Nanterre

Nanterre, a town of northern France, with a port on the Seine, in the department of Seine, at the foot of Mount Valerien, 8 m. N.W. of Paris on the railway to St Germain. Pop. (1906), town, 11,874; commune, 17,434. The principal manufactures are chemicals, tallow and aluminium; stone quarried in the vicinity; the town is noted also for its cakes. The combined prison and mendacity depot for the department is a large institution, about 2 m. from the town. Nanterre (the ancient Nemptodurum or Nemetodurum) owes its origin to the shrine of Ste Genevieve (420-512), the patron-saint of Paris, whose name is still associated with various places in the town and district. The shrine is the object of a pilgrimage in September.