Pont-en-Royans
Pont-en-Royans | |
|---|---|
 A view of Pont-en-Royans | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
Location of Pont-en-Royans  | |
  Pont-en-Royans  Pont-en-Royans | |
| Coordinates: 45°03′49″N 5°20′36″E / 45.0636°N 5.3433°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes |
| Department | Isère |
| Arrondissement | Grenoble |
| Canton | Le Sud Grésivaudan |
| Intercommunality | Bourne à l'Isère |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2014–2020) | Bernard Grindatto |
| Area 1 | 2.9 km2 (1.1 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | 817 |
| • Density | 280/km2 (730/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 38319 /38680 |
| Elevation | 183–788 m (600–2,585 ft) (avg. 210 m or 690 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (December 2009) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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Pont-en-Royans is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France.
Geography
The town is located near the Isère valley at the gates of the Vercors Regional Natural Park. It lies at the meeting of the rivers Bourne (which rises in Lans en Vercors) and its tributary the Vernaison (which originates in the territory of Saint-Agnan-en-Vercors). Both rivers collect most of the waters of the Vercors. The left bank and the river after its confluence are located in the department of Drôme.
History
The bridge was initially a narrow passage between two rocks allowing an entry point to the Vercors plateau. It was also through the torrent of Bourne whose gorges are steep and narrow. The bridge is narrow, at most three metres, and its entry starts at the height of the Thomas home on the current Picard bridge (unknown origin of the name, which is modern. It is also called the "Pit Picard" Bourne). Villard Road was created in 1872. The current route of St. Eulalie was also created before the end of the nineteenth century, and the movement of carts of wood trunks from Route bottlenecks caused a need for enlargement. Many houses are no longer standing (There were more than three times the number of houses hanging over the abyss in the twenty-first century).
Pont-en-Royans is rich in history as a tourist town. In the archives of Dauphiné there were three castles: The first castle (in the old topographic name) corresponds to the fortified village. The second castle's current remains is above the "three mountain castles". The third castle of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was destroyed in a bombing in 1945 and is the location of the college. Its walls, which there are only a few vestiges, include "The door of France", "Agnes the door", "door Villeneuve" and "the door of Merle." It is there that the town limit stopped in ancient times. The village and its hanging houses, clinging to the rock, still attract tourists in the summer on the banks of the river the Bourne. The white stone roofs have all but disappeared.
In the nineteenth century, the town was under Napoleon III, better known as the city of Valencia. His fame extended far beyond the borders of France, thanks to the karst rock carved into the Vercors (a feat for the time which contributed greatly to the renowned expertise of French engineering, and all roads in the first Universal Exhibition in Paris).
Bridge Royans was also one of the first three cities (for population) to have electricity in France. Conducting forced water still runs under the city (a museum of water allows people to discover). Electricity is still manufactured in the 1950s electrical equipment for the home: switches, sockets ... (Originally these devices were turned boxwood in which the system is placed in copper)
Filming on boxwood was long one of the main activities of the city.
Pont-en-Royans is being mentioned today in many books of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The first photographic plates representing the hanging houses of Pont-en-Royans Vercors and roads (roads Great bottlenecks Road gorges of the Bourne Bridge Black Ghoul) are now being rediscovered.
During the war of 1939 to 1945, Pont Picard was one of the hubs of the resistance movement.
Population
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1793 | 1,119 | — |
| 1806 | 1,443 | +29.0% |
| 1821 | 1,215 | −15.8% |
| 1831 | 1,234 | +1.6% |
| 1841 | 1,255 | +1.7% |
| 1851 | 1,211 | −3.5% |
| 1861 | 1,140 | −5.9% |
| 1872 | 1,084 | −4.9% |
| 1881 | 1,100 | +1.5% |
| 1891 | 1,048 | −4.7% |
| 1901 | 1,056 | +0.8% |
| 1911 | 948 | −10.2% |
| 1921 | 827 | −12.8% |
| 1931 | 1,002 | +21.2% |
| 1946 | 895 | −10.7% |
| 1954 | 1,093 | +22.1% |
| 1962 | 1,126 | +3.0% |
| 1968 | 1,132 | +0.5% |
| 1975 | 1,094 | −3.4% |
| 1982 | 1,051 | −3.9% |
| 1990 | 879 | −16.4% |
| 1999 | 917 | +4.3% |
| 2006 | 878 | −4.3% |
| 2011 | 817 | −6.9% |
Twin towns
Pont-en-Royans is twinned with:
Bassiano, Italy, since 1985
Sights
Today, Pont-en-Royans is a village which shows the medieval architecture of the sixteenth century and is famous for its colorful hanging houses. Its original architecture is due to an ingenious adaptation to the environment of the village to promote its trading activity with timber.
- The water museum aims to explore the water in all its forms. A bar allows water tasting of more than 900 bottled waters of the world.
- The Choranche caves lead through an underground river of stalactites. Unique amphibians (the proteas) are survivors from the time of dinosaurs.
- Circus choranche and cascading Gournier.
- Route des Gorges de la Bourne between Pont-en-Royans and Villard-de-Lans. Corbelled road carved into the rock and classified three stars in the Michelin guide. Work is being undertaken since 2008 to secure the route to the source of many accidents
See also
References
