Grenoble

Remnants of the Roman Walls

The first references to what is now Grenoble date back to 43 BC. Cularo was at that time a Gallic village of the Allobroges tribe, near a bridge across the Isère. Three centuries later and with insecurity rising in the late Roman empire, a strong wall was built around the small town in 286 AD.[11]

The Emperor Gratian visited Cularo and, touched by the people's welcome, made the village a Roman city.[12] In honour of this, Cularo was renamed Gratianopolis ("city of Gratian") in 381 (leading to Graignovol[13] during the Middle Age and then Grenoble).

Christianity spread to the region during the 4th century, and the diocese of Grenoble was founded in 377 AD. From that time on, the bishops exercised significant political power over the city. Until the French Revolution, they styled themselves the "bishops and princes of Grenoble".[14]

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the city was part of the first Burgundian kingdom in the 5th century and the second Burgundian Kingdom of Arles until 1032, when it was integrated into the Holy Roman Empire. Arletian rule was interrupted between 942 and 970 due to Arab rule based in Fraxinet.

Grenoble grew significantly in the 11th century when the Counts of Albon chose the city as the capital of their territories. At the time, their possessions were a patchwork of several territories sprawled across the region.[15] The central position of Grenoble allowed the Counts to strengthen their authority. When they later took the title of "Dauphins", Grenoble became the capital of the State of Dauphiné.

Despite their status, the Counts had to share authority over the city with the Bishop of Grenoble. One of the most famous of those was Saint Hugh. Under his rule, the city's bridge was rebuilt, and a regular and leper hospital were built.[16]

Coat of arms of the Dauphiné after becoming a province of France

The inhabitants of Grenoble took advantage of the conflicts between the Counts and the bishops and obtained the recognition of a Charter of Customs that guaranteed their rights.[17] That charter was confirmed by Kings Louis XI in 1447 and Francis I in 1541.

In 1336 the last Dauphin Humbert II founded a court of justice, the Conseil delphinal, which settled at Grenoble in 1340. He also established the University of Grenoble in 1339. Without an heir, Humbert sold his state to France in 1349, on the condition that the heir to the French crown used the title of Dauphin. The first one, the future Charles V, spent nine months in Grenoble. The city remained the capital of the Dauphiné,[8] henceforth a province of France, and the Estates of Dauphiné were created.

The only Dauphin who really governed his province was the future Louis XI, whose "reign" lasted from 1447 to 1456. It was only under his rule that Dauphiné properly joined the Kingdom of France. The Old Conseil Delphinal became a Parlement (the third in France after the Parliaments of Paris and Toulouse), strengthening the status of Grenoble as a Provincial capital. He also ordered the construction of the Palais du Parlement (finished under Francis I) and ensured that the Bishop pledged allegiance, thus forging the political union of the city.[18]

At that time, Grenoble was a crossroads between Vienne, Geneva, Italy, and Savoy. It was the industrial centre of the Dauphiné and the biggest city of the province, but nonetheless a rather small one.

François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières

Owing to Grenoble's geographical situation, French troops were garrisoned in the city and its region during the Italian Wars. Charles VIII, Louis XII, and Francis I went several times to Grenoble. Its people consequently had to suffer from the exactions of the soldiers.

The nobility of the region took part in various battles (Marignano, Pavia) and in doing so gained significant prestige.[19] The best-known of its members was Bayard, "the knight without fear and beyond reproach".

Grenoble suffered as a result of the French Wars of Religion. The Dauphiné was indeed an important settlement for Protestants and therefore experienced several conflicts. The baron des Adrets, the leader of the Huguenots, pillaged the Cathedral of Grenoble and destroyed the tombs of the former Dauphins.

In August 1575, Lesdiguières became the new leader of the Protestants and, thanks to the accession of Henry IV to the throne of France, allied himself with the governor and the lieutenant general of the Dauphiné. But this alliance did not bring an end to the conflicts. Indeed, a Catholic movement, the Ligue, which took Grenoble in December 1590, refused to make peace. After months of assaults, Lesdiguières defeated the Ligue and took back Grenoble. He became the leader of the entire province.[20]

Lesdiguières became the lieutenant-general of the Dauphiné and administered the Province from 1591 to 1626. He began the construction of the Bastille in order to protect the city and ordered the construction of new walls, increasing the city's size. He also constructed the Hôtel Lesdiguières, built new fountains, and dug sewers.[21]

In 1689, the bishop Étienne Le Camus launched the construction of Saint-Louis Church.

Grenoble plan-relief (1848).

Day of the Tiles, 1890 painting by Alexandre Debelle,
(Musée de la Révolution française).

The revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV caused the departure of 2,000 Protestants from Grenoble, weakening the city's economy.[22] However, it also weakened the competing glove industry of Grasse, leaving the glove factories of Grenoble without any competition.[23] This allowed a stronger economic development for the city during the 18th century. At the beginning of that century, only 12 glovers made 15,000 dozen gloves each year; by 1787, 64 glovers made 160,000 dozen gloves each year.[23]

The city gained some notoriety on 7 June 1788 when the townspeople assaulted troops of Louis XVI in the "Day of the Tiles".[8] The people attacked the royal troops to prevent an expulsion of the notables of the city, which would have seriously endangered the economic prosperity of Grenoble. Following these events, the Assembly of Vizille took place. Its members organized the meeting of the old Estates General, thus beginning the French Revolution. During the Revolution, Grenoble was represented in Paris by two illustrious notables, Jean Joseph Mounier and Antoine Barnave.

In 1790, the Dauphiné was divided into three departments, and Grenoble became the chef-lieu of the Isère department. Only two refractory priests were executed at Grenoble during the Reign of Terror.[24] Pope Pius VI, prisoner of France, spent two days at Grenoble in 1799[25] before going to Valence where he died.

Ramparts close to the Porte Saint Laurent

The establishment of the Empire was overwhelmingly approved (in Isère, the results showed 82,084 yes and only 12 no).[26] Grenoble welcomed for the second time a prisoner Pope in 1809. Pius VII spent 10 days in the city en route to his exile in Fontainebleau.

In 1813 Grenoble was under threat from the Austrian army, which invaded Switzerland and Savoy. The well-defended city contained the Austrian attacks, and the French army defeated the Austrians, forcing them to withdraw at Geneva. However, the later invasion of France in 1814 resulted in the capitulation of the troops and the occupation of the city.

During his return from the island of Elba in 1815, Napoleon took a road that led him near Grenoble at Laffrey. There he met the royalist fifth Infantry Regiment of Louis XVIII. Napoleon stepped towards the soldiers and said these famous words: "If there is among you a soldier who wants to kill his Emperor, here I am." The soldiers all joined his cause. After that, Napoleon was acclaimed at Grenoble and General Jean Gabriel Marchand could not prevent Napoleon from entering the city through the Bonne gate. He said later: "From Cannes to Grenoble, I still was an adventurer; in that last city, I came back a sovereign".[27] But after the defeat of Waterloo, the region suffered from a new invasion of Austrian and Sardinian troops.

Fountain of the Three Orders (1897)

The 19th century saw significant industrial development of Grenoble. The glove factories reached their Golden Age, and their products were exported to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia.[28]

General Haxo transformed the Bastille fortress, which took on its present aspect between 1824 and 1848. The Second Empire saw the construction of the French railway network, and the first trains arrived at Grenoble in 1858. Shortly thereafter Grenoble experienced widespread destruction by extensive flooding in 1859,.

In 1869 engineer Aristide Bergès played a major role in industrializing hydroelectricity production. With the development of his paper mills, he accelerated the economic development of the Grésivaudan valley and Grenoble.

On 4 August 1897, a stone and bronze fountain was inaugurated in Grenoble to commemorate the pre-revolutionary events of June 1788. Built by the sculptor Henri Ding, the Fountain of the Three Orders, which represents three characters, is located on the Place Notre-Dame. People in Grenoble interpret these characters as follows: "Is it raining?" inquires the third estate; "Please heaven it had rained", lament the clergy; and "It will rain", proclaims the nobility.[29]

World War I accelerated Grenoble's economic development.[30] In order to sustain the war effort, new hydroelectric industries developed along the various rivers of the region, and several existing companies moved into the armaments industry (for example in Livet-et-Gavet). Electro-chemical factories were also established in the area surrounding Grenoble, initially to produce chemical weapons. This development resulted in significant immigration to Grenoble, particularly from Italian workers who settled in the Saint-Laurent neighborhood.

Gate of the exposition in 1925

The economic development of the city was highlighted by the organization of the International Exhibition of Hydropower and Tourism in 1925, which was visited by more than 1 million people.[31] The organization of this exhibition forced the military to remove the old city walls and allowed expansion of the city to the south. This exhibition also highlighted the city's hydropower industry and the region's tourist attractions.

The site of the exhibition became an urban park in 1926, named Parc Paul Mistral after the death of the mayor in 1932. The only building of this exhibition remaining in the park is the crumbling Tour Perret, which has been closed to the public since 1960 due to its very poor state of maintenance.

During World War II, at the Battle of the Alps, the Nazi invasion was stopped near Grenoble at Voreppe by the forces of General Cartier in June 1940. The French forces resisted until the armistice. Grenoble was then part of the French State, before an Italian occupation from 1942 to 1943. The relative mercy of the Italian occupiers towards the Jewish populations resulted in a significant number moving to the region from the German-occupied parts of France.[32]

Grenoble was extremely active in the Résistance against the occupation. Its action was symbolized by figures such as Eugène Chavant, Léon Martin, and Marie Reynoard.[33] The University of Grenoble supported the clandestine operations and provided false documentation for young people to prevent them from being assigned to STO.

In September 1943, German troops occupied Grenoble, escalating the conflict with the clandestine movements. On 11 November 1943 (the anniversary of the armistice of 1918) massive strikes and demonstrations took place in front of the local collaboration offices. In response, the occupiers arrested 400 demonstrators in the streets. On 13 November, the resistance blew up the artillery at the Polygon, which was a psychological shock for an enemy who then intensified the repression. On 25 November, the occupiers killed 11 members of the Résistance organizations of Grenoble. This violent crackdown was nicknamed "Grenoble's Saint-Bartholomew".[34] From these events, Grenoble was styled by the Free French Forces the title of Capital of the Maquis on the antennas of the BBC.[35]

This event only intensified the activities of Grenoble's resistance movements. The Germans could not prevent the destruction of their new arsenal on 2 December at the Bonne Barracks. After the Normandy landing, resistance operations reached their peak, with numerous attacks considerably hampering the activity of German troops. With the landing in Provence, German troops evacuated the city on 22 August 1944. On 5 November 1944, General Charles de Gaulle came to Grenoble and bestowed on the city the Compagnon de la Libération in order to recognise "a heroic city at the peak of the French resistance and combat for the liberation".[33]

In 1955, future physics Nobel prize laureate Louis Néel created the Grenoble Center for Nuclear Studies (CENG), resulting in the birth of the Grenoble model, a combination of research and industry. The first stone was laid in December 1956.

In 1968 Grenoble hosted the Xth Olympic Winter Games. This event helped modernize the city with the development of infrastructure such as an airport, motorways, a new town hall, and a new train station.[36] It also helped the development of ski resorts like Chamrousse, Les Deux Alpes, and Villard-de-Lans.[37]

Under the Köppen system, Grenoble has a mid-latitude humid subtropical climate (Cfa), unlike its airport, located 36,5 km (22.7 mi) further north-west, and 180 m (591 ft) higher. Its airport has an oceanic climate (Cfb), with continental influences due to its altitude and the north winds that prevail there. Thus, summers tend to be moderate on average according to the climate table and winters seem to be cold and snowy. In reality, the climate within the city (further southeast and lower in altitude) results in much hotter summers and cool but not cold winters. The city has never recorded a record low of −27.1 °C (−16.8 °F). It was its airport. By gradually moving away from the city center, the climate immediately becomes oceanic, even continental in places that are well exposed to the persistant winter cold, or at a higher altitude.

The Bastille, an ancient series of fortifications on the mountainside, overlooks Grenoble on the northern side and is visible from many points in the city. The Bastille is one of Grenoble's most visited tourist attractions and provides a good vantage point over both the town below and the surrounding mountains.

"Les Bulles": the cable cars

The Bastille fort was begun in the Middle Ages, and later centuries saw extensive additions, including a semi-underground defense network. The Bastille has been credited as the most extensive example of early 18th-century fortifications in all of France. It then held an important strategic point on the French Alpine frontier with the Kingdom of Savoy.[47]

The first cable transport system, installed on the Bastille in 1875, was built by the Porte de France Cement Company for freight. This cable transport system connected a quarry on Mount Jalla, just over the Bastille, and Grenoble. It was abandoned in the early 20th century.

Since 1934, the Bastille has been the destination of the "Grenoble-Bastille cable car". This system of mostly transparent egg-shaped cable cars known to locals as "Les Bulles" (the bubbles) provides the occupants with an excellent view over the Isère. At the top are two restaurants and installed in the casemates of the fort itself since June 2006, the Bastille Art Centre allows visitors to see contemporary art exhibitions. There is also a small military museum on mountain troops (Musée des troupes de montagne) and, since 2000, a memorial to the mountain troops (Mémorial national des troupes de montagne) further along the road, on top of the hill.

Palace of the Parliament of Dauphiné

This renaissance palace was constructed at the Place Saint André around 1500 and extended in 1539. It was the location of the Parlement of Dauphiné until the French Revolution. It then became the Grenoble courthouse, until the courts were moved to a modern building in 2002. The left wing of the palace was extended in 1897. The front of the former seat of the nearby Dauphiné Parlement combines elements from a gothic chapel and a Renaissance façade.[48]

The building now belongs to the Isère Council (Conseil Général de l'Isère). An ongoing renovation project will give this building a new life whilst preserving its patrimonial character and adding a modern touch.[49]

The city's most prized museum, the Museum of Grenoble (Musée de Grenoble), welcomes 200,000 visitors a year. It is primarily renowned for its extensive paintings collection, which covers all artistic evolutions. In the early 20th century the Museum of Grenoble became the first French museum to open its collections to modern art, and its collection of modern and contemporary art has grown to become one of the largest in Europe. The painting holdings include works by painters such as Veronese, Rubens, Zurbarán, Ingres, Delacroix, Renoir, Gauguin, Signac, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky, Joan Miró, Paul Klee, Giorgio de Chirico and Andy Warhol. The museum also presents a few Egyptian antiquities as well as Greek and Roman artifacts. The Sculpture collection features works by Auguste Rodin, Matisse, Alberto Giacometti and Alexander Calder. In April 2010, the prophetess of Antinoe, a 6th-century mummy discovered in 1907 in the Coptic necropolis of Antinoe in Middle Egypt, returned to the Museum of Grenoble, after more than fifty years of absence and an extensive restoration.

Archaeological museum with the vestiges protected by a new cover of glass and metal (Place Saint-Laurent)

Situated on the right bank of the Isère, on Place Saint-Laurent, the Grenoble Archaeological Museum presents the archaeological excavations done on its location. The vestiges date back all the way to the 3rd century AD and provide a timeline of the history of Christianity in the region. The museum is situated below a 12th-century Benedictine church, under which Jacques Joseph Champollion-Figeac, brother of famed egyptologist Jean-François Champollion, discovered a Roman church in 1803. It was one of the first classified monuments in France thanks to the intervention of Prosper Mérimée, historic monument inspector.[50] Systematic excavations were conducted from 1978 to 2011, as part of a regional research program on the evolution of churches during the Middle Ages. After eight years of work, the museum reopened 6 May 2011.

The Musée de l'Ancien Évêché is the second archaeological museum of the city, and located near the Grenoble Cathedral. Installed in 1998, it houses the first baptistery of the city

The Grenoble townhall hosts a bust of Stendhal by sculptor Pierre Charles Lenoir

The large community of both foreign students and foreign researchers prompted the creation of an international school. The Cité Scolaire Internationale Europole (CSI Europole) was formerly housed within the Lycée Stendhal across from the Maison du Tourisme, but later moved to its own building in the Europole district. In the centre of the city, two schools have provided education to the isérois for more than three centuries. The oldest one, the Lycée Stendhal, was founded in 1651[51] as a Jesuit College. An astronomical and astrological sundial created in the main building of the college in 1673 can still be visited today. The second-oldest higher education establishment of Grenoble is the Lycée Champollion, completed in 1887 to offer excellent education to both high school students and students of preparatory classes.

Campus of the Université Grenoble Alpes.

The city is an important university centre with over 54,000 students in 2013, of whom 16% arrive from abroad.[52]

In a 1339 pontificial bull, Pope Benedict XII commissioned the establishment of the University of Grenoble.

In 1965, the university mostly relocated from downtown to a suburban main campus outside of the city in Saint Martin d'Hères (with some parts in Gières). However, smaller campuses remain both downtown and in the northwestern part of the city known as the Polygone Scientifique ("Scientific Polygon").

From 1970 to 2015, the university was divided into four separate institutions sharing the campus grounds, some buildings and laboratories, and even part of their administration:

• Grenoble I – Joseph Fourier University (sciences, health, technologies)
• Grenoble II – Pierre Mendès-France University (social sciences)
  • which includes the Institute of political studies
• Grenoble III – Stendhal University (humanities)
• Grenoble Institute of Technology (INPG or Grenoble-INP) is a federation of engineering colleges.

On 1 January 2016, the first three of those merged back to form the Université Grenoble Alpes.

Grenoble Campus of the ENAC

Campuses of the École nationale de l'aviation civile (French civil aviation university), École d'Architecture de Grenoble ( School of Architecture of Grenoble) and Grenoble École de Management (Grenoble School of Management) are also located in Grenoble.

Site of European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institut Laue-Langevin and European Molecular Biology Laboratory at the Western end of the Polygone Scientifique

Grenoble is a major scientific centre, especially in the fields of physics, computer science, and applied mathematics: Universite Joseph Fourier (UJF) is one of the leading French scientific universities while the Grenoble Institute of Technology trains more than 5,000 engineers every year in key technology disciplines. Grenoble's high tech expertise is organized mainly around three domains: information technology, biotechnologies and new technologies of energy.[53]

Many fundamental and applied scientific research laboratories are conjointly managed by Joseph Fourier University, Grenoble Institute of Technology, and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Numerous other scientific laboratories are managed independently or in collaboration with the CNRS and the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA).

Other research centres in or near Grenoble include the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique, one of the main research facilities of the Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique (Nuclear Energy Commission, CEA), the LNCMI and the European branch of Xerox Research (whose most notable center was PARC). Leti and the recent development of Minatec, a centre for innovation in micro- and nano-technology, only increases Grenoble's position as a European scientific centre.[54] Biotechnologies are also well represented in the Grenoble region with the molecular biology research center BioMérieux, the Clinatec center, the regional center NanoBio and many ramifications of the global competitiveness cluster Lyonbiopôle.[55]

Meanwhile, Grenoble has large laboratories related to space and to the understanding and observation of the universe as the Institut de radioastronomie millimétrique, the Institut de planétologie et d'astrophysique de Grenoble,[56] the Laboratoire de physique subatomique et de cosmologie de Grenoble, the Institut Néel but also to a lesser extent the Institut des sciences de la Terre (part of the Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble).

In order to foster this technological cluster university institutions and research organizations united to create the GIANT (Grenoble Innovation for Advanced New Technologies) Campus[57] with the aim at becoming one of the world's top campuses in research, higher education, and high tech.[58]

The city benefits from the highest concentration of strategic jobs in France after Paris, with 14% of the employments, 35,186 jobs, 45% of which specialized in design and research.[59] Grenoble is also the largest research center in France after Paris with 22,800 jobs (11,800 in public research, 7,500 in private research and 3,500 PhD students).[60]

Grenoble is also renowned for the excellence of its academic research in humanities and political sciences. Its universities, alongside public scientific institutions, host some of the largest research centres in France (in fields such as political science, urban planning or the sociology of organizations).

Grenoble is one of the co-location centres of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology's Knowledge and Innovation Communities for sustainable energy.[61]

Head office of Glénat

In 2011, the largest employers in the Grenoble metropolitan area were:[63]

The presence of companies such as HP or Caterpillar in the area has drawn many American and British workers to Grenoble, especially in the surrounding mountain villages. The region has the second largest English-speaking community in France, after Paris.[64] That community has an English-speaking Church and supports the International School.[65] Many of these Americans, British, Australians etc. go to Grenoble with the intention of returning home after some time but the mountains and general life style often keep them there. Some choose to put their children in the international school "cité internationale", while the "American School of Grenoble" is the alternative for those who prefer to have the core curriculum in English. With numerous associations like Open House, this large English speaking population organizes family events making life in Grenoble harder to turn away from.[66]

Publisher Glénat has its head office in Grenoble.[67] Inovallée is a science park with about 12,000 jobs located at Meylan and Montbonnot-Saint-Martin near Grenoble.[68]

téléGrenoble Isère is the local TV channel with France 3 Alpes. The local newspaper is Le Dauphiné libéré.

Grenoble is twinned with:[73]