Briançon (, ) is the sole

subprefecture A subprefecture is an administrative division of a country that is below prefecture or province. Albania There are twelve Counties of Albania, Albanian counties or prefectures, each of which is divided into several Districts of Albania, district ...

of the

Hautes-Alpes Hautes-Alpes (; ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of Southeastern France. It is located in the heart of the French Alps, after which it is named. Hautes-Alpes had a population ...

department in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (commonly shortened to PACA), also known as Région Sud, is one of the eighteen Regions of France, administrative regions of France, located at the far southeastern point of the Metropolitan France, mainland. The main P ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in Southeastern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is the highest city in France at an altitude of , based on the national definition as a community containing more than 2,000 inhabitants. Its most recent population estimate is 11,084 (as of 2018) for the commune. Briançon has been part of the

Fortifications of Vauban The Fortifications of Vauban is a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of 12 groups of fortified buildings and sites along the borders of France. They were designed by renowned military architect Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633–1707) during ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

s since they were established in 2008.

History

Briançon was the ''Brigantium'' of the Romans and formed part of the kingdom of King Cottius. Brigantium was marked as the first place in

Gallia Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . According to Ju ...

after Alpis Cottia (

Mont Genèvre Mont may refer to: Places * Mont., an abbreviation for Montana, a U.S. state * Mont, Belgium (disambiguation), several places in Belgium * Mont, Hautes-Pyrénées, a commune in France * Mont, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, a commune in France * Mont, Sa� ...

). At Brigantium the road branched, to the west through

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

to ''Vienna'' (modern Vienne), on the Rhone; to the south through ''Ebrodunum'' (modern Embrun), to ''Vapincum'' (modern Gap). Both the

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...

and the

Table Table may refer to: * Table (database), how the table data arrangement is used within the databases * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and column ...

give the route from Brigantium to Vapincum. The Table places Brigantium 6 M.P. from Alpis Cottia.

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

Strabo, iv. mentions the village Brigantium on a road to Alpis Cottia, but his words are obscure.

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

mentions Brigantium as within the limits of the

Segusini The Segusini (Gaulish: *''Segusinoi'', 'those of Segusio') were a Gauls, Gallic tribe dwelling around present-day Susa, Piedmont, Susa, in the Alpes Cottiae, during the La Tène culture, Iron Age. Name They are mentioned as ''Segosianō̃n'' (Σε ...

, or people of ''Segusio'' (modern

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

), in

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

; but it seems, as

D'Anville Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (; born in Paris 11 July 169728 January 1782) was a French geographer and cartographer who greatly improved the standards of map-making. D'Anville became cartographer to the king, who purchased his cartographic ...

observes, to be beyond the natural limits of the Segusini. Walckenaer (vol. i. p. 540) justifies Ptolemy in this matter by supposing that he follows a description of Italy made before the new divisions of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, which we know from Pliny. Walckenaer also supports his justification of Ptolemy by the

Jerusalem Itinerary ''Itinerarium Burdigalense'' ("Bordeaux Itinerary"), also known as ''Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum'' ("Jerusalem Itinerary"), is the oldest known Christian ''itinerarium''. It was written by the "Pilgrim of Bordeaux", an anonymous pilgrim from t ...

, which makes the

Alpes Cottiae The Alpes Cottiae (; English: 'Cottian Alps') was a small province of the Roman Empire founded in 63 AD by Emperor Nero. It was one of the three provinces straddling the Alps between modern France and Italy, along with the Alpes Graiae et Poenina ...

commence at

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

(near modern

La Roche-de-Rame La Roche-de-Rame (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Hautes-Alpes Departments of France, department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Hautes-Alpes department References

Communes of Hautes-Alpes ...

) between Embrun and Briançon. In the 1040s it came into the hands of the

counts of Albon The counts of Albon () were members of the medieval nobility in what is now south-eastern France. Guigues IV, Count of Albon (d. 1142) was nicknamed or 'the Dolphin'. His nickname morphed into a title among his successors. By 1293, the lands ...

and thenceforth shared the fate of the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné ( , , ; or ; or ), formerly known in English as Dauphiny, is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was ...

. The Briançonnais included not only the upper valley of the Durance (with those of its affluents, the Gyronde and the Guil) but also the valley of the Dora Riparia (Césanne, Oulx, Bardonnèche and Exilles) and that of the Chisone (Fénestrelles, Pérouse, Pragelas). The glens all lay on the eastern slope of the chain of the Alps. However the

Treaty of Utrecht (1713) The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vacant throne of ...

handed all of those valleys to Savoy in exchange for that of Barcelonnette, on the west slope of the Alps. In 1815 Briançon successfully withstood a siege of three months at the hands of the Allies, a feat commemorated by an inscription on one of its gates, ''Le passé répond de l'avenir'' ("The past guarantees the future").

Demographics

Geography

Briançon is located near the Italian border, in the

Serre Chevalier Serre Chevalier () is a major ski resort in Southeastern France, near the Italian border, located in the Hautes-Alpes department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated to the northeast of Écrins National Park in the French Alps, the re ...

ski area. It is built on a plateau centred on the confluence of the

Durance The Durance (; ''Durença'' in the Occitan classical norm or ''Durènço'' in the Mistralian norm) is a major river in Southeastern France. A left tributary of the Rhône, it is long. Its drainage basin is .Guisane The Guisane is a river in the Hautes-Alpes department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, a subtributary of the Rhône and tributary of the Durance (in Briançon). It takes its source in Le Monêtier-les-Bains at the Col du Lautaret. I ...

rivers. Briançon station has rail connections to Gap, Marseille, Valence and Paris.

Climate

Due to its elevation, Briançon features a

warm-summer humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Dfb''), bordering on an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(''Cfb'') under the Köppen system. Summers are warm with cool nights, and winters are cold and snowy.

Sights

The historical centre is a strongly fortified town, built by Vauban to defend the region from

Austrians Austrians (, ) are the citizens and Nationality, nationals of Austria. The English term ''Austrians'' was applied to the population of Archduchy of Austria, Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, ...

in the 17th century. Its streets are very steep and narrow, though picturesque. Briançon lies at the foot of the descent from the

Col de Montgenèvre The Col de Montgenèvre (; elevation 1860 m.) is a high mountain pass in the Cottian Alps, in France 2 kilometres away from Italy. Description The pass takes its name from the village Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes), which lies in the vicini ...

, giving access to Turin, so a great number of other fortifications have been constructed on the surrounding heights, especially towards the east. The

Fort Janus Ouvrage Janus is a work (''gros ouvrage'') of the Maginot Line's Alpine extension, the Alpine Line, located to the east of Briançon on near the Col de Montgenèvre. The ouvrage consists of one entry block, two infantry blocks, two artillery blo ...

is no less than 1,200 m. above the town. The parish church, with its two towers, was built 1703–1726, and occupies a very conspicuous position. The Pont d'Asfeld, east of the town, was built in 1734, and forms an arch of 40 m span, thrown at a height of 56 m across the Durance. The modern town extends in the plain at the southwest foot of the plateau on which the old town is built and forms the suburb of Ste Catherine. Briançon is close to the Parc National des Ecrins and the

Vallée de la Clarée Vallée is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: *André Vallée (1930–2015), Canadian Roman Catholic bishop *Anne Vallée (born 1958), Canadian biologist *Bernard Vallée (1945–2021), French fencer * Brigitte Vallée (born ...

. On 8 July 2008, several buildings of Briançon were classified by the

World Heritage Sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

, as part of the "

" group. These buildings are: the city walls, Redoute des Salettes, Fort des Trois-Têtes, Fort du Randouillet, ''ouvrage de la communication Y'' and the Asfeld Bridge. Along with Briançon, 11 other sites of fortified buildings in France were classified. Among them is the ''place-forte'' of

Mont-Dauphin Mont-Dauphin (; ) is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France. At the confluence of Durance and Guil rivers, overlooking the impressive canyon of the latter flowing down from Queyras valleys, Mont-Dauphin is one of t ...

, also in the Hautes-Alpes department. These pieces of art were designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633–1707), a military engineer of

King Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the longest of any monar ...

Notable people

The following people were either born in Briançon or lived there for a significant portion of their lives. Jean-Antoine Morand

* Aymon de Briançon (died 1211) a Burgundian nobleman, Carthusian monk and Archbishop of Tarentaise *

Oronce Finé Oronce Fine (or Finé; Latin: ''Orontius Finnaeus'' or ''Finaeus''; ; 20 December 1494 – 8 August 1555) was a French mathematician, cartographer, editor and book illustrator. Life Born in Briançon, the son and grandson of physicians, he was e ...

(1494–1555), mathematician and cartographer * Jean-Antoine Morand (1727–1794), architect and urban planner, he was guillotined * Augustin Chenu (1833–1875), painter, known for his local landscapes and hunting scenes. * Albert Achard (1894–1972), a flying ace of the First World War * Emilie Carles (1900–1979), a French writer and activist. * Frédérique Lucien (born 1960), a visual artist, works in drawing, painting and ceramics. *

Jean-Christophe Keck Jean-Christophe Keck is a French musicologist and conductor, born in Briançon, in 1964. He is particularly noted as a specialist in the works of Jacques Offenbach, and is the director of the complete critical edition in progress, named after both, ...

(born 1964), musicologist, conductor and specialist on

Jacques Offenbach Jacques Offenbach (; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera ''The Tales of Hoffmann''. He was a p ...

Xavier Mortimer Xavier Mortimer (born June 20, 1980), is a French magician and variety performer. A winner of multiple awards, he has appeared on television shows '' Penn & Teller: Fool Us'', ''America's Got Talent'', Masters of Illusion, ''Plus Grand Cabaret ...

(born 1980), magician and variety performer in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

* Giovanni Tamburrini (born 1982), world traveler, former law professor, owner of Seoul's premier authentic Italian restaurant in Beotigeo-gae, Seoul.

Sport

* Jules Melquiond (born 1941), Alpine ski racer * Henry Bréchu (born 1947), Alpine ski racer * Luc Alphand (born 1965), Alpine ski racer and a racing-car driver. * (born 1975), Alpine ski racer * Nicolas Bonnet (born 1984), ski mountaineer and runner. * Pierre Vaultier (born 1987), a snowboard cross twice gold medallist at the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

* Laure Barthélémy (born 1988), cross-country skier and soldier * Richard Jouve (born 1994), cross-country skier, twice team bronze medallist at the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), were an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beijing, China, and surrounding areas wit ...

International relations

Briançon is twinned with: *

Rosenheim Rosenheim () is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is an independent city located in the centre of the Rosenheim (district), district of Rosenheim (Upper Bavaria), and is also the seat of its administration. It is located on the west bank of the Inn ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Sport

Cycling

Briançon has often hosted starts and finishes of stages of the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

Giro d'Italia The Giro d'Italia (; ), also known simply as the Giro, is an annual stage race, multiple-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also starting in, or passing through, other countries. The first race was organized in 19 ...

and Dauphiné Libéré. In

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

stage 18 of the Tour de France started here. As Briançon has regularly featured as a stage town in the

, it is a popular base for cyclists. Since 1947, the town has been the start point for a stage of the Tour 22 times, and has also been a stage finish 22 times. In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, the town was the finish of the stage 9 on 17 July from

Val-d'Isère Val-d'Isère (, literally ''Valley of Isère (river), Isère'') is a Communes of France, commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie Departments of France, department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region) in southeastern France. It ...

crossing the

Col de l'Iseran Col de l'Iseran (el. ) is a mountain pass in France, the highest paved pass in the Alps. A part of the Graian Alps, it is in the department of Savoie, near the border with Italy, and is crossed by the D902 roadway. The pass is part of the Rout ...

, the

Col du Télégraphe Col du Télégraphe is a mountain pass in the French Alps situated above the Maurienne valley between the eastern end of the massif d'Arvan-Villards and the massif des Cerces. The pass links Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne to the north and Valloire t ...

and the

Col du Galibier The Col du Galibier (el. ) is a mountain pass in the southern region of the France, French Dauphiné Alps near Grenoble. It is the eighth List of highest paved roads in Europe, highest paved road in the Alps, and recurrently the List of highe ...

with a downhill finish to Briançon.

Ice hockey

The

Diables Rouges de Briançon The Diables Rouges de Briançon ''(: Briançon Red Devils)'' (''Briançon Alpes Provence Hockey Club'' and before ''Hockey Club Briançon'') is the ice hockey team of Briançon (Hautes-Alpes). Their home arena is the Patinoire René Froger. Awar ...

play in the

Ligue Magnus The Ligue Magnus, currently known as Synerglace Ligue Magnus for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's division of the French ice hockey pyramid, established in 1906. The league operated under a variety of names before taking that of its champio ...

, the French top league.

Kayaking

Briançon is situated around the confluence of the Durance river and its tributary the Guisane which are fed with snow melt in the Spring. Tourists come from around Europe to

kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...

and

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barre ...

on the resultant

whitewater Whitewater forms in the context of rapids, in particular, when a river's Stream gradient, gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that foam, froths, making t ...

rivers and their tributaries, including the Onde, the Gyronde, the

Guil The Guil () is a long river in the Hautes-Alpes '' département'', southeastern France. Its drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows ...

, the Rabioux, the

Ubaye The Ubaye (; ) is a river of southeastern France. It is long and flows through the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department. Its drainage basin is .

and others; often basing themselves in Briançon. Prorel Cablecar 02

Popular white water rivers in the Alps are mainly medium volume

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

-fed rivers with long continuous rapids and few big drops. The season is short (two or three months in early summer when the snow and glaciers are melting) but the whitewater is reliable during this period.

Skiing

Briançon is the base and lowest altitude station of the large

ski resort. Most of the city's accommodation is used exclusively in winter, the population tripling during that period.

References

Literature

* *

External links

About the city of Briançon

Tourist office website

Unofficial town website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Briancon Communes of Hautes-Alpes Subprefectures in France Dauphiné Hautes-Alpes communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Vauban fortifications in France