Annecy tourist information
Annecy France
The remarkable destiny of a city with distant origins that exploits all the resources of a site favoured by nature, and knows how to seize all the available opportunities and journey through the centuries, whilst always remaining contemporary.
A cluse city on the edge of a lake on a transverse axis of the great routes between Italy and Geneva, the city is set in contact with two zones: mountainous, Pre-Alpine with the Aravis mountain chain on the one side, and the plain with the Albanais foreland on the other.
Its site is particularly well endowed, with the natural gift of a lake that has become a symbol, the river Thiou, the former industrial axis that has become an advantage for tourism, the huge and still wild Semnoz forest, the spacious Fins plain that is perfectly suitable for unrestrained urbanisation, and finally the surrounding Annecy-le-Vieux hillside that forms a pleasant border to the northern landscape. As far as its history is concerned, the proximity of Geneva was to become the source of the city's successive promotions, becoming in its turn the capital of the county of Geneva following the installation of its princes, chased from their city in the 13th Century, and then a bishopric after the triumph of Calvinism. Set up as a capital as a privilege of the House of Savoie in the 15th Century, the city was to undergo radical change at the beginning of the 19th Century by becoming a busy industrial centre - a vocation which was to be confirmed again in the following century without jeopardising its development of tourism.
Annecy is probably the town of the Northern Alps that has known one of the most ancient human settlements. In fact, recent archaeological digs carried out by the Department of Underwater and Submarine Archaeological Research based at Annecy have allowed the coastal village near Annecy-le-Vieux to be dated at 3,100 years B.C. The site known as "du Port" situated near the Île des Cygnes and discovered in 1884, could date from 2,500 years B.C.
The Gallo-Roman period had existed some 50 years before our time to witness the rapid emergence of a "vicus" of around 2,000 souls which was given the name "Boutae", and whose the urbanisation of the Fins plain has left enough vestiges to allow us to know the exact location of the forum, the basilica and the theatre, the restoration of the latter of which is very likely.
The triangular shape of this settlement demonstrates the extreme importance of the roads that came together at this junction, with each point being directed towards Faverges (Casuaria), Aix-les-Bains (Aquae) and Geneva (Geneva) respectively.
After the dispersion of the Boutae population, a new stage was entered with the progressive occupation of the banks of the Thiou at the point where it joins the lake, an important place with an inevitable turnpike on the great North-South road at the river crossing on a level with the Island, which very quickly became the siegniory seat.
From then onwards, the medieval town began to develop on both banks of the Thiou under the protection of fortifications, which were later to become the castle. Annecy-le-Neuf, confirmed in a text as dating from 1107, was thus born. The emerging small town was to undergo an unexpected rapid expansion by becoming the residence of the Count of Geneva, who was driven out of his capital following conflicts with his bishops.
This installation was to lead to the construction of the castle, which was promoted to a princely residence until the end of the Geneva family line in 1394, following the death of its last representative, Robert of Geneva, who became the antipope of Avignon under the name of Clément VII. It was during this period that Annecy became Savoyard with the integration of the county of Geneva into the Savoyard state under the authority of the most prestigious prince, Amadeus VII, the first Duke of Savoie. The former Genevan capital, stripped of its title, was to undergo a painful period of distress caused by a succession of terrible fires that destroyed the greatest part of the city in 1412, and again in 1448. Amadeus VII, sensitive to such a situation, acted to help the city rise again from its ruins by proceeding with the reconstruction of the castle and by favouring the resurrection of the city. He once again showed his mark of attachment by creating the privilege of the Genevans in favour of his son Philippe (1444). It was thus that Annecy rose from its ashes and reclaimed its role of capital of a region covering the majority of our present day Haute-Savoie department. This brilliant dynasty of favoured princes tied the matrimonial link with the French Royal Family, and received from François the first Duchy of Nemours (near Fontainebleau), conferring the title of the Duke of Savoie-Nemours on our new princes.
This period durably marked the history of Annecy, which was to become the episcopal seat with the precipitated departure of the Bishop of Geneva, driven out of his city by the Reformation (1535), and followed by several religious communities that came to once again re-inforce the religious character of Annecy, which became the "Rome of Savoie". The 20th century city retains the most beautiful monuments, which have come to durably enrich its heritage of this time with the Logis Nemours, the Saint Peter's Cathedral, the Maison Lambert and the Notre-Dame de Liesse church tower. Added to this are the glorious episcopate of Saint Francis of Sales, the opening of the Chappuis College and the creation of the Florimontaine Academy 28 years before the "Académie Française", all this means one can speak without fear of the golden age of our city. The occupation of Savoie by the French revolutionary army (1792) was to fundamentally disrupt the structure of the city, which was suddenly opened up to new ideas.
This was to take place in the form of industrial redevelopment, giving a vigorous economic leap forward by the setting up of factories of all kinds, powered by the hydraulic force of the Thiou river. It was also a revolutionary vision which inspired the urbanisation plans drawn up by Thomas Dominique Ruphy in 1794, with the design of broad, straight roads on the main traffic routes, at the same time keeping the historic quarter intact. In parallel, the revelation of a new sensitivity towards alpine sites will open the country to a type of tourism that attracts ever larger numbers of visitors to the areas around our lake and towards "a leisure civilisation".
