Créteil

Créteil
Val-de-Marne prefecture building by the lake
Coat of arms
Paris and inner ring departments
Coordinates: 48°47′28″N 2°27′46″E / 48.7911°N 2.4628°E / 48.7911; 2.4628Coordinates: 48°47′28″N 2°27′46″E / 48.7911°N 2.4628°E / 48.7911; 2.4628
Country	France
Region	Île-de-France
Department	Val-de-Marne
Arrondissement	Créteil
Canton	2 cantons
Intercommunality	Plaine Centrale du Val-de-Marne
Government
• Mayor	Laurent Cathala
Area1	11.43 km2 (4.41 sq mi)
Population (2006)2	90,197
• Density	7,900/km2 (20,000/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code	94028 /94000
Elevation	31–74 m (102–243 ft) (avg. 63 m or 207 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Créteil (French pronunciation: ​[kʁe.tɛj]) is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 11.5 km (7.1 mi) from the centre of Paris. Créteil is the préfecture (capital) of the Val-de-Marne department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Créteil. The city is, moreover, the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese and of one of France's 30 nationwide académies (districts) of the Ministry of National Education.

The name Créteil was recorded for the first time as Cristoïlum in the martyrology written by a monk named Usuard in 865. The name Cristoïlum is made of the Celtic word ialo (meaning "clearing, glade", "place of") suffixed to a pre-Latin radical crist- whose meaning is still unclear. Some believe crist is a Celtic word meaning "ridge", a cognate of Latin crista and modern French crête, in which case the meaning of Cristoïlum would be "clearing on the ridge" or "place on the ridge." A more traditional etymology was that crist referred to Jesus Christ, due to the very ancient presence of Christianity in Créteil and the veneration of Saint Agoard and Saint Aglibert, martyred in Créteil around AD 400.

Créteil is a city in the south-eastern suburbs of Paris. It is watered by the Marne river which carries out its last loop before the junction with the Seine at the Charenton-le-Pont. The area is an alluvial plain eroded by the action of the Marne and the Seine. Bordering communes include Maisons-Alfort, Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Bonneuil-sur-Marne, Limeil-Brévannes, Valenton, Choisy-le-Roi and Alfortville.