Annecy is the prefecture and largest city of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of Southeastern France. It lies on the northern tip of Lake Annecy, 35 kilometres (22 mi)* south of Geneva, Switzerland. Nicknamed the “Pearl of French Alps” in Raoul Blanchard’s monograph describing its location between lake and mountains, the city controls the northern entrance to the lake gorge. Due to a lack of available building land between the lake and the protected Semnoz mountain, its population has remained stagnant, around 50,000 inhabitants, since 1950. However, the 2017 merger with several ex-communes extended the city population to 124,401 inhabitants and 203,078 for its urban area, placing Annecy sixth in the region, behind Annemasse, which had 292,000 inhabitants.
The old town, heart of the commercial and political life of Annecy crossed by numerous canals and pedestrian streets with arcades of which the St. Clair Street which is one of the most beautiful with its romantic arches of the xvii th and xviii th centuries. The old town of Annecy is dotted with many fountains including that of the Saint-Jean well transferred to the intersection of rue Carnot and rue Royale.
Switching from the counts of Geneva’s dwelling in the 13th century, to the counts of Savoy’s in the 14th century, the city became Savoy’s capital in 1434 during the Genevois-Nemours prerogative until 1659. Its role increased in 1536, during the Calvinist Reformation in Geneva, while the bishop took refuge in Annecy. Saint Francis de Sales gave Annecy its advanced Catholic citadel role known as Counter-Reformation. The annexation of Savoy merged the city to France in 1860. Sometimes called “Venice of the Alps”, this idyllic and touristic representation comes from the three canals and the Thiou river lying through the old city and whose initial role was to protect the city and to empower its handicrafts. The city experienced an industrial development in the 19th century with silk manufacturing. Some of its industrial legacy remains today with the headquarters of NTN-SNR bearings, Salomon, Entremont and Dassault Aviation.
From the end of the 19th century, Annecy developed tourism around its lake summer facilities, winter resorts proximity and cultural attraction with its castle renovation and fine art museum opening in 1956 and the Animated Film Festival since 1960, hosted in Bonlieu’s cultural centre. The municipal environmental policy managed to keep 40.3% of green spaces and the city and was awarded the “Golden Flower” in 2015, given to the nine most-flowered French cities. Its educational area is growing since the University of Savoy establishment in 1973.
Annecy in History
Annecy has a long history from its origin as a Gallo-Roman town (boom vicus of Boutae the I century) in the plain of Fins, followed by its location on the hill of Annecy-le-Vieux the VIII century and at the foot of the Semnoz the XI century (in Annecy-le-Neuf). His role in the Reformation, called Counter-Reformation, the XVI and XVII centuries made it the “Rome of the Alps”. Residence of the counts of Geneva to the XII century; capital of the county of Genevois, then the prerogative of Genevois, Faucigny and Beaufort, then Genevois-Nemours in the States of Savoy; capital of the province of Geneva, then seat of one of the two intendancies of Savoy in the Sardinian States, the city briefly became French from 1792 to 1815 following a military invasion, then again on March 24, 1860, date of the annexation of the Duchy of Savoy by France.
Prehistory
The Lake Annecy has several examples of lake dwellings or pile dwellings, prehistoric villages of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age final. Some have been known since 1856 and others have been revealed by recent research from the Department of Underwater and Underwater Archaeological Research (Ministry of Culture). They were located on the territory of Annecy on the banks of the Thiou and all around the lake (in Sevrier, Saint-Jorioz, Talloires, Annecy-le-Vieux, etc.). The lake level was lower at the time and thepiles that have been found, especially near the Isle of Swans (built in the XIX century by the unemployed) were piles driven into the ground using vertical reinforcement to huts built at the water’s edge. This hypothesis was confirmed by the discovery at Sevrier of a potter’s oven still in place at the bottom of the lake.
These remains show that populations already occupied the edge of the lake since the beginning of the Neolithic period. From the 6th millennium BC. AD, hunter-gatherers are present, then between -4000 and -900 BC. AD, they were joined by farmers, fishermen, bronze craftsmen and potters. An entire room of the museum-castle of Annecy is dedicated to them.
The Gallic period
The Gallic tribes of Allobroges occupy very early foothills of Savoy and the shores of the Great Lakes, certainly early in the IV century BC and perhaps even earlier. These warriors left relatively little evidence of their presence; however, they very quickly had commercial contacts with the territories of Piedmont. In -218, at the crossing of the Alps by Hannibal, Polybius at II century BC mentions for the first time the people of the Allobroges. In -121, the Allobroges were defeated by the “allobrogic” consul Quintus Fabius Maximus. Then, despite strong resistance and rebellions against heavy Roman taxes, the Allobroges were definitively defeated by the Roman legions in -62, which opened their lands to Roman colonization and gave the Romans control of the strategic passage north of the Alps.. With the arrival of the Romans, the region became completely Romanized.
In the first half of the I century BC. AD according to Charles Marteaux, in the second according to A. Deroc, an allobroge village (huts) appears in the Plaine des Fins north of the lake. “According to a hypothesis not confirmed by archeology”, this village would have succeeded an oppidum perched on the rock of Semnoz.
The Roman period
It was only during the reign of Augustus, from 27 BC. AD, that we have the certainty of a Roman establishment in this place: the vicus of Boutae, which develops between the current avenues of Geneva and the Islands, and the current rue du Bel-Air, especially after the opening of the transalpine route. A very active craft and commercial center, it will cover 25 hectares under the High Empire and has among others a large and a small forum, a basilica (civil building), temples, thermal baths, a theater and various warehouses of goods, but not an aqueduct, because there are many wells.
Economic activities are very diverse and Boutae trades with Gaul, but also with Italy (ceramic from Tuscany) and Spain (amphorae from Andalusia), and even Mauretania (lamps). The city occupies a strategic position at the crossroads of three Roman roads: to the north, the road leading to Genua (Geneva); to the south, the road leading to Casuaria (Faverges); to the south-west, the road leading to Aquae (Aix-les-Bains). Boutae is also on the imperial way leading to the pass of the Little Saint Bernard which connects Gaul and Italy, way attested by theItinerary of Antoninus, and also not far from the strategic axis connecting Geneva to Lyon and Vienna. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the great invasions engendered such insecurity that the city completely withered away.
The invasions
With the weakening of the Roman Empire, many barbarian peoples swept over Gaul. In 259, the vicus suffered a major attack, was razed and its population massacred. The survivors take refuge in the caves of Mont Veyrier. Restored, Boutae resurgent in the following century, but during the invasions of the early V century, Vicus is destroyed permanently. The Burgundians occupied the area annexed by the Franks in the VI century. The growing insecurity forced the inhabitants to abandon the plain to the nearby hills, as evidenced by the agricultural area of the villa “Anniciaca” (hill of Annecy-le-Vieux) at the VIII century, which became a royal domain following century.
Annecy and the dynasty of the counts of Geneva
Not until the XI century to see the city reborn at the foot of a defense tower built on the last foothills of Semnoz. A text from 1107 confirms the birth of Annecy-le-Neuf on the banks of the Thiou and makes the first mention of a Saint-Maurice church under the castle. He and the town of Annecy-le-Neuf develop under the count Amedeo I Geneva. It then has the appearance of a large village with many stables, but has valuable assets:
the lake for fishing and navigation, the transport of heavy products (stones and wood);
lime, molasse, sand, gravel, stones from Cran, tuff from Vieugy, limestone, clay beds and iron ore from Semnoz;
the vast forests of Chevêne and Semnoz for timber and game;
the fertile plain of Fins for agriculture;
the easter (pastures) around the city;
the Thiou canal with its driving force allowing the installation of hydraulic devices (mills, grindstones, pestles, beaters, lathes, swifts, bellows, mechanical saws, etc.);
an elite of master craftsmen, textile and iron merchants, lawyers and officers…
In 1132, a stronghold was built on the island in the middle of the Thiou. In constant struggle with the bishops of Geneva, the counts of Geneva end at the end of the XII century, taking refuge in Annecy where they occupy the mansion Novel deep Plain Fins and the castle they enlarge the XIII century. The city then becomes the county capital. The XIV century was marked by the long reign of Count Amadeus III of Genevafrom 1320 to 1367, date on which the franchises of Annecy are confirmed. Countess Mahaut de Boulogne, wife of the count, gives birth to the last of the counts of Geneva, Robert, at the Château d’Annecy. This causes the Great Western Schism by becoming Pope Clement VII, in residence in Avignon. In 1394, Robert of Geneva had the Notre-Dame-de-Liesse church, necropolis of the Counts of Geneva, erected into a collegiate church which, becoming the center of a very popular pilgrimage, gave Annecy immense prestige.
Annecy and the House of Savoy
Connection to the County of Savoy 1401
The old dynasty of the Counts of Geneva died out with the death of Clement VII, anti-pope and count of Geneva, in 1394. His heir, Odon de Villars sold the county in 1401 to Amédée VIII of Savoy for the sum of 45,000 gold florins. This sale includes the county of Genevois and its capital, Annecy, excluding Geneva which remains under the government of the bishops. Le Genevois will now be an integral part of the Savoie county, the capital of which is Chambéry. However, many variations will take place over the centuries and will intermittently make Annecy its role as the capital of Geneva. This is discussed in the following chapters.
Amédée VIII of Savoy helps the city of Annecy to rebuild itself after the terrible fire of February 3, 1412 which destroys it entirely and during which even the castle is affected. In 1422, Cardinal de Brogny, originally from the county, had the great Saint-Dominique church built, which would become Saint-Maurice church.
First Appanage: 1434-1444
To rally the inhabitants, who do not see their attachment to the House of Savoy favorably, Amédée VIII (made duke in 1416) created in 1434 the prerogative of Genevois and Faucigny whom he entrusted to his youngest son, Philippe of Savoy-. This appanage disappears on the death without posterity of the latter in 1444.
Second Appanage: 1460-1491
But the prerogative was reconstituted from 1460 to 1491 for the benefit of Janus of Savoy, son of Louis I of Savoy, who made Annecy his official residence while he was count of Genevois, baron of Faucigny, lord of Beaufort-Ugine -Faverges-Gourdans. A second fire ravaged the city on May 13, 1448, causing significant damage to houses and two churches. Once again the exclusive capital, Annecybenefits from the wise administration of Janus of Savoy and the splendor of his court. It was at this time that the main organs of the county government were established: county council, chamber of accounts, tax prosecutor, judge mage.
When Janus died, Annecy was again attached to Savoy from 1491 to 1514.
Third prerogative: 1514-1665
In 1514, Duke Charles III of Savoy subdues the Genevois and the baronies of Faucigny and Beaufort to his brother Philippe de Savoie-Nemours, founder of the dynasty of that name. Annecy is then again the center of an appanage going from Genevois to Ugine. Philippe (Duke of Nemours in France in 1528) is the first prince of the Genevois-Nemours dynasty which continued until 1665. Annecy regains its role as the capital of Geneva.
It is Jacques de Savoie-Nemours who becomes the first Duke of Genevois, the county having been erected into a duchy in 1564 by Duke Emmanuel-Philibert of Savoy. He thus intends to attach himself to and monitor this prince who is too French for his liking, Jacques de Savoie-Nemours, flower of all chivalry according to Brantôme. The administration of Annecy is then the responsibility of the Council, assembly of the bourgeoisie of the city, which elects four, then two trustees for three years. From 1491, a narrow council called the Twelve, comprising the trustees and councilors, took charge of the affairs of the city.
Attachment to the Duchy of Savoy in 1665
Le Genevois and its capital, Annecy, are attached to the Duchy of Savoy in 1665, date of the marriage of Duke Charles-Emmanuel of Savoy with Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste of Savoy, Duchess of Geneva and Aumale, (1644 – 1724), daughter of Charles-Emmanuel de Savoie-Nemours, (1624 – 1652), last heiress to the prerogative of Genevois.
The amenities of the city of Annecy
Many fireworks are installed along the Thiou to grind cereals, but also and especially for the work of hemp, leather and in particular iron which gives Annecy a solid reputation as a metallurgical center specializing in the manufacture of knives, bladed weapons. and armor. The weapons and knives of Annecy are marketed throughout the duchy and even in neighboring states. Annecy is part of the vast circuit of European exchanges, benefits from the fallout from the prosperity of Geneva and benefits from its own annual fair on Saint-André.
From the XIII century, the city is surrounded by a wall made of a curtain belt and turns, often using the blank walls of houses (murenches), supported by the castle and the Vassé canal serves as a ditch all around the perimeter to the north of Thiou, pierced with posterns and four main gates: Perrière to the south-east, from the Sepulcher to the west, from Boutz or Bouz (designating the former Gallo-Roman vicus of Boutae and not an “ox”) to the north and Pâquier (porta pascuorum or pastures) to the northeast, as well as four fortified arches with harrows and iron chains on the canals, one at each intramural end of the Thiou and the Saint-Dominique / Notre-Dame canal.
Annecy “Rome of the Alps”
From 1536, during the triumph of the Calvinist reform in Geneva, the canons of Saint-Pierre cathedral settled in Annecy as well as Catholic religious orders such as the Poor Clares. The bishop usually stayed there from 1568. At that time, a series of beautiful monuments were built such as the Logis de Nemours in the castle, the Saint-Pierre cathedral, the Lambert house and the bell tower of the Notre-Dame-de-Liesse collegiate church…
From 1560, Northern Savoy and Annecy, placed at a strategic point on the dividing line between confessions, became an advanced citadel of the Counter-Reformation. If the first bishop of Geneva to reside permanently in Annecy is Ange Giustiniani (1568 – 1578), the beginnings of the Catholic Reformation actually date from his successor, Claude de Granier (1578 – 1602). However, it was François de Sales – a native of the country (his father sent him at the age of six to the college of La Roche, then to the College Chappuisien in Annecy, founded in 1549 by Eustache Chappuis with the intention of forging minds capable of resisting the arguments of Protestant pastors, where he was a good pupil) – appointed Bishop of Geneva in residence in Annecy from 1602 to 1622, who, after preaching, laid the foundations a solid reform of the clergy and a transformation of customs and mentalities in his diocese.
It leaves a lasting mark on the city and the entire region thanks to its intellectual and spiritual prestige. Moreover, its influence extended to all Catholic Europe with the immense success of one of its two most famous works, The Introduction to the Devout Life. Annecy thus becomes the “ Rome of the Alps”. From1606, twenty-eight years before the founding of the Académie française, François de Sales (canonized in 1666) and President Antoine Favre (of the Senate of Savoy) created, in Italian fashion, the Académie florimontane (“flowers and mountains “). In 1610, François de Sales and Jeanne de Chantal founded the Order of the Visitation.
As part of a vast movement of new orders, born from the Catholic Reformation, Annecy welcomed the Capuchins in 1592, the Visitandines in 1610, the Barnabites in 1614, the Annunciades of Saint-Claude in 1638, the Reformed Bernardines in 1639, the Lazarists in 1641, the Cistercians of Bonlieu in 1648. The religious presence is therefore very important in Annecy, which has thirteen religious houses for 5,000 inhabitants. Half of the city is owned by different religious orders which own not only churches and convents, but also workshops, mills and vast lands and forests. These religious orders, which are responsible for education and hospitals for the sick and the poor, employ local artisans and traders.
In the XVII century, Annecy is still an active pre-industrial center, producing knives having collapsed, throwing cutlery and silk are a boost is needed while the manufacture of firearms (in order of weight: pistols, arquebuses, muskets, falcons…).
From 1728, the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau moved to Annecy for a few years to join Madame de Warens who had settled there from 1726 to 1730.
The French Revolution
The seed ideas of the Revolution are known and spread among the bourgeois of Annecy thanks to the many Savoyards who live in Paris, without forgetting the Encyclopedia, the writings of Voltaire and of the Genevan Jean-Jacques Rousseau which one finds in the libraries private members of the Annecy notables.
Inserted in Book IV of the educational novel by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Émile ou De l’Education, published in 1762, the famous Profession of Faith of the Savoyard Vicar exposes the author’s religious thought: a deism, a religion ” natural ”based on consciousness, feelings and the sensible order of the universe. She is meant to be a model of how to introduce young people to religious issues. The character of the Savoyard vicar would combine the characters of two Savoyard religious whom Rousseau had known in his youth: the abbot Jean-Claude Gaime (1692 – 1761, native of Geneva, professor at the Academy of Young Nobles in Turin) and Father Jean-Baptiste Gâtier (1703 – 1760, originally from Faucigny).
On the night of 21 to September 22, 1792, the French troops of General Montesquiou invaded by surprise the Duchy of Savoy, forcing the Sardinian army of the old General Lazary as well as many officials and members of the clergy to take refuge in Piedmont in Turin, capital of the States of Savoy since 1562.
At the end of October, the Assembly of Allobroges, meeting in the cathedral of Chambéry, declares the end of despotism, the abolition of the sovereign rights of the House of Savoy, of the nobility, of royalties and seigniorial rights, of the militia and the creation of the department of Mont-Blanc where Annecyis only the district capital. A republican municipality, headed by lawyer Jean-François Favre, is elected, but the real power remains in the hands of the Jacobin society of Friends of Liberty and Equality which has 110 members, the entire bourgeoisie of the city. The reception given to the French troops was initially rather enthusiastic, because the senior officials fled and the inhabitants have the real feeling of being released. However, the mass mobilization of men, military requisitions paid in devalued assignats, the increase in taxes, the economic crisis following the exile of nobles and religious (90% of priests are refractory), the anti-religious policy representatives of the Revolution.
In 1797, under the Directory, the mobile columns of General Pouget chased deserters and sworn priests (70 were deported to Guyana). On the other hand, during this period, the important markets of France are accessible, the Geneva capital available and so many factories set up on the banks of the Thiou (especially in Cran) to take advantage of the hydraulic power and the industrial know-how of the Annecy residents.. Indeed, from the end of the 15th century, inside an enclosure of a dozen hectares, the city (which already had nearly two thousand inhabitants) had asserted its administrative, commercial and artisanal importance (especially in textiles and metallurgy thanks to ” hydraulic fireworks on the Thiou). From 1795, the textile industry developed strongly thanks to Genevans like Jean-Samuel Farzy who instructed his compatriot Poncet to establish an Indian Indian factory in Annecy. In 1811, the cotton factory employed a thousand workers…
The First Empire
The First Empire was, for Annecy, a period of internal pacification, socio-political consolidation and relative economic prosperity.
After the first abdication of Napoleon 1st, the Paris Peace Treaty of May 30, 1814 divided Savoy: Chambéry, Annecy and Rumilly remained French while Chablais, Faucigny and the arrondissement of Geneva, former capital of the department du Léman from 1798 to 1813, have not yet been attributed. Thus, the Savoyards of the North, who are thinking of perpetuating the beneficial experience of the Léman department, express the desire to unite with Switzerland.. But at that time, the Calvinist Genevans were reluctant to incorporate territories populated by Catholics and the Catholic powers opposed the cession of the faithful to “Protestant Rome”.
After the second abdication of the Emperor, a second Treaty of Paris was signed on November 20, 1815 between the same parties. He brings France back to its frontiers before his revolutionary and Napoleonic conquests. Among other things, he took away the towns of Annecy and Chambéry. Let us quote article I: “The borders of France will be as they were in 1790, except the modifications on both sides indicated in the present article. “And § 4 of the same article I:” From the borders of the canton of Geneva to the Mediterranean, the line will be that which, in 1790,France of Savoy and the canton of Nice. The relations that the Treaty of Paris of 1814 had established between France and the Principality of Monaco will cease in perpetuity, and the same relations will exist between this principality and HM [= His Majesty] the King of Sardinia. The treaty also fixes the borders between Geneva and France.
The Sardinian Restoration
In 1815, a big feast celebrated the reintegration of Annecy into the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia (the Dukes of Savoy having become kings of Sardinia around 1720). In 1817, the Lyonnais Louis Frerejean acquired the forge of Cran near Annecy which became the metallurgical center of the Kingdom of Piemont-Sardinia. However, the monopoly was weakened in 1832 when the Savoy competitors Joseph-Marie and Jean Balleydier created more modern forges in Genoa. In 1822, the city, capital of the province ofGenevois, covers its episcopal seat with a diocese in its own name: Annecy and no longer Geneva-Annecy. In 1842, Annecy welcomed one of the two general intendancies of the Duchy of Savoy. In 1860, just before the annexation of Savoy to France, the city had about ten thousand inhabitants.
The Sardinian period from 1815 to 1860 was marked by major town planning works (sanitation, boring and paving of streets, squares, construction of bridges, quays and buildings, in particular the town hall in 1848, development of the lake shore: creation of the public garden, the Île des Cygnes, the Pont des Amours, the avenue d’Albigny and the Champ de Mars, etc.), through certain modernization (drinking water, gas lighting…) and by a significant economic boom (in 1850, institution of the Bank of Savoy; in 1858, the cotton factory of Jean-Pierre Duport employs two thousand people…): Annecy becomes one of the most major manufacturing centers of the kingdom…
The current town hall of Annecy, in a neoclassical style called Sardinian, was built on the then rather marshy island of Clos Lombard, former property of the Visitation (Clos Nazareth), sold as national property under the Revolution. Indeed, this space, occupied by gardens and huts, was separated from the mainland by the Vassé, the Thiou and… the Grenouillère, a small canal, in fact the old ditch running in front of the demolished surrounding wall, connecting the other two! The municipality bought it in 1834 with a view to building a new town hall and private houses. La Grenouillère was filled in 1838. Plans followed one another until 1843. In 1846, the chief engineer Justin, of the royal body of civil engineering, is responsible for building the Palazzo civico di Annecy to house the municipal council, but also the general stewardship of the Genevan, the courts… End of 1848, l he town hall was finished and the administrative services occupied it from 1949. A little later, between the hotel and the lake, a public garden and docks were built, while the Île des Cygnes was built by… unemployed people !
The Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia taking the lead in the movement towards Italian unity while France is under the Second Empire, the Savoyard liberals are once again thinking of a reunification of Northern Savoy (more exactly the provinces of Chablais, Faucigny et du Genevois) to Switzerland. The latter, closer to the liberal Piedmontese regime than to the French conservative regime, showed interest and, as soon as it became known, in January 1860, of Napoleon III’s desire to begin the process of ceding Savoy to France in exchange of services rendered toPiedmont in its campaign of Italy against Austria, Bern expresses its wish to see Savoy of the North attached to the Swiss Confederation.
As an important popular movement is manifesting itself in Northern Savoy in favor of an attachment to Switzerland, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs responds as follows: “The Emperor has instructed me to tell you that if the annexation [of the Savoy in France ] was to take place, he would be pleased, out of sympathy for the Swiss to drop to Switzerland as its own territory, the provinces of Chablais and Faucigny. ” But the about-face of Napoleon III, the firmness of Cavour, the prospect of the dismemberment of historic Savoy (duchy of Savoy), the disproportion of the means implemented by France and Switzerland to seize Savoy and convince the Savoyards, the proposal, in the event of annexation to France, to create a large free zone which would make it possible to maintain the Privileged economic ties between Northern Savoy and Switzerland are causing this little-known company to fail…
After the annexation of Savoy to France
In 1866, the steam train arrived for the first time in Annecy. This progress in transport allows, among other things, tourism to develop and take off again.
A tourist office was created in 1895 to organize many events.
At the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre in Paris, an immense square tower serving as a bell tower contains, among other bells, the largest bell in France. Baptized the Savoyarde, it was melted in Annecy-le-Vieux in 1895 by the Paccard brothers. It measures 3 meters in diameter and weighs 18,835 kg. As for its support, it weighs 7,380 kg. The hammer that strikes it weighs 1,200 kg. It was offered to the basilica by the four dioceses of Savoy, and arrived on the hill on October 16, 1895, which was a Parisian event.
The October 3, 1898The Raoul Blanchard girls’ college is inaugurated, which receives 120 students when it first returns to school. Until 1970 and the co-education, college and high school will only receive girls. In 1943, the Germans appropriated the building and the students were then transferred to the buildings of the Lycée Berthollet before joining the convent of the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
The war of 14-18 and between the wars
During the first half of the XX century, the city grew slowly. Its geographical location, its means of communication and its administrative role contribute to the development of new districts (the districts of Balmettes, la Prairie and Vovray, etc.). Thanks to the hydroelectric power station of the Forces du Fier, Annecy was lit by electricity from 1906. The tourist boom in the town is accompanied at the same time by an industrial boom. Among the emblematic figures of the emerging local industry we can cite the names of Crolard, Dunant, Aussedat, Léon Laydernier and Barut.
In 1901, the first tunnel under the Semnoz was inaugurated, called “tunnel de la Puya”. It measures 900 meters and leaves from the Vovray area, at the end of what is now rue de la Cité, to exit at Sevrier, behind the Beaurivage hotel. It is a railway tunnel which was operated until 1940, to transport freight and passengers from Annecy to Albertville. After the war, rail traffic stopped using it and the authorities shut it down, but it still exists.
In 1917, because of the war, a ball bearing factory was established in Annecy.
In October 1928, a new drinking water reservoir was built in Les Trésums and pipes were laid in the Thiou to supply the east of Annecy.
In 1932, the “Société des Amis du Vieil Annecy” was founded, which had four presidents: Auguste Gruffaz (for 20 years), Georges Grandchamp (for 51 years) and Michel Amoudry (since 2007).
After 1936, the appearance of paid vacations enabled the working classes to come and discover Annecy, its lake and its mountains.
The Second World War and the Resistance
From January 24, 1944, it was the police intendant Georges Lelong (PC at the Villa Mary, avenue du Parmelan) who had authority over the Vichy police forces of Haute-Savoie (Groupement du maintenance de l ‘ order): departmental gendarmerie (rue de la Préfecture, next to the remand center); mobile guard and mobile reserve group (GMR) of the police in the Dessaix district (avenue de la Plaine); security police and general information with the SRMAN (Service for the repression of anti-national activities) at the Intendance, near the Galbert district (avenue de Genève); Public security and permanent Franc-Garde of the French Militia (PC and around 30 from Annecy to the Commanderie, the Marquisats, and reinforced cohort, at the Casino-theater, on the Pâquier, at the time of the Maquis des Glières).
As for the German forces in 1944 (in addition to around 700 soldiers hospitalized in Annecy in high schools for boys and girls, and the technical college), they included a liaison staff with the prefecture of Haute-Savoie (Verbindungsstab, VS 988) at the Hôtel Splendid (quai Eustache-Chappuis) with around thirty Feldgendarmen at the Hôtel du Lac; in January, March and early April, the Reserve-Gebirgsjäger-Bataillon I./98, then three sections of the Reserve-Grenadier-Regiment 157, in the district of Galbert; a border police station (Grenzpolizeikommissariat or Greko) of the security police (Sicherheitspolizei or Sipo) at Villa Schmidt (avenue d’Albigny); the 12. Kompanie of III./SS-Polizei-Regiment 28 Todt, then, from April 1944, the 13. Kompanie (regimental) of the SS-Polizei-Regiment 19, of the police (Ordnungspolizei or Orpo), at the Saint-François school (rue de la Gare), plus, in April 1944, the 1. Kompanie of I./SS-Polizei-Regiment 19 in the district of Galbert, without forgetting the staff and the command section of the successive battalions at the Hôtel du Mont-Blanc (Vaugelas Street).
During World War II, Annecy, bombarded three times by the Allies (December 11, 1942, November 11, 1943, May 9-10, 1944) which targeted the SRO bearing plant, was, among other things, the seat of about thirty and a hundred the French Militia (72 francs guards in April 1944) and many prisons (where many were imprisoned and sometimes resistant were killed under torture), but also an active center of resistance (see Maquis des Glières) who freed her August 19, 1944 by a bluff by obtaining the surrender of the German forces preparing to fall back according to Hitler’s order of August 17, 1944. The Croix de Guerre with a star is pinned to the municipal coat of arms.
Places of detention of resistance fighters; according to Michel Germain, “Repression in Annecy, the city of twelve prisons”: 1) Remand center, rue Guillaume-Fichet, behind the departmental gendarmerie, 2) Dessaix district (mobile guard and GMR), avenue de la Plaine, 3) Villa Mary (Police Intendance), avenue du Parmelan, 4) Intendance Militaire (SRMAN), rue de l’Intendance, next to the Galbert district, avenue de Genève, 5) Commanderie (French Militia), 52 avenue des Marquisats, in the villa Laeuffer, 6) Villa Martens (French militia), boulevard Saint-Bernard-de-Menthon, 7) École des Cordeliers (“screening” center), quai des Cordeliers, 8) Palais de l’Isle (Old Prisons!), 9) Castle of the Dukes of Savoy-Nemours, 10) boat France, 11) Villa Schmidt (German security police), avenue d’Albigny, 12) École Saint-François (German police), rue de la Gare, where, at the Liberation, we find a mass grave of eight bodies: Pierre Benest, Jean Chantebeau, Renato Dayne, René Hermel, Maurice Kleinhaus, François Lagadec and Georges Léger
After the liberation of the city in 1944 and until September 30, 1947, a large German prison camp covering 7 hectares was established on the Novel land previously occupied by fields. This camp had been built at the start of the war in anticipation of the many prisoners that the French army then thought to take. From June 1941, the camp was partly occupied by the Compagnons de France, the Militia, then by the students of the Sommeiller college. On average, the camp was occupied by 1,600 to 1,700 German prisoners, 4 to 5,000 other prisoners registered in this camp were used for work in the fields. Only one Annecy photographer Henri Odesser was authorized to take hundreds of pictures. The last prisoner was Gerhard Dombusch, violinist of the Vienna Orchestra.
The postwar period and the second part of the XX century
In 1949, Annecy hosted the second round of GATT, a round of trade negotiations on trade liberalization: 23 delegations came to Annecy. The first 4 rounds of the GATT (Geneva in 1947, Annecy in 1949, Torquay in 1951 and Geneva in 1956) made it possible to reduce from 40% to 20% the customs duties of Western countries on imported products.
In 1953, the restoration of the castle and the historic districts began. Less than ten years later, the collector around the lake was installed, which regained its purity. A little over ten years later, the pedestrian zone was created and, another ten years later, Annecy was linked to Paris by the TGV.
In 1963, in Annecy, the first presentation of the work of Jean Lurçat, Le Chant du monde, a set of ten tapestry panels, took place. Begun in 1957, it is the largest contemporary collection of tapestries (80 m long and 4.50 m high).
After the Thirty Glorious Years, the economic crisis brought about a pause in the very rapid urban development of Annecy. Today, Annecy, the city-center of an agglomeration community of 140,000 inhabitants, pursues a development and equipment policy in conjunction with the thirteen other municipalities in its agglomeration.
The XXI century
In August 2003, the National Front, which had reserved, three months previously, the Imperial Palace in Annecy to hold its summer university, was notified of an end of inadmissibility by the municipality three weeks before the event. After a negative appeal to the court of first instance, then another still negative appeal to the court of appeal, the Council of State ends up deeming unconstitutional any maneuver tending to prevent the free expression of a political party and authorizes the holding of the Front National summer school. This decision now sets a precedent.
The June 20, 2016, the municipal councils of Annecy and five other municipalities vote in favor of the creation of a new municipality in1 January 2017. The new entity will keep the name Annecy.
Historic monuments in Annecy.
The town has twenty-one monuments listed in the inventory of historical monuments and five places listed in the general inventory of cultural heritage. In addition, it has seventy-seven objects in the inventory of historical monuments and eighteen are listed in the general inventory of cultural heritage.
Annecy castle
The Annecy Castle is an ancient castle, the xii th century, rebuilt several times, including the Dukes of Savoy between 1430 and 1487, and between 1533 and 1571 by the Savoy-Nemours, which stands on the town d ‘ Annecy in the department of Haute-Savoie, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Former residence of the Counts of Geneva and then of the Dukes of Savoie-Nemours, the Château d’Annecy has been owned by the city since 1953, which restored it and transformed it into a museum.
The Château d’Annecy is classified as a historical monument by decree of theOctober 12, 1959.
Isle Palace
The palace of the island is a former stronghold of the xii th century, rebuilt several times, located on an island formed by the Thiou, which stands on the town of Annecy in the department of Haute-Savoie, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.
Used in particular as a prison, today an exhibition site on the architecture and heritage of the territory of the Agglomeration of Annecy, it offers a permanent tour of the history and heritage of this territory. You can visit the old courtrooms, the old prison cells and dungeons as well as the old chapel.
The palace is classified as historical monuments by order of theFebruary 16, 1900.
Novel Castle
The Castle of Novel or manor of Novel is a former stronghold of the xii th century that stands in the town of Annecy in the department of Haute-Savoie, in region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
The facades and the roof are subject to partial registration as historical monuments by order of theOctober 31, 1975.
Castle of Trésum
The castle Trésum or Trésun is an ancient aristocratic house of the xvii th century, which stands on the town of Annecy in the department of Haute-Savoie, in region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Today it houses the bishopric of Annecy.
Other ancient monuments
The Perrière bridge is a major photo spot in Annecy, in front of the old prisons and the first bridge at the mouth of the Thiou until the construction of the new Halle bridge. The original bridge is called “Bridge Rollier,” when it was built in xiv th century, because as open taxiing. It then took the name of “pont Boringe” from the name of a family in the area, then “pont de la Halle” because of its proximity to the place aux bois then located near the church of Saint-François-de-Sales.. When the hall is moved, it takes the name of “Pont Perrière” from the name of the district to which it leads.
The Regional Conservatory, housed since 1970 in the former Episcopal palace, 10 rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau built in the xviii th century in place of the convent of the Cordeliers. Some parts were included in the inventory of historical monuments in 1983, in particular the piers, the main staircase, the East staircase, fireplaces, the entrance vestibule, the facades and the roof which made the subject to rehabilitation from 1995.
The Halle bridge dates from 1822. It is erected where the old enclosure wall spanned the Thiou when the new road was built along the lake to Albertville. It gives direct access to the new timber market moved closer to the mouth of the river to allow better access to boats. First built in wood, it was rebuilt in stone around 1859 then enlarged in 1929 and again in 1972.
The Morens bridge dates from the beginning of the xiii th century and is the only stone bridge to allow the passage of vehicles; it is then called the “stone bridge”, a chapel rising at one of its ends. It takes the name of “bridge Morens” at the end of the xiv th century word for “fixed”. It was restored in 1854 by the architect Auguste Désarnod. In 1886, the chapel was removed, threatening ruin.
The Pont de la République spans the Thiou canal near the factory. Giving access to the new rue des Boucheries, now rue de la République, it was initially called the “Butcher’s Bridge”. Built in oak wood and bronze, it was restored in 1846 by the architect Camille Ruphy, in 1872 by the architect of the city of Annecy Auguste Mangé and again in 1910 when it was renamed “Pont de la République”.
Former Sainte-Catherine du Mont abbey (Semnoz), in the Sainte-Catherine valley.
Non-exhaustive list of buildings contemporary present in the city
The Genevois monetary workshop which now houses the Annecy History Museum.
The hotel of the prefecture, large building in the composite style of the buildings of the French administration of the xix th century, built in 1864 near the lake by architect Charvet.
The town hall built between 1847 and 1855. On November 14, 2019, a fire broke out on the third floor and destroyed the roof of the building. There are no injuries.
The Napoleonic Berthollet high school, founded in 1888.
The Imperial Palace hotel, inaugurated in 1913, with its public gardens, beach and casino.
The Annecy courthouse opened in 1978, restored following a bomb attack on January 22, 2001, reopened to the public on September 8, 2008.
The Bonlieu cultural center, inaugurated in 1981, which houses a national theater, a library, the tourist office, shops and offices.
Non exhaustive list of contemporary infrastructure in Annecy
The canals through which the lake flows and the locks that regulate the flows constitute a water diversion and control system designed by the engineer Sadi Carnot before he became President of the Republic.
The Bridge of Love over the Vassé canal and connecting the gardens of Europe at the Pâquier, a fine example of architecture typical iron from the early xx th century.
The monument to the Haut-Savoyards who died in the war, located on Place du Souvenir, was inaugurated in September 1926. The sculpture, weighing about 2.5 tonnes, represents victory with trumpet and peace; it measures 3.60 meters and its pedestal measures 2.30 meters. Designed by the architect Decoux, it was cast by Eugène Rudier.
Religious monuments
Non-exhaustive list of religious monuments present in the city:
The Saint-Maurice church of Gothic style of the xv th century and his paintings of the xv th and xvi th centuries. Former church of the Saint-Dominique convent, it became a parish in 1803. It was in this church that Saint Francis de Sales made his first communion and began to preach. It was also the church of Saint Joan of Chantal.
The Cathedral of St. Peter the xvi th century was the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales and home to many works of art baroque and organ of the xix th century.
The Notre-Dame-de-Liesse church, in neoclassical style, was built between 1846 and 1851, on the site of an old Notre-Dame church largely deconstructed during the French Revolution to create in the city center a place suitable for hosting popular gatherings. The initial church had been built, between 1360 and 1394, on a large medieval square, next to a medieval hospital, by counts Amédée III and Robert of Geneva to house the graves of their lineage.
The Basilica of the Visitation of the xx th century houses the tombs of St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane de Chantal and offers its esplanade a view over the city and the metropolitan area.
The Basilica of Saint-Joseph-des-Fins was built during the Second World War by the architect Dom Bellot.
We can also cite the church of Sainte-Bernadette, the church of Saint-François-de-Sales also known as the church of the Italians, the church of Saint-Laurent, the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Pitié, the church of Saint-Maurice de Pringy and finally the Saint-Louis-de-Novel church.