Le Blanc-Mesnil: history and sights
Served by: RER B.
Did you know?
Its name is recorded from the 11th century ('Mansionile Blaun'); the first known mention dates from 1060, when King Philip I granted the rural estate of Blanc-Mesnil to the Abbey of Saint-Vincent in Senlis.
Anecdote
On the eve of the Revolution, Le Blanc-Mesnil had only 110 inhabitants; its first mayor, elected in 1792, was Joseph Mirgon.
Around Le Blanc-Mesnil
- Église Notre-Dame, 400 m away — Dedicated to Our Lady, like the 14th-century Annunciation chapel around which the village grew; a shell from the 'Big Bertha' gun hit it during the First World War.
- Théâtre du Blanc-Mesnil et médiathèque Édouard-Glissant, 1500 m away — Cultural venues built in the 1990s: the Forum, now the theatre, and the media library.
- Basilique de Saint-Denis, 7800 m away — The necropolis of the kings of France, a short trip away by public transport.