Grenoble

Grenoble (Lat. Gratianopolis), since 1839 a first-class fortified city of France, capital of the department of Isère, is finely situated in a beautiful valley 59 miles SE. of Lyons. It is divided by the Isère into two unequal portions, connected by three bridges. The 15th-century cathedral of Notre Dame, St Laurent, St André (with Bayard's monument, transferred hither in 1822), and the Gothic palais-de-justice are the most interesting buildings. The town has a university of three faculties, with about 275 students, and numerous other educational establishments, including an industrial school and a school of forestry. The library contains 170,000 volumes and 7500 MSS. The staple industry is the manufacture of kid gloves (employing 22,000 persons in 115 factories). Besides this, there are manufactures of liqueurs (Chartreuse), hats, cement, and hardware, and an active trade in hemp, corn, timber, wine, and cheese. Pop. (1872) 35,280; (1886) 49,338. Grenoble, originally a city of the Allobroges, was fortified by the Romans. It was Burgundian in the 5th century, and in the 11th belonged to the empire. Later on it became the capital of Dauphiné, along with which it passed to France in 1349. The town has been frequently inundated, the flood of 1778 being the most memorable. See Pitot's Histoire de Grenoble (2 vols. 1843-46).