Grenoble Bastille

The Bastille is a fortified hillside above Grenoble, built up over centuries and given its present form by General Haxo in the 1820s, running up the slope in tiers of walls, tunnels and batteries. Since 1934 it has been reached by cable car from the town centre, and since 1976 the cabins have been transparent spheres, which is how most people know it: five bubbles crossing the Isere in about four minutes. The view takes in three mountain ranges meeting around the city, the Vercors, Chartreuse and Belledonne, with Mont Blanc visible on clear days. Tunnels and stairways lead back down on foot.

History

Francis I in 1538 and Charles IX in 1566 both asked for the hill to be fortified, without result. In December 1590, during the last of the Wars of Religion, the Huguenot leader Lesdiguières took Grenoble after a siege of more than three weeks, and as governor he built in 1591-1592 a fortress on the summit, a tower and small bastions with a barracks inside a wall about 1.3 metres thick enclosing an area 68 by 50 metres, which gave the hill its name. At the same time the 13-century-old Roman wall was replaced by new bastioned walls, finished by December 1606, enlarging the city by 21 hectares, and from 1611 the engineer Jean de Beins carried the fortifications down to two new gates on the Isère, the Porte Saint-Laurent of 1615 and the Porte de France of 1620. The fortress, rising to 476 metres, now draws some 600,000 visitors a year (Wikipedia, Bastille (Grenoble)).

The main sights

• The bubble cable car - transparent spheres crossing the river to the fort.
• The three ranges - Vercors, Chartreuse and Belledonne around the city.
• The fortress tiers - walls, batteries and tunnels up the slope.
• The walk down - stepped paths and galleries back into town.

When to go

Year-round; the cable car closes for maintenance in January and in high wind. Clear winter days give the best mountain visibility. Evening runs make the city lights worthwhile.

Things to know

The cable car queues at weekends and closes in bad weather. The fort itself is largely open ground and walls rather than exhibits. The walk down is steep with loose sections.

Nearby

The Vercors plateau lies southwest; the Chartreuse massif is north.

Key facts