Sceaux is a commune in the southern suburbs of
Paris
, France
. It
is located 9.7 km (6 miles) from the
center of Paris.
Wealth
Sceaux is
famous for the Château of Sceaux
, set in its large park (Parc départemental de
Sceaux), designed by André
Le Nôtre, measuring . The original
château,
demolished during the
Revolution,
was built by
Jean-Baptiste
Colbert, the minister of finance to
Louis XIV and purchased by Louis'
illegitimate son, the
duke of Maine in
1699. His duchesse held court in a glittering
salon at Sceaux in the first decades of
the eighteenth century.
The present château, rebuilt 1856-62 in a
Louis XIII style, is now the museum of
Ile de France open for visits.
Sceaux is a very pretty city, especially downtown with its main
pedestrian full of luxury shops such as bakeries, bookstores and
chocolate sellers. This street is rue Houdan.
Housing costs are extremely high, higher than in many districts of
Paris, especially with streets facing the
Parc de Sceaux,
in the
Quartier des musiciens and the west side of the
Quartier des Blagis.
Sceaux is listed as the 44th richest city of France.
Transport
Sceaux is
served by three stations on Paris RER line B:
Sceaux, Robinson, and Parc de
Sceaux
(this last station is located at the border between
the commune of Sceaux and the commune of Antony, on the Antony side of the
border).
Sceaux is connected to the
A86
motorway that circles around Paris. The commune also offers a
developed network of
buses which are often
used by the
Scéens (name given to the people who live in
Sceaux).
Education
Sceaux
hosts two public high schools, the lycée Marie Curie (enrollment
2,000) and the lycée
Lakanal
(enrollment 3,000). The lycée Lakanal was
named after a French politician, and an original member of the
Institut de France,
Joseph Lakanal
and has remained one of the most prestigious and hardest schools of
Île-de-France. The school also offers a
middle school and highly ranked "
classes
préparatoires" undergraduate training.
Famous French scientists and writers
have graduated from lycée Lakanal, such as Jean
Giraudoux, Alain-Fournier and
Frédéric
Joliot-Curie. The Faculté Jean Monnet, the college of
Law and Management of
University
of Paris-XI (Orsay), is also located in Sceaux.
The boarding academy
Kadic
Junior High School on
Code
Lyoko based on the lycée Lakanal.
Cultural life
Sceaux is home to one theater, the théâtre des Gémeaux, located in
the quartier des Blagis which is part of the "Scène Nationale"
network of the major theaters in France.
The théâtre des
Gémeaux attracts viewers from all Ile de
France and Paris.
The commune also has a small movie theater, the Trianon, where
international movies are released in their respective language and
subtitled in French. The theater is also famous for showing
independent films and hosting
special events. In 2006, a debate revolving around
ecology was organized and
Al
Gore's
An Inconvenient
Truth was shown.
Sceaux has also been a place where various music events have taken
place. In August 1987,
Madonna
performed at
Parc de Sceaux during
her "
Who's That Girl Tour" to a
crowd of 130 000. Famous-French-rockstar
Johnny Halliday also gave a concert there on
June 2000.
Twin towns
See also
References
External links
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