L'Île Verte is a neighborhood in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, located in a bend in the river Isère. It is relatively independent from downtown. The district is one of the most heavily populated in the town, due primarily to the large apartments (three large towers, as well as an ?S-shaped apartment complex). The area is mostly residential, but the Police Headquarters (Hotel de Police) is also located here.

The Three Towers

The landmark Residence Île Verte, popularly referred to as "the Three Towers of Grenoble," was built within a park in the Île Verte district between 1963 and 1967, on a plan by

Roger Anger Roger Anger (24 March 1923 – 15 January 2008) was a French architect who worked on the Auroville project, designed by Mirra Alfassa and endorsed by UNESCO and the Government of India. He also collaborated many times with Pierre Puccinelli, not ...

and

Pierre Puccinelli Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

. At a height of 98 meters (not counting the

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

), the three towers were the highest inhabited buildings in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

when they were completed, with a total of 504 apartments spread among 28 inhabited floors, each tower containing a total of 33 stories. The towers are named

Belledonne Belledonne (french: link=no, La chaine de Belledonne, ) is a mountain range (french: link=no, massif) in the Dauphiné Alps (part of the French Alps) in southeast France. The southern end of the range forms the eastern wall of the mountains th ...

, Vercors, and

Mont Blanc Mont Blanc (french: Mont Blanc ; it, Monte Bianco , both meaning "white mountain") is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe, rising above sea level. It is the second-most prominent mountain in Europe, after Mount Elbrus, and i ...

Photos of the district

image:Ile-verte grenoble.jpg, Three towers of Ile Verte image:Tour vaucanson grenoble.jpg, One of the towers seen from downtown

Saint Roch Cemetery

In the Ile Verte district,

Saint Roch Cemetery Saint Roch Cemetery (french: Cimetière Saint-Roch) is the first municipal cemetery in the city of Grenoble, France. It was blessed by the bishop of Grenoble Claude Simon on 19 August 1810.According to web site of Association Saint-Roch ! Vous a ...

is not the oldest cemetery in Grenoble, but it is the first that was opened by the city and intended for all residents. It was inaugurated in 1810 and took its name from the nearby Saint Roch chapel. It is still in use, augmented in 1941 by the cemetery of the Grand Sablon at

La Tronche La Tronche () is a commune in the Isère department, southeastern France. It is part of the Grenoble urban unit (agglomeration).

, on the other side of the Isère. Some of the funerary monuments have real artistic value, among them the works of Grenoble sculptors Victor Sappey and

Henri Ding Henri Marius Ding (30 June 1844 – 1898) was a French sculptor. Henri Ding was born in Grenoble. His most famous work is the ''Fontaine des trois ordres'' (''Fountain of the three orders'') on the place Notre-Dame in Grenoble. It paid tribute to ...

External links

La maison de l'architecture Rhône-Alpes
(French)
Structurae: Tours de l'Ile Verte

Tours de l'Ile Verte
(English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ile Verte Geography of Grenoble