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The town’s history
Issy-les-Moulineaux, a municipality of Hauts-de-Seine, is known the world over as THE cybercity. After all, wasn’t it the town that was awarded the title of Pioneer City of the citizen’s internet?
But this isn’t all… Issy-les-Moulineaux’s history goes back 9000 years when prehistoric man started living on the Issy plain, succeeded by the monks of Saint-Germain in the Middle Ages, reaching its height in the 17th century with great members of the Court such as the famous « reine Margot », the wife of King Henry IV. The town was also the scene of terrible battles: in 1815, on the fall of Napoleon; in May 1817, during the Paris Commune; in 1940 with the German bombardments… Flourishing industries were to be found there up until the middle of the 20th century including the Gévelot munitions factory, the tobacco company La Manufacture des tabacs, the Ripolin paint manufacturer…
The town is ideally situated on the banks of the Seine, in a rural setting, and thus attracted artists such as the painter Henri Matisse, the sculptor Auguste Rodin and the photographer Jacques Henri Lartigue, who was fascinated by… the aeroplanes which used to take off from the Issy airfield, which was, let us not forget, the cradle of aviation !
There are many parks in the town, conducive to day dreaming, reading and to discovering vines, beehives and even a horse riding school! Issy-les-Moulineaux has much to offer tourists, so don’t keep it waiting!