Viry-Châtillon
Commune in Île-de-France, France
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Viry-Châtillon (French pronunciation: [viʁi ʃatijɔ̃] ⓘ) is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 20.9 km (13.0 mi) from the centre of Paris.
Viry-Châtillon | |
|---|---|
The Hôtel de Ville | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
 Location (in red) within Paris inner and outer suburbs | |
 Location of Viry-Châtillon | |
  Viry-Châtillon  Viry-Châtillon | |
| Coordinates: 48°40′17″N 2°22′30″E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Île-de-France |
| Department | Essonne |
| Arrondissement | Évry |
| Canton | Viry-Châtillon |
| Intercommunality | Grand Paris |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Jean-Marie Vilain[1] (LC) |
Area 1 | 6.07 km2 (2.34 sq mi) |
| Population (2023)[2] | 30,838 |
| • Density | 5,080/km2 (13,200/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 91687 /91170 |
| Elevation | 32–84 m (105–276 ft) |
| Website | www |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Toponymy
The name Viry possibly derives from the Latin Viriacum, meaning the 'estate of Virius', a Gallo-Roman personal name. Châtillon derives from the Latin castellum, meaning 'castle'.[3]
History
The Hôtel de Ville was completed in around 1855.[4]
Population
Inhabitants of Viry-Châtillon are also known as Castelvirois in French.
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| Source: EHESS[5] and INSEE (1968-2023)[6] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sports
The town is home to the women's football team Paris FC. It was also the base of the engine division of the Formula One constructor Renault from 1977 to 2025.[7]
Twin towns – sister cities
Transport
Viry-Châtillon is served by Viry-Châtillon station on the Paris RER line D.
Port-Aviation
In May 1909 a venue for aviation races and exhibitions, Port-Aviation, opened to the public in Viry-Châtillon as the world's first purpose-built aerodrome. A popular attraction, it hosted aviation exhibitions and air races, attracting large crowds from Paris. It was the site of many aviation experiments and firsts and also hosted horse racing, bicycle racing, and cross country running events. Savigny-sur-Orge station in neighboring Savigny-sur-Orge served the airfield's distinguished visitors, while most of the general public attending events at Port-Aviation arrived by rail at Juvisy station in Juvisy-sur-Orge, where a sign in the railway station directed visitors to "Juvisy Airfield." Much to the consternation of the civic leaders and residents of Viry-Châtillon, this led the press and post card publishers to refer habitually to Port-Aviation by the misnomers "Juvisy Airfield," and occasionally "Savigny Airfield," and to aviation events there as taking place in "Juvisy" or "Juvisy-sur-Orge." The misnomer "Juvisy Airfield" for Port-Aviation and the inaccurate association of Juvisy-sur-Orge with its location have persisted ever since. Port-Aviation closed to the public in 1914 due to financial problems, but during World War I served as a military aviation training site before it was abandoned in 1918. A housing district, also called Port-Aviation, was constructed on the site of the former airfield between 1919 and 1933 and by the 21st century had a population of 5,000 people. In 2009, Viry-Châtillon commemorated the centennial of Port-Aviation and opened a heritage trail for pedestrians with signs indicating the locations of the airfield's structures, only one of which survives.[9][10][11][12]
