Annecy

Annecy, chief town of the French department of Haute-Savoie, at the north-western extremity of the Lake of Annecy, 22 miles S. of Geneva, and 25 miles NW. of Aix-les-Bains by rail. The Lake of Annecy, 1426 feet above the sea, is about 9 miles long; its waters flow by the Fier to the Rhone. Annecy was transferred with Savoy to France in 1860. It has manufactures of linens, cotton-yarn, silks, straw goods, and steel wares. The most remarkable buildings are the castle, once the residence of the Counts of Geneva, and now a barrack; the old bishop's palace; the cathedral (1523); the hôtel-de-ville, with a statue near it of Berthollet (q.v.) by Marochetti; and the modern church of St Francis, which possesses relics of St Francis of Sales. Here Eugene Sue died in exile. Pop. 11,331.