Grenoble

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Administration
Commune of Grenoble

View of Grenoble, 2002, with the snowy peaks of the Dauphiné Alps
Location

Coordinates	45°11′16″N, 5°43′37″E
Country	France
Région	Rhône-Alpes
Département	Isère (préfecture)
Arrondissement	Grenoble
Canton	Chief town of 6 cantons
Intercommunality	Communauté d'agglomération Grenoble Alpes Métropole 396,792 (1999)
Mayor	Michel Destot (2001-2008)
Statistics
Altitude	204 m–600 m (avg. 212 m)
Land area¹	18.13 km²
Population² (2005)	157,500
- Density (1999)	8,456/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code	38185/ 38000, 38100
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

Grenoble (Arpitan: Grasanòbol) is a city and commune in south-east France, situated at the foot of the Alps, at the confluence of the Drac into the Isère River. Located in the Rhône-Alpes région, Grenoble is the préfecture (capital) of the département of Isère. Population of the city (commune) of Grenoble at the 1999 census was 153,317 inhabitants (157,900 inhabitants as of February 2004 estimates). Population of the whole metropolitan area (in French: aire urbaine) at the 1999 census was 514,559 inhabitants.

1 Geography
2 Transport
3 History
4 Main sights
- 4.1 La Bastille
5 Education and research in the city
- 5.1 Secondary level
- 5.2 University level
6 Miscellaneous
7 See also
8 Sources and External links

[edit] Geography

Grenoble is surrounded by mountains: to the north the Chartreuse, to the west the Vercors, and to the east the Belledonne range. As such, it is often visited by the Tour de France and is often called the "capital of the Alps". The city is mainly built on the alluvial plain of the river Isere, at an altitude of around 214 meters. Mountain sports give to the city an important touristic interest: twenty ski stations surround the city (the nearest being Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse), some 15 minutes drive away.
The city sits in a valley bottom, with serious issues of air quality due to the large number of cars, garbage burning plants, chemical plants and even nuclear test labs. Radiation detectors can be observed at regular intervals along the Drac river.

[edit] Transport

See also: Tramways of Grenoble

Grenoble may be accessed by plane from Saint-Exupéry International Airport, Lyon (circa 1 hour), Geneva Cointrin International Airport (circa 90 minutes) or Saint-Geoirs Airport (circa 30 min). Daily direct flights from Luton, Gatwick (Easyjet), Stansted (Ryanair) ; Weekly flights from Warsaw (Centralwings) ; Flights from Gatwick (British Airways), Bristol (Easyjet), Stockholm (Flynordic) to Grenoble. It is roughly 3 hours by train on the TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon. Within Grenoble there is a comprehensive bus and tram service, run by Semitag. There are 26 bus lines and and 3 tram lines, serving all of greater Grenoble.

The city center is famous for its complex one way system, the grid-lock of which adds to the local air pollution. The motorway system into the city is particularly poorly designed, often leading to tail backs miles long. In summer, pollution alerts further increase congestion by reducing speed limits. Projects to alleviate these problems have been on the drawing board for decades, with little to no progress. Grenoble is a large, modern city with the highway infrastructue of a village. A car backing out on the main artery can literally cause tailbacks on the motorway.

[edit] History

For the ecclesiastical history, see Bishopric of Grenoble.

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The city has been known under different names through time:

Cularo when the Allobroges built strong walls around the small town in the 3rd Century.
Gratianopolis after 380 when the Emperor Gratian visited the city and had the walls improved.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire the city was part of the first Burgundian kingdom, until it was taken by Clotaire I, king of the Franks and a son of Clovis. Later on, it progressively passed into the possession of the Carolingian kings, then the second Burgundian kingdom of Arles(French: Arlés) and finally became a possession of the counts of Vienne, whose title, "Dauphin", gave the region its traditional name: Dauphiné. Grenoble was the capital of the Dauphiné, a province of France since 1349, when the last Dauphin of Vienne sold the region to France, on condition that the heir to the French crown use the title of Dauphin.

The city gained some notoriety in 1788 when the townspeople assaulted troops of Louis XVI in the "Day of the Tiles".

Modern history has been no less colorful with the sacking of the local churches from 1789 onwards, even to the extent of travelling guillotines, going from village to village to exact vengeace following unfounded accusations. Place de la Bastille was historically Place de la Guillotine.

These tensions arose again during the periods of Italian and German occupation in WWII. Many resistance fighters were betrayed in Grenoble. The old Gestapo HQ is now a well-known hotel.

[edit] Main sights

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View of the Bastille from the town of Grenoble.

"Les Bulles"

[edit] La Bastille

The Bastille, an ancient series of fortifications, sits on the mountainside overlooking Grenoble, and is visible from all over the city at distance. The Bastille is one of Grenoble's most visited tourist attractions, and is a good vantage point for viewing the town below and the surrounding mountains.

Although the Bastille was begun in the Middle Ages, later years saw extensive additions including a semi-underground defense network. The Bastille has been credited as the most extensive example of 19th century fortifications in all of France, and held an important strategic point on the Alpine frontier.

Since 1934, the Bastille has been the destination of what locals call a "téléphérique", a system of egg-shaped cable cars ("Les Bulles") that provide riders with an excellent view over the Isère River.

[edit] Education and research in the city

[edit] Secondary level

The presence of a large international community through both foreign students and foreign researchers has prompted the creation of an international school more than a decade ago: the CSI Europole formally situated downtown in the Lycée International Stendhal across from the Maison du Tourisme. Since 2003 the CSI has moved to the Lycée Europole, near the train station. Originally only four language sections were available: German, Spanish, Italian and English but it also has a Portuguese and an Arabic section. It is now one of France's best secondary education centers.

[edit] University level

[edit] Beginning level

By three Bulls of 12 May, 27 May, and 30 September 1339 the University of Grenoble was founded by Pope Benedict XII.

On 25 July 1339, the Dauphin Humbert II (the counts of Dauphiné bore the title of Dauphin) drew up a charter of the privileges granted to the students at Grenoble, promulgated measures to attract them, and stipulated that the university should give instruction in civil and canon law, medicine, and the arts.

A curious ordinance issued 10 May 1340 by Humbert II commanded the destruction of all the forges in the vicinity of Grenoble lest they should produce an irreparable famine of wood and charcoal. Humbert may have wished that life should be frugal where university was established. Finally on 1 August 1340, he declared that the superior court of justice of Dauphiné (conseil delphinal), which he removed from Saint-Marcellin to Grenoble, should be composed of seven counsellors, four whom might be chosen from among the professors at Grenoble. Humbert's projects do not appear to have been completely realized. The university lacked resources, indeed arts and medicine were not taught, and even the chairs of law seem scarcely to have survived the reign of Humbert II. At all events, when Louis XI created the University of Valence in 1452, he declared that no institution of the kind existed at that time in Dauphiné.

This first attempt at a university had foundered, but it was re-established on sound footing in 1542 by Francois de Bourbon, Count of Saint-Pol, great-uncle of Henry IV of France, and the royal governor of the Dauphiné province. The Italian jurist Gribaldi, the Portuguese jurist Govea, and the French jurist Pierre Lorioz, called Petrus Orioli (Pierre de Loriol)of a family originally of Pernes Les Fontaines, attracted many students thither, but the orthodoxy of these professors was suspected. This was one of the reasons which, in April, 1565, led Charles IX of France to unite the University of Grenoble to that of Valence, for which in 1567 Bishop Montluc, well known as a diplomat and powerful at court, was able to obtain the noted jurist Cujas. The citizens of Grenoble protested and sent delegates to Paris, but the edict of union between the universities was strengthened by the circumstance that at the very time when Charles IX published his edict, Govea and Loriol were compelled to institute a suite against the town of Grenoble in order to secure the payment of their arrears of salary.

Equally ineffectual were the efforts for the renewal of the university frequently made by the town in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Napoleon I, on 1 November, 1805, re-established the faculty of law of Grenoble. Since 1896 the different faculties of Grenoble form the University of Grenoble.

It is worth mentioning that under the current system there is little filtering of University entrance. Consequently there are enormous drop out rates in the first and second years. The schools where filtering is applied are called Grand Ecoles, the graduates of which retain most of the top positions in French Society.

[edit] Science and engineering

Grenoble is now a major scientific center, especially in the fields of physics, computer science and applied mathematics: Joseph Fourier University (UJF) is one of the leading French scientific universities while Grenoble Institute of Technology (INPG) trains each year more than 1,000 engineers in high-tech areas. In fact, many fundamental and applied scientific research laboratories are conjointly managed by Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble Institute of Technology and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Numerous other scientific laboratories are managed solely or in collaboration by CNRS and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA).

In or near the city also include the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) and one of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (CEA) main research facility.

The recent development of Minatec, a centre for innovation in micro & nanotechnology only increases the position of Grenoble as one of the European scientific centers.

[edit] Human and social sciences

An IEP is located here, the Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble, as well as an increasingly reputated business school Grenoble École de management (Grenoble-EM).

[edit] Miscellaneous

Grenoble is famous for its walnuts, for which it enjoys an appelation of controlled origin.
Grenoble hosted the 1968 Winter Olympics and is preparing to bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Global warming now means almost all of the 1968 sites lack snow year round.
Grenoble is also famous for many nearby ski resorts nestled in the surrounding mountains, and its Italian quarter, the "Quartier Saint Laurent".
It is the home of rugby union team FC Grenoble, football team Grenoble Foot 38 and ice hockey team Brûleurs de loups.