Vigneux-sur-Seine is a town located in Île-de-France, in the department of Essonne, 18 kilometers southeast of Paris.
Its strategic location on the Seine basin upstream of the capital contributed to the development of the city from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries with castle building on its banks, and in the seventeenth with the construction of a port and a dam for easy navigation.
Vigneux-sur-Seine becomes one of the first French inland ports, a status strengthened during the nineteenth century with the creation of a railway line between the city and Paris which amplifies commercial traffic. The city is also an industry flagship related to sand through his career in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Industrialization, the labor needs and population growth are transforming the city after WWII. New neighborhoods were built. The population rose from 7,500 inhabitants in 1945 to over 30,000 today.
However, in the historic center as in the periphery, creating residential areas or building sets have been conducted preserving number of natural areas (lakes, forests) and buildings that testify to a rich heritage.
Visit Vigneux-sur-Seine can begin with the discovery of a set of aquatic and forest areas of the first order.
In the city center, the castle Pioneered lake built in the eighteenth, very geometric appearance (a long rectangle with a circular basin north), is an ideal place for walking. It is bordered docks and includes an island with waterfall where wild ducks, herons and swans are legion.
North of the city, near the station, Lake Montalbo (44 hectares) is a popular base for fishing enthusiasts such as sports (sailing, canoeing). Several beaches allow relaxing and picnicking.
Shared between the territory of Vigneux and of Draveil, the leisure of the Port with Cherries on the banks of the river, including green spaces, ponds and swimming pool. We can take this opportunity, on the site, said to admire the menhir of Pierre Mousseau: a Neolithic remains above 2.70 meters.
The southern part of Vigneux territory is included in the vast forest of Senart (over 3,000 hectares), which marked trails guide hikers (walking or biking) who wish to better understand the richness of its flora and fauna.
Back in town, the park of Big Thicket is also a walking destination (marked trails).
Tourists enjoying the built heritage will find, in a second time, of major sights in Vigneux.
This is the case of the Saint-Pierre church, rebuilt after the Revolution. Some remains of the twelfth century are still visible, and certainly less ancient, baptistery of the primitive church has been preserved.
In the city, always, several castles or stately homes changed vocation but have not lost their interest. Such Bergeries Castle (XV), which is today the headquarters of the National Police Academy, or the house of Big Thicket (XIX), which was acquired as a park by the city. The building turned into plastic arts school.
The Dorgère castle (XIX) also incorporated the public domain. His stables were renovated and host municipal services.
Finally, the castle Chodron de Courcel family, built in 1878, is now a children's recreation center.
A step in Vigneux can finally be synonymous with arts (theater, concert) or exposure: for more information, contact the cultural services of the city at +33 1 69 40 15 52.
Since 2002, in mid-November, Vigneux-sur-Seine is part of a famous festival dedicated to comics and children's book "Bubbles en Seine". The meeting is free and wants friendly and festive. Forty authors present Scent of a Woman, around a guest of honor at the Georges Brassens center.
In a different field, when Toussaint leave in late October, a celebration of the Orchard is held in the park of the Big Thicket organized by the City and the Association of Heads Crunchers. Successive two-day conferences, exhibitions and children's drawing workshops.
Several weekly markets finally animate the town: Thursday and Sunday instead Anatole France and on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday morning instead of the leg goose.