Bourg en Bresse became a free town in 1250 and its destiny was closely linked to that of the House of Savoy. In the 15th century, the Duke of Savoy chose it as capital of Bresse.
In 1535, Duke Philibert Emmanuel captured and fortified Bourg, which was ceded to France with Bresse in 1601.
During the Revolution it was called the pretty name of Épi d’or (“golden ear”).
Visitors will be sure not to miss the Notre-Dame cathedral (1505-1695), partly Gothic, with rooms dating back to 1530, Renaissance facades, a great gate from 1545 and stained glass windows ranging from the 16th to the 20th centuries.
The widow of Philibert II of Savoy, called Philibert the Handsome, built the royal church and monastery of Brou and the work lasted 31 years. The complex houses the admirable mausoleums of Marguerite de Bourbon and Philip the Handsome.
Bourg en Bresse became an industrial centre in the mid-20th century, when the truck manufacturer Berliet set up a plant there. Renault Trucks has kept up this sector, while multinational groups such as Mittal Steel and Nexans have established subsidiaries in the area.
The Institut Saint-Louis Saint-Pierre offers advanced English classes to its students, who can graduate with a European baccalaureate and even prepare for enrolment in Cambridge University.
Lycée Lalande is named after the astronomer Joseph-Jérôme Lefrançois de Lalande, who was born in Bourg-en-Bresse on 11 July 1732 and died 200 years ago. He went to Paris to study law but became more interested in astronomy. Sent to Berlin, he was admitted to the Academy of Sciences. Lalande observed the stars, wrote a treatise on the lunar parallax and commissioned a corrected edition of Halley’s study on the comet named after him. An astronomy prize, which still exists, was named after him in 1802.
Lycée Lalande is the only school in France to have been awarded the Resistance Medal, with the Lycée Militaire in Autun. On 5 June 1944, the day before the Allies landed in Normandy, the militia burst into the school on the day of final exams and roughly arrested approximately 20 boys suspected of having attacked the public revenue office and writing and printing articles for the underground press. They took the boys to Coligny prison but, fortunately, sensed that the end was near and freed most of them the next day. Since the Liberation, Lycée Lalande has borne a plaque and a Lorraine cross, the distinguishing features of the Resistance Medal.
Bourg-en-Bresse is the birthplace of several famous people, including Jean de Gaulle, the general’s nephew; Edgar Quinet, historian; Georges Blanc, restaurateur with three stars in the Michelin guide; and Laurent Gerra, songwriter.
Bourg-en-Bresse has many sports clubs and teams, including a pro basketball team and a rugby team that was part of the country’s elite 30 years ago and still hopes to be up there again.
In the past few years the F.C Bourg Péronas football club made it to the French Cup quarterfinals. Famous athletes from Bourg–en–Bresse include:
The remains of an oppidum, or fortified encampment, found in the mountains three km from Culoz attest that the town was probably settled in Roman times.
In 1857, the first railroad reached Ain, which is famous for its huge marshalling yard on the border between the Haute-Savoie and the Ain Departments.
The ancient Greeks operated the Rhône River port of Landaize in Culoz before the Romans supplanted them and, later, barbarian incursions severely disrupted the activity.
The village of Anglefort, which has Roman tombs and three sarcophagi, cultivates irises and a good grape varietal, Roussette du Bugey.
The beautiful laundry house, where the racers used to stop to quench their thirst, is remarkable.
Until 1860, the Department of Haute-Savoie was an independent state ruled by the House of Savoy. The feudal lords wielded their power by controlling Alpine roads and passes.
In Artipan, the local dialect, the department was called “Hiôte Savoué”, “Savoué d’amont” or, more casually, “la Hiote” (even today). During the Ice Age, the area lay beneath the gulf of a huge sea. Several earthquakes have rocked the region: in 1839, and tremors registering 7.0 on the Richter scale in August 1936, 4.5 in May 1975, and 5.3 on 15 July 1996.
The Treaty of Turin created Haute-Savoie in 1860 after the inhabitants voted in a referendum to attach it to Savoy. Geographically, it consists of several famous mountain ranges, including the Mont Blanc, Aravis, Chablais, Les Bornes, Les Bauges and, just across from Geneva, Albanais massifs.
The main roads pass through the Arve Valley, which connects Geneva to the Mont Blanc tunnel, and the Cluses Valley at Annecy, which links Ugine and Albertville in Savoy. The Maurienne and Tarentaise regions can be reached from there.
Haute-Savoie has 640,000 inhabitants, called Hauts-Savoyards, four districts, 34 cantons and 294 communes.
Many writers have spent time or lived in Haute-Savoie, such as Eugène Sue, Anna de Noailles and Alphonse de Lamartine.
Numerous first-rate athletes, especially skiers, were born in Haute-Savoie, including the Goitschel sisters, Jean Vuarnet, Vincent Vittoz, Henri Duvillard, Edgar Grospiron, Antoine Deneriaz and Guy Perillat; the mountain-climbers Louis Lachenal and Sandrine Levet; and the boxer Roger Menetrey.
Seyssel, an ancient Roman coach stop on the Peutinger Plateau and the itinerary of Antoninus, is 44.4 km from Geneva and 31.1 km from Yenne. The old bridge dates back to 1838 and the dam regulates the Rhône downstream from Genissiat. The Gallo-Roman town, which has a cross inscribed with the initials “MH”, is home to a wood museum open in July and August.
This town at the entrance to the Arve Valley was founded in the mid-fifth century. The Burgonds probably chose this spot abutting the Evires Pass because it was easy to defend. It has splendid views of the Arve Valley.
In 1885, La Roche sur Foron, the former capital of Geneva earldom, became the first small town in Europe to receive electricity; the railroad arrived the same year. Sadi Carnot, an engineer who graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique and later became the president of France (assassinated), designed the stretch between Annecy and La Roche.
Desbiolles was born in the hamlet of Montizel, which lies within the administrative boundaries of La Roche sur Foron, in 1892. He invented the quick link, which is widely used by hang-gliders and speleologists. S.A Peguet in Annemasse bought his registered patent.
Mr. Desbiolles died in La Roche in 1991 at the age of 99.
Scionzier was the second town in Haute Savoie to be electrified, after La Roche-sur-Foron, in 1885, the same year the first telephone was installed here.
For many years Scionzier was a main centre of precision turning, a technique requiring skilled hands and a know-how that made this area famous.
The town is also famous for its football team, which was a finalist in the 1937 and 1938 French Championships. It is also the birthplace of the international Stéphane Paille.
The Aravis range overlooks Le Reposoir, which lies in a scenic coomb. In the 12th century a Spanish monk founded a Carthusian monastery that has been the seat of a Carmelite convent since 1932. Henry Bordeaux set his novel La Chartreuse du Reposoir in this village. A few years ago, the environment ministry choose the Bargy massif just north of Le Reposoir to introduce the bone-breaking bearded vulture, an endangered species.
Le Reposoir, a small family resort, is the starting point for hiking trails to La Pointe Percée (2,752 m), the highest peak in the Aravis range, between this massif and Les Bornes.
Le Reposoir is one of the few towns in France where Giscard d’Estaing won an overwhelming majority in the 1974 presidential election (80%). To express his gratitude to the voters, and because Anne-Aymone had friends in the village, he visited Le Reposoir in June 1978 for a thanksgiving feast, playing a little ditty on an accordion that a citizen kindly loaned him.
This new resort near Glières, called “The Pearl of Aravis”, occupies several plateaus stretching between two valleys at the foot of the Aravis Range. They are rural-looking Grand-Bornand and Chinaillon (elevation 1,300 metres), which is more sporting. The 400-hectare ski area, which is connected to La Clusaz, offers a good balance between downhill and Nordic skiing. Tourists started coming to Grand-Bornand at the end of the last century because the air is particularly invigorating. It became a sports resort in the 1920s. The Société des Skieurs Bornandins was founded in 1923 and the hotel industry started growing in 1931.
Grand-Bornand’s origins are shrouded in mystery but date back to the dawn of time. Historians say that the Borne Valley is the part of Savoy where human settlement dates back the longest: approximately 35,000 years. The recent discovery of cut flint tools lends weight to the theory that humans inhabited the area on and off 8,500 years ago.
Unfortunately, this small Savoy town has had its share of natural disasters. The last one occurred on 14 July 1987, when a landslide killed 23 people. The soil’s impermeability in this area increases the risks of flooding and landslides. The first flood took place in 1698. Three minor earthquakes have rocked Grand-Bornand, in 1817, 1994 and 1996. On 14 December 1994, the epicentre of a minor tremor was located on Glières Plateau. This pleasant resort, which strives to protect the environment and create attractive housing, offers many examples of smart growth and seeks a harmonious balance between its three main activities, farming, crafts and tourism.
Grand-Bornand is a stronghold of the biathlon and Nordic skiing. The Foyer de Ski de Fond, founded in 1962, has made it the leading cross-country resort in Haute-Savoie. Two children of Grand Bornand made names for themselves at the February 2006 Turin Olympics: Roddy Darragon, who won a silver medal in cross-country skiing, and Sylvie Becaert, who won a silver medal in the biathlon.