History History

Construction of the Jules César road, which links Lugdunum (Paris) to Rouen. At that time, the existing houses were located on the level of the Saint-Martin island.

The Normans threatened the kingdom of Charles the Bald. In 862, the latter had fortified bridges built to prevent the crossing of the Oise. A few years later, Mount Belien was besieged, and the settlements were gradually established. This last grouping, while taking size, will become the town of Pontoise.

The treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte confers on Pontoise, which takes a major commercial importance, the status of capital of the French Vexin. The city's mission was to prevent Norman invasions.

Normandy was annexed: although Pontoise lost its status as a strategic city, it became a royal residence for centuries. In 1236, the Royal Cistercian Abbey of Maubuisson was founded in Saint-Ouen-l'Aumône by Blanche de Castille.

If the Oise has been a transport route for a long time, it is at this time that the inland waterway will take its rise, and that the course of the Oise will gradually take a very different aspect: the towpaths appear. The merchant navy developed rapidly and the territory was covered with ports and landing places. Many people were employed in these activities, which were challenged by the railroads at the end of the 19th century and declined, even though they remain important today, especially in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, which is now considered the French capital of inland navigation and has a museum dedicated to this theme.

Opening of the Paris-Dieppe railway line and opening of the Pontoise station.

It was the painter Camille Pissarro who first settled in Pontoise in 1866. He found here the landscapes that inspired him. At the time, the city was already large, but it offered a natural setting that was easily accessible: fields and nature as far as the eye could see were nearby, the Oise River provided an ideal setting, and the city's appearance was that of a large town with a rich heritage. The rise of the railway, which put the town half an hour from Paris, and the appearance of tube painting, in particular, allowed painters to come here to practice this new technique. Brush strokes, pure colors, work on the motif, sometimes engraving: impressionism was born. Gauguin then Cézanne, Piette, Van Gogh, Morisot or Béliard, in particular, came here to paint the place.

If the Pontoise bridge was destroyed in 1940, the fighting for the liberation did not cause any major destruction here, except for the church of Éragny-sur-Oise, dating from the 14th century. The latter disappeared during the crash of an English fighter plane.

The public authorities, in order to order the demographic and economic development of the Paris region, decided to establish in Cergy-Pontoise one of the five "new cities" surrounding the capital, along with Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Marne-la-Vallée, Evry and Melun-Sénart. Paul Delouvrier, general delegate to the Paris Region district, was in charge. In 1970, Cergy, which was only a small village at the time, was the setting for the inauguration of the new prefecture of Val-d'Oise, with its inverted pyramid shape (Pontoise lost its status as a prefectural city, while remaining the official capital of the department, a unique case in metropolitan France). This was only the first achievement: construction followed, neighborhoods sprang up, and transportation infrastructures were developed.

Construction of the A15 motorway begins, the first kilometres of which are inaugurated in 1974.

Abandonment of the "Aérotrain" project, named after the magnetic suspension train planned to link Cergy and La Défense.

Opening of the Cergy-Pontoise leisure centre in the heart of the Oise loop. It was redeveloped in 1989, then in 2000, and was regularly enhanced with new activities.

Inauguration of the Cergy-Préfecture station.

Cergy-Pontoise was given a monumental 3 km long work, designed by the artist Dani Karavan, which would become a world-famous signature: this was the beginning of the work on the Axe majeur.

Completion of the monumental clock in the Saint-Christophe district in Cergy.

Inauguration of the Colonnes de Saint-Christophe, a building designed by Ricardo Bofill on the Place Hubert Renaud.

Arrival of the RER A in Cergy-Saint-Christophe, then in Cergy-le-Haut in 1994.

Opening of Port-Cergy.

Creation of the French Vexin Regional Nature Park

Pontoise has been awarded the "City of Art and History" label.