Vif () is a commune in the

Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in southeastern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The town hosts the

Champollion Museum The Champollion Museum (french: Musée Champollion) is located in Figeac, Lot. It houses a collection devoted to Figeac's most famous son, Jean-François Champollion. It was inaugurated 19 December 1986 in the presence of President François Mi ...

, located in the former residence of the Champollion family. Closed for work, it reopened in June 2021.

Geography

Vif is situated in the Valley of Gresse, in the south of Grenoble, upon the north-east

foothills Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

of the Vercors. The town is crossed by the Gresse river (which come from

Gresse-en-Vercors Gresse-en-Vercors is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. Population Twin towns Gresse-en-Vercors is twinned with: * Calvanico, Italy, since 2003 See also * Communes of the Isère department *Parc naturel régiona ...

). Vif lies 16 km (10 mi) south of Grenoble, 65 km (40 mi) north-west of Gap and 65 km (40 mi) north-east of

Valence Valence or valency may refer to: Science * Valence (chemistry), a measure of an element's combining power with other atoms * Degree (graph theory), also called the valency of a vertex in graph theory * Valency (linguistics), aspect of verbs rel ...

Population

Sights

* Vif is the home of the

Champollion Museum (Vif) The Champollion Museum (french: Musée Champollion) is a French historical museum located in Vif in the family home of the Champollion brothers. It presents the daily life of the discoverer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and that of his brother Jacq ...

, settled in the former family house of

Jacques-Joseph Champollion-Figeac Jacques-Joseph Champollion-Figeac (), also known as Champollion ''l'aîné'' ('the Elder'; 5 October 1778 – 9 May 1867) was a French archaeologist, elder brother of Jean-François Champollion (decipherer of the Rosetta Stone). Biography He wa ...

and his wife Zoé Berriat. * The city is the cradle of the French company

Vicat Vicat SA is a French company manufacturing cement, aggregates and ready-mix concrete in four continents. Its activity has developed in France by vertical integration and abroad by acquisitions and, more recently by building Greenfield factorie ...

, founded by Joseph Vicat (son of Louis Vicat). The first ciment works was built in Genevrey-de-Vif in 1857. * The town hosts two churches : Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Vif and Saint-Marie du Genevrey, which is one of the oldest medieval church in Grenoble métropole. * The actual

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

was an ancient monastery until 1792, then a

silk mill A silk mill is a factory that makes silk for garments using a process called silk throwing. Traditionally, silk mills were concentrated in Japan, England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Italy and Switzerland. The silk throwing process Silk is a natur ...

managed by the Berriat family. Viaduc du Crozet et Pieu (flanc est)

The « Line of Alps », a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

connecting Grenoble to Gap via the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...

, cross the town territory on a

19th century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...

railway viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...

: the viaduct of Crozet (''viaduc du Crozet'').

Personalities

Charles Le Goux de La Berchère Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

(1647-1719), bishop *

(1778-1867),

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, brother of Champollion ''le Jeune'' *

Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 17904 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure in th ...

(1790-1832),

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and orientalist, decipherer of Egyptian hieroglpyhs * Yves de La Brière (1877-1941), French

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

born in Vif.

Twin town - sister city

Vif is twinned with: *

Rivalta di Torino Rivalta di Torino is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 14 km southwest of Turin in the valley of the Sangone. It is home to a medieval castle, around which the town ori ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, since

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

References

Communes of Isère Isère communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia {{Isère-geo-stub