Every design for Champigny-Sur-Marne

The Marne does not simply pass Champigny-sur-Marne; it runs along both sides of the commune, drawing the line between it and Nogent-sur-Marne and Le Perreux-sur-Marne to the north and Saint-Maur-des-Fossés to the south. That river is the core of the town's identity. Champigny only added "sur-Marne" to its name to stand apart from the other Champignys of France, and its Latin root, Campaniacum, points back to the estate of a Gallo-Roman landowner called Campanius.

Fort de Champigny and the Musée de la Résistance Nationale give the town its serious, remembering side, while the Parc de Détente et de Loisirs du Tremblay and the Île de Champigny show the other one: green banks, quiet water and a riverside cycle path the town laid out before any of its neighbours on the loop of the Marne. Residents, known as Campinois, cross the river to catch the RER A at a station that officially belongs to Saint-Maur, yet everybody here treats it as their own.

Look at the map and the river traces the outline of home. However far you go, that bend of the Marne is the shape that tells you you are back.