Palaiseau is commune in the suburbs of Paris, France, in the Essonne département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. The commune (in French: commune, word appeared in the 12th century, from Medieval Latin communia, gathering of people sharing a common life, from Latin communis, things held in common) is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The French département of Essonne is part of the région of ÃŽle-de-France. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties. ... Subprefecture is an administrative level that is below prefecture or province. ...

Colleges and universities

École Polytechnique and an annex of École nationale supérieure de Techniques Avancées are now located in Palaiseau, on the Plateau de Saclay. The cadets of Polytechnique rushed to the defense of Paris against the foreign armies in 1814. ... The École nationale supérieure de Techniques Avancées (National higher school of Advanced Techniques), also known as ENSTA, is a French grande école in engineering. ...

Transportation

Palaiseau is easily reached from the capital using RER line B. The stations in the Palaiseau area are: Palaiseau, Palaiseau-Villebon and Lozère. An RER train at Gare de lEst. ...