Villejuif

Name

The earliest reference to Villejuif appears in a bill signed by the Pope Callixtus II on 27 November 1119. It refers to Villa Judea, the Latinized version of an Old French term meaning 'Jewish settlement'. During the following centuries, the toponym appears as Villejuifve, that is, following the archaic French spelling of the expression with the same meaning, cognate to modern French Villejuive. The 17th-century French author Louis Moréri suggested that the settlement was founded by Jews expelled from Paris. This idea, however, remains speculative as no surviving medieval Christian or Jewish sources mention the existence of a Jewish community here. An alternative explanation is that the name is a corruption of some earlier, similar-sounding name. Another suggestion made by historan Cecil Roth in 1951 is that names such as this simply reflect "an ancient building of unknown origin".

History

The Hôtel de Ville, which was established as a seminary, dates back to 1608.

Geography

Climate

Villejuif has an oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb). The average annual temperature in Villejuif is 12.4 C. The average annual rainfall is 670.1 mm with October as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 20.5 C, and lowest in December, at around 4.9 C. The highest temperature ever recorded in Villejuif was 40.5 C on 6 August 2003; the coldest temperature ever recorded was -12.2 C on 8 February 1991.

|Jan record high C = 16.4 |Feb record high C = 20.4 |Mar record high C = 23.5 |Apr record high C = 29.6 |May record high C = 33.0 |Jun record high C = 37.6 |Jul record high C = 37.3 |Aug record high C = 40.5 |Sep record high C = 32.4 |Oct record high C = 30.5 |Nov record high C = 21.6 |Dec record high C = 17.0 |Jan record low C = -12.0 |Feb record low C = -12.2 |Mar record low C = -7.2 |Apr record low C = -1.0 |May record low C = 0.6 |Jun record low C = 4.9 |Jul record low C = 7.0 |Aug record low C = 7.4 |Sep record low C = 4.2 |Oct record low C = -1.5 |Nov record low C = -7.8 |Dec record low C = -9.9 | access-date = 24 August 2022}}}}

Demographics

Population

| graph-pos = bottom |1793 |1362 |1800 |1137 |1806 |1320 |1821 |1278 |1831 |1377 |1836 |1652 |1841 |1503 |1846 |1587 |1851 |1514 |1856 |1559 |1861 |1813 |1866 |2308 |1872 |1917 |1876 |2117 |1881 |2678 |1886 |3163 |1891 |4294 |1896 |5234 |1901 |5835 |1906 |6600 |1911 |8671 |1921 |11725 |1926 |18751 |1931 |25192 |1936 |27540 |1946 |25359 |1954 |29280 |1962 |46116 |1968 |51120 |1975 |55606 |1982 |52448 |1990 |48405 |1999 |47384 |2007 |51410 |2012 |56504 |2017 |54753 |2022 |58142

Immigration

|EU-15=5.6 |non-EU-15=12.6

Transport

Villejuif is served by three stations on Paris Métro Line 7: Villejuif – Léo Lagrange, Villejuif – Paul Vaillant-Couturier, and Villejuif – Louis Aragon. Villejuif is also served by one station on Paris Métro Line 14: Villejuif–Gustave Roussy station.

Notable people

• Camille Loiseau, the oldest person in France from 26 March 2005 to 12 August 2006, died in Villejuif aged 114
• Komitas, Armenian priest, musicologist and composer, died here
• David Bret, Anglo-French biographer.

Hospitals

Villejuif has several hospitals on its territory :

• the Institut Gustave Roussy, an oncology hospital;
• the Hôpital Paul-Brousse;
• the Paul Guiraud hospital.

Education

13 preschools, 11 elementary schools, and five junior high schools (Collège Aimé-Césaire, Collège Guy-Môquet, Collège Jean Lurçat, Collège Karl Marx, Collège Pasteur) are in Villejuif. Lycée intercommunal Darius-Milhaud (in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre) serves Villejuif.

Other institutions:

• EFREI
• École Pour l'Informatique et les Techniques Avancées
• Institut Sup'Biotech de Paris

Twin towns – sister cities

Villejuif is twinned with:

• HUN Dunaújváros, Hungary
• ITA Mirandola, Italy
• GER Neubrandenburg, Germany
• POR Vila Franca de Xira, Portugal
• BUL Yambol, Bulgaria

References

References

1. (6 June 2023). "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises.
2. Philologos, "[https://ideas.tikvah.org/mosaic/observations/the-journey-to-jewtown The Journey to Jewtown: The origins of two strange names for French villages that are now suburbs of Paris]", ''Mosaic'', May 30, 2018; accessed 2025.01.24.
3. Roth, Cecil. (1951). "Jews' Houses". Antiquity.
4. {{Base Mérimée. IA94000157
5. {{Cassini-Ehess. 40231. Villejuif
6. [https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-94076#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE
7. "[https://www.ville-villejuif.fr/Etablissements_scolaires.html Etablissements scolaires]." Villejuif. Retrieved on 23 June 2015.
8. "Jumelage – International". Villejuif.