Saint-Véran

For homophone places, see Saint-Vérand (disambiguation). For the white Burgundy wine, see Saint-Véran AOC.

Saint-Véran
Commune
A view within Saint-Véran, in August 2008
Coat of arms
Location of Saint-Véran
Saint-Véran Saint-Véran
Coordinates: 44°42′03″N 6°52′09″E
Country	France
Region	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Department	Hautes-Alpes
Arrondissement	Briançon
Canton	Guillestre
Intercommunality	Queyras
Government
• Mayor (2008–2014)	Danielle Guignard
Area 1	44.75 km2 (17.28 sq mi)
Population  (2008)	282
• Density	6.3/km2 (16/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	05157 /05350
Elevation	1,756–3,175 m (5,761–10,417 ft) (avg. 2,040 m or 6,690 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Saint-Véran (occitan : Sant-Veran [ˈsã vˈʀã]) is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France in the Queyras Regional Natural Park.

Geography

Saint-Véran, located in the French Alps is the most elevated commune in France. It is the third highest village in Europe, after Trepalle in Italy and Juf in Switzerland.

The permanent population is around 300 but swells with tourists in both summer and winter. In addition to tourism the main activities are agriculture and woodcraft.

Name

The village is named after Saint Véran, 6th century Bishop of Cavaillon who in legend drove away a dragon.

The Observatoire de Saint-Véran was constructed nearby by the Observatoire de Paris in the early 1970s.

Population

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1962	236	—
1968	220	−6.8%
1975	232	+5.5%
1982	275	+18.5%
1990	257	−6.5%
1999	267	+3.9%
2008	282	+5.6%

See also

• Communes of the Hautes-Alpes department

References

• INSEE

External links

• Tourism Office website