
Jouy-en-Josas

Jouy-en-Josas is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the south-western suburbs of Paris, from the center of Paris.
Jouy-en-Josas is home to the main campus of HEC School of Management.
Geography.
Jouy-en-Josas is four kilometres to the south-east of Versailles, and 19r km to the south-west of Paris, in the middle of the valley of the Bièvre river. A town with nearly eight thousand inhabitants, half of Jouy-en-Josas is covered by forest.
The communes that surround Jouy-en-Josas are Vélizy-Villacoublay, to the north-east, Bièvres to the east, Saclay to the south, Toussus-le-Noble to the extreme south-west, Les Loges-en-Josas to the west, Buc to the north-west and Versailles to the north-north-west.
History.
"Jouy" is a direct translation of Latin "gaudium", both meaning "joy". Josas was the ancient name of an archdiaconate of the archbishop of Paris. Although many discoveries in various parts of the town attest to there once having been a Gallo-Roman presence there, the first traces of the construction of a village are of the ninth century. Stimulated by the presence of monks from the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, Jouy grew rapidly, but the population was progressively annihilated in the fourteenth century by a number of wars and epidemics. By 1466, there were only three houses left in the village.
From that date forward, Jouy became home to several aristocratic families. A number of "seigneurs" from Jouy had close relations with the kings: Antoine d'Aquin was the personal doctor to Louis XIV, and his grandson, Antoine-Louis de Rouillé, became Secretary of State of the Navy and Foreign Affairs under Louis XV.
In 1759, Christophe-Philippe Oberkampf, an entrepreneur of German origins, moved to Jouy-en-Josas and started a factory there, which produced "toile de Jouy", a cotton fabric printed with isolated engraved vignettes of historical figures or landscapes, usually printed in red or green on white cotton. He became the town's first mayor in 1790. Industry started to wane in 1799 and even further in 1815, when Napoleon was toppled and Oberkampf died. Oberkampf's motto, "Recte et Viligenter", Latin for "Uprightness and Vigilance", was used by the commune for its coat of arms.
The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art settled in Jouy-en-Josas for a short time, before moving to the Boulevard Raspail in Paris. Jouy is also the home of the HEC School of Management, one of the renowned grandes écoles, which moved there from Paris in 1964.
Population.
Inhabitants are called "Jovaciens".
Economy.
Jouy-en-Josas has a very low unemployment rate. According to data from 1999, the rate of unemployment in Jouy was only 5.4%, compared to a national rate of 12.9%. The income of an average Jovacian is twice as high as the national average: the average Jovacian earns around €43,934 per year, compared to the French average of €20,363. 41 companies were established in Jouy-en-Josas in 2004 alone. The town is estimated to have around 400 businesses in all sectors of the economy. The town is home to both traditionally French small businesses and to artisans. The area around Petit Robinson has also attracted many tertiary industries.
Jouy-en-Josas is home to a number of eminent higher education and research centres, such as HEC School of Management, the CRC (Centre for Managerial Research and Studies), and the INRA (National Institute for Agronomic Research.)
Transport.
Jouy-en-Josas is served by two stations on Paris RER line C: Vauboyen and Jouy-en-Josas.