seine (meaning "Mantes upon Seine"), Mantes merged with the commune of Gassicourt in 1930 and the commune born of the merger was called Mantes-Gassicourt.

Mantes was the location of the first allied bridgehead across the Seine on 19 August 1944, by General Patton's 3rd Army. Major rebuilding was needed after the war.

On 7 May 1953, the commune of Mantes-Gassicourt was officially renamed Mantes-la-Jolie (meaning "Mantes the pretty"), allegedly in reference to a letter of King Henry IV addressed to his mistress Gabrielle d'Estrées who resided in Mantes: "I am on my way to Mantes, my pretty" (French: je viens à Mantes, ma jolie).

Sights The main monument in Mantes is the church of Notre-Dame dating back to 12th century. A previous church was burnt down by William the Conqueror together with the rest of the town, at the capture of which he lost his life in 1087. Modern bridges link Mantes with the town of Limay on the other side of the river.

Economy Mantes is home to small businesses working on concrete and chemical processing, but is inevitably drawn into the economic area of nearby Paris.

It is historically and at present a centre of musical instrument manufacturing. The well known Buffet Crampon woodwind factory is located in the neighbourhood city of Mantes-la-Ville.

Transport Mantes-la-Jolie is served by two stations on the Transilien Paris-Saint-Lazare and Transilien Paris-Montparnasse suburban rail lines: Mantes-Station and Mantes-la-Jolie. The Mantes-la-Jolie station is also served by TGV trains towards Le Havre, and Cherbourg.

Colleges and universities: • University Institute of Technology of Mantes en Yvelines • Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University

Art At the end of the 19th century, Impressionist painters like Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Édouard Manet and Claude Monet came to paint the Seine River which crosses the town. Jean Batiste Corot painting of the Old Mantes bridge is shown at the Louvres.

Château de Rambouillet, Yvelines, France 
Château de Rambouillet, Yvelines, France
Image: Adobe Stock Lotharingia #407763727

Mantes-la-Jolie has a population of over 44,231 people. Mantes-la-Jolie also forms the centre of the wider Mantes-la-Jolie Arrondissement which has a population of over 271,436 people. It is also a part of the larger Yvelines Département.

To set up a UBI Lab for Mantes-la-Jolie see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Mantes-la-Jolie has links with:

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Hillingdon, England 🇵🇹 Maia, Portugal 🇩🇪 Schleswig, Germany 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Uxbridge, England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Yiewsley, England
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Mantes-la-Jolie is: -178.281,-48.99

Locations Near: Mantes-la-Jolie 1.71931,48.9903

🇫🇷 Yvelines 1.841,48.815 d: 21.4  

🇫🇷 Cergy-Pontoise 2.063,49.042 d: 25.7  

🇫🇷 Cergy 2.08,49.035 d: 26.8  

🇫🇷 Rambouillet 1.831,48.644 d: 39.3  

🇫🇷 Pontoise 2.093,49.049 d: 28  

🇫🇷 Montigny-le-Bretonneux 2.033,48.771 d: 33.5  

🇫🇷 Saint Germain en Laye 2.094,48.899 d: 29.2  

🇫🇷 St. Germain-en-Laye 2.094,48.899 d: 29.2  

🇫🇷 Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines 2.046,48.785 d: 33  

🇫🇷 Saint-Germain-en-Laye 2.094,48.899 d: 29.2  

Antipodal to: Mantes-la-Jolie -178.281,-48.99

🇹🇴 Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 16905.9  

🇦🇸 Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 16093.7  

🇼🇸 Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 16060.4  

🇵🇫 Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 15668.1  

🇺🇸 Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 12036.3  

🇺🇸 Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 11967  

🇺🇸 Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 11955.7  

🇺🇸 Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 11949.9  

🇺🇸 Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 11940.7  

🇺🇸 Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 11949.1  

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