It is located to the west of Paris , Mantes-la-Jolie is a subprefecture ; in , it had a population of 44, Mantes was halfway between the centres of power of the dukes of Normandy at Rouen and the Kings of France at Paris. Along with most of northern France, it changed hands frequently in the Hundred Years' War. Philip Augustus died at Mantes, 14 July Louis XIV instituted the manufacture of musical instruments in Mantes, and it was chosen as the centre of brass and woodwind instrument manufacture.
In the 19th century, painters were attracted to the town, particularly Corot , whose paintings of the bridge and the cathedral are celebrated. Prokofiev spent the summer of there orchestrating the ballet Chout. Originally officially called Mantes-sur-Seine meaning "Mantes upon Seine " , Mantes merged with the commune of Gassicourt in and the commune born of the merger was called Mantes-Gassicourt.
Mantes was the location of the first allied bridgehead across the Seine on 19 August , by General Patton 's 3rd Army. Major rebuilding was needed after the war. Inhabitants are called Mantais in French. The city had a total of 44, inhabitants in The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Mantes-la-Jolie proper, in its geography at the given years.
The commune of Mantes-la-Jolie absorbed the former communes of Gassicourt in The main monument in Mantes is the church of Notre-Dame dating back to 12th century.
A previous church was burnt down by William the Conqueror together with the rest of the town, at the capture of which he lost his life in Modern bridges link Mantes with the town of Limay on the other side of the river. Mantes is home to small businesses working on concrete and chemical processing, but is inevitably drawn into the economic area of nearby Paris.
