Grenoble - Musée de Grenoble

Grenoble was first mentioned in 43 BC. The city lies at a strategic point on the Roman road and was fortified under Diocletian. A diocese is attested from at least 381.

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the city became part of the first Kingdom of Burgundy in the 5th century, and later the Kingdom of Burgundy until 1032, when it was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire. In 1242 it received city rights. The university was founded in 1339. In 1349 Grenoble came with the entire Dauphiné by sale to the Dauphin of France, who thereby became a de jure vassal of the Holy Roman Emperor.

In 1219, Grenoble experienced its worst flood, a veritable deluge due to the breach of the natural barrier at Lac de Saint-Laurent in the Romanche Valley. The resulting tidal wave killed about half of Grenoble's population.

Today Grenoble has about 160.000 inhabitants and is seen here from the Grenoble-Bastille cable car that takes the tourist within minutes to the top of the mountain where the Fort de la Bastille is located.

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The Museum of Grenoble was already founded in 1798. For decades up to the 1950s, it was considered the very first museum of modern art in France. In 1982 a plan to construct a new building was announced, the construction began in 1990, and four years later the new building housing the collections was inaugurated.

Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903) / Portrait de Madeleine Bernard / 1888