Among the many parks and gardens in the Île-de-France region, Meissonier Park has a rich history and is interesting on several accounts. It was successively or simultaneously the gardens of a royal monastery for almost five centuries, a garden appreciated by poets (Christine de Pizan, Anne de Marquets, Ronsard and others) and, for a century and a half, a farm and an ornamental garden. Since it was purchased by the Town in 1952, it has been laid out as a municipal park, frequented all year round by the inhabitants of Poissy and vicinity, both children and adults, and everyone appreciates its charm and originality. This English landscape garden, 10 hectares (about 25 acres) in size, with its water feature, the nun’s former fish pond, its rose garden and its dozens of plant species, is one of the town’s green lungs. The park is named after a painter, Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891), who lived in the Abbey enclosure for several years and whose statue was inaugurated on 15 November 1980.