Les Lilas

Les Lilas
Commune
Les Lilas Town Hall
Coat of arms
Location (in red) within Paris inner suburbs
Location of Les Lilas
Les Lilas Show map of France Les Lilas Show map of Île-de-France (region)
Coordinates: 48°53′N 2°25′E / 48.88°N 2.42°E / 48.88; 2.42
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Seine-Saint-Denis
Arrondissement	Bobigny
Canton	Bagnolet
Intercommunality	Grand Paris
Government
• Mayor (2026–32)	Lionel Benharous[1]
Area ^1	1.26 km^2 (0.49 sq mi)
Population  (2023)[2]	23,843
• Density	18,900/km^2 (49,000/sq mi)
Demonym	Lilasiens
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	93045 /93260
Elevation	126 m (413 ft)
Website	www.ville-leslilas.fr
^1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Les Lilas (French pronunciation: [le lila] ^ⓘ) is a commune in the northeastern inner suburbs of Paris, France. It is in Seine-Saint-Denis, 5.7 km (3.5 mi) from the centre of Paris.

History

The commune of Les Lilas (lit. 'the lilacs') was created under the Second Empire on 24 July 1867 amid Haussmann's renovation of Paris by detaching a part of the territory of Romainville and merging it with a part of the territory of Pantin and a part of the territory of Bagnolet. Les Lilas owes its name to the flower gardens that covered the hill on which the commune was established.^[3]

Heraldry

Arms of Les Lilas

The arms of Les Lilas are blazoned: Or fretty vert, semy (in the spaces) of lilacs proper. Motto: J'étais fleur, je suis cité (Once a flower, now a city)

Population

Historical population
Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1872 3,699 —     1876 4,411 +4.50% 1881 5,690 +5.22% 1886 5,887 +0.68% 1891 6,417 +1.74% 1896 7,438 +3.00% 1901 8,925 +3.71% 1906 10,470 +3.24% 1911 11,654 +2.17% 1921 14,599 +2.28% 1926 18,109 +4.40% 1931 19,500 +1.49% 1936 19,467 −0.03%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1946 17,685 −0.96% 1954 18,590 +0.63% 1962 17,721 −0.60% 1968 15,817 −1.88% 1975 20,054 +3.45% 1982 20,354 +0.21% 1990 20,118 −0.15% 1999 20,226 +0.06% 2007 22,324 +1.24% 2012 22,920 +0.53% 2017 23,045 +0.11% 2023 23,843 +0.57%
Source: EHESS[4] and INSEE (1968–2023)[5]

Transport

Les Lilas is served by Mairie des Lilas and Serge Gainsbourg stations on Line 11 of the Paris Métro.

Notable residents

• It is the home of the exiled royal family of Montenegro.
• It is the birthplace of French actress Maïwenn Le Besco, French actor Marc Ruchmann and violinist Guillaume Latour, French comic book author Aude Massot.

In popular culture

Les Lilas is known for the 1958 hit song by Serge Gainsbourg, "Le Poinçonneur des Lilas", about a ticket puncher at the Porte des Lilas Métro station. This Métro station is actually in Paris, one stop away from the Mairie des Lilas Métro station which is in Les Lilas.

Education

Primary schools:^[6]

• Three public preschool-elementary schools (Calmette, des Bruyères, and Julie-Daubié)
• Three public preschools (Courcoux, Victor-Hugo and Romain-Rolland)
• Four public elementary only schools (Paul-Langevin, Romain-Rolland, École Waldeck-Rousseau, École Victor-Hugo)
• One private elementary school (École Notre-Dame)

Public secondary schools:

• Collège Marie Curie^[7]
• Lycée polyvalent Paul-Robert^[8]

There is also a public library, Bibliothèque André-Malraux.^[9]

See also

• Communes of the Seine-Saint-Denis department

References

1. "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 5 May 2026.
2. "Populations de référence 2023" (in French). National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 18 December 2025.
3. "France Bleu – Au nom des lieux – Les Lilas doivent leur nom aux fleurs qui recouvraient naguère cette colline". francebleu.fr (in French). 21 November 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
4. Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Les Lilas, EHESS (in French).
5. Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023, INSEE
6. "Annuaire." Les Lilas. Retrieved on 9 September 2016.
7. "Collège Marie-Curie." Les Lilas. Retrieved on 9 September 2016.
8. "Lycée polyvalent Paul-Robert." Les Lilas. Retrieved on 9 September 2016.
9. "Bibliothèque André-Malraux." Les Lilas. Retrieved on 9 September 2016.

External links

• Official website (in French)