A history shaped by its geography
The French Alps can be historically conceived as a wall separating the Rhone valley and Northern Italy, with its passes constituting doors and its valleys corridors for the exchange of goods and ideas with the East. Located at the foot of the Vercors, Belledonne and Chartreuse Mountain ranges and at the junction between the Isere and Drac River, Grenoble’s history is intrinsically link to its geographical position as a crossroad within the Alps.
Grenoble was first referenced in 43 BC in letters written by Lucius Munatius Plancus, the governor of Transalpine Gaul, to the famous roman noble man Cicero. Founded by a Gallic tribe known as the Allobroges, the city was then known under the name “Cularo” and consisted of a small settlement around a bridge allowing passage over the Isere River. Within the roman empire, it became a key passage for the exchange of merchandise and knowledge between the Taurini capital of Torino and the cities of Vienne (which was briefly a roman colony before being pushed away by the Allobroges) and of Lugdunum (a roman colony now known as Lyon).
Throughout this period of roman occupation, the settlement grew to the size of a city and was renamed by the romans as “Gratianopolis”. It benefited from the empires access and exchanges with the east through knowledge, art and infrastructural developments. The identity of the Grenoble as a point of passage of goods and ideas within the alps remained throughout its history.
Roman Art from Grenoble and its Region (Musée dauphinois)
A city bound to its mountains
During the Würm glaciation period, Grenoble and the alps consisted of glaciers uninhabitable to mankind. The ice melt following this period enriched the soil with large quantities of minerals such as quarts, silex and schist which were used in the paleolithic period and the following centuries for the production of tools. The mountain valleys around Grenoble (such as Bourg d’Oisan) became a place inhabited by miners which produced high quality tools which would be sold in the city and exported as far as thousands of kilometers from the region.
Three Round Bracelets found in burials around Grenoble (Musée dauphinois)
Quartz crystal extracted in the 18th of 19th century (Musée dauphinois)
The mining industry brought about the development of alpine agriculture with the introduction of cows and vines producing singular dairy products and wine due to the exceptional quality of the soil.
Typical Alpine farm of Savoie (Musée dauphinois)
Paramount to the identity of Grenoble is the peddler culture of the alps. During winter, the cold covered the mountains with snow dispossessing the lands of their agricultural capabilities. During these times, peddlers would travel from villages to Grenoble and cities within the alps to acquire goods and trade as a way to make a living. As the communicative phylum between the mountains and the rest of civilization, they played an essential role in our understanding of mountains, the life of villages and in the making of the French Alps cultural heritage.
Statute made of wood of the savage man myth (Musée dauphinois)
A drawing named “Moron of Aoste” (Musée dauphinois)
“Tambour” A lace loom used to make traditional clothing (Musée dauphinois)
