Chatou
Chatou is a French city in the department of Yvelines (78 ) with an area of 508 hectares and 30 281 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2011). The altitude is 37 meters above sea level. Chatou is located ten kilometers west of Paris in the Ile- de -France region between the cities of Rueil and Le Vésinet close to the Seine. A bridge connects it with the opposite département of Hauts- de -Seine.
History
The region around present-day Chatou was inhabited by the Gauls, and later by the Romans. The city's name is derived from the Latin Cattus. In French, the people of Chatou Catoviens be called.
First mentioned the place was built in 691 under the Merovingians. Later he was in possession of the Dames de Malnoue. In the 14th century, it was first a fief of the Abbey of Saint- Denis, the Malet family, went in the 16th century on the Portail family over and in 1762 on Henri -Leonard Bertin, a high tax officials under Louis XV ..
In 1626, the since 1050 circulating between Chatou and Rueil ferry was replaced by a bridge.
In the 19th century the city saw through his connection to the 1837 traffic between Paris and Le Pecq railway line an economic boom and an increment of population. The proximity to Paris made him a popular place of residence are rich industrialist who built spacious villas in the countryside, on the banks of the Seine.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Seine River and is located on an island nightclub of Maison Fournaise the center of attraction of many Impressionist painters such as Claude Monet, Alfred Sisley, Berthe Morisot, Édouard Manet, Guy de Maupassant and Auguste Renoir were, where the Seine island its present name Île des Impressionistes (Island of the Impressionists ) owes. About thirty enamel panels with reproductions of the paintings created in Chatou remember where the painters set up their easels on the last day when the railroad brought seeking relaxation urbanites and cheerful Artists by Chatou in the summer.
In Chatou arisen among others the following paintings:
- André Derain: Winter landscape in Chatou, 1905, oil on canvas, 61 x 81 cm, private collection
- Auguste Renoir: Spring at Chatou, 1841, oil on canvas, 74 x 59 cm, private collection
- Auguste Renoir: Rowers at Chatou, 1879, oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm Washington, National Gallery of Art
- Auguste Renoir: Railway Bridge at Chatou or The pink chestnut trees, 1881, oil on canvas, 66 x 54 cm, Paris, Musée d' Orsay
- Auguste Renoir: The Seine at Chatou, Boston, Museum of Fine Arts
- Maurice de Vlaminck: Landscape near Chatou, 1906, oil on canvas, 65.5 x 81 cm, Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
Attractions
- The church of Notre -Dame de Chatou, whose founding dates back to the 12th century. From this time today bears witness to the Romanesque bell tower. Over the centuries the building was continuously expanded and restored. After the partial destruction in the German - French War, the church was re- built by the French architect Paul Abadie. 1880, the west facade was presented in neo-Gothic style.
- Earlier castle " La Faisanderie " with entrance pavilions and outbuildings ( 18th century). The residential wing was replaced in 1862.
- Nymphaeum (1777 ) by Jacques- Germain Soufflot in the castle park with a shell- vault
- Town Hall (18th century) with a bell tower (1879 ) and from the time of salons Napolons III.
- Island of the Impressionists between Chatou and Rueil with the restaurant " Maison Fournaise ", which a municipal museum was incorporated.
- Numerous villas from the beginning of the 20th century