With its elegant tree-lined streets it is one of the more affluent suburbs of Paris, combining both high-end leisure spots and exclusive residential neighborhoods (see the Golden Triangle of the Yvelines).

Because it includes the National Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, it covers approximately 48 km2 (19 sq mi), making it the largest commune in the Yvelines.

[citation needed] In 1688, James II of England exiled himself to the city after being deposed from the throne in what has become known as the Glorious Revolution.

The old château was constructed in 1348 by King Charles V on the foundations of an old castle (château-fort) dating from 1238 in the time of Saint Louis.

The "Dame de Brassempouy" sculpted on a mammoth's ivory tusk around 23,000 years ago is the most famous exhibit in the museum.

Louis XIV was born in the château (the city's coat of arms consequently shows a cradle and the date of his birth), and established Saint-Germain-en-Laye as his principal residence from 1661 to 1681.

Louis XIV turned over the château to James VII & II of Scotland and England after his exile from Britain after the Glorious Revolution in 1688.

The treaty officially registered the breakup of the Habsburg empire, which recognized the independence of Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (Yugoslavia).

[4] During the occupation from 1940 to 1944, the town was the headquarters of the Oberbefehlshaber West, the commander of the German armed forces on the Western Front.

[7] The parish church, which is dedicated to Germain of Paris, was originally constructed in the eleventh century, and the present building (the fourth on the site) was built in the 1820s in a Neoclassical style, with six Tuscan columns supporting a pediment on the main façade.

The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye proper, in its geography at the given years.

[18] It teaches children from nursery to high school age, who follow both the public French curriculum and an international program.