Chambéry

A communauté de communes (French: [kɔmynote də kɔmyn] , "community of communes") is a federation of municipalities (communes) in France. It forms a framework within which local tasks are carried out together. It is the least-integrated form of intercommunalité (intercommunality).

As of 1 January 2007, there were 2,400 communautés de communes in France (2,391 in metropolitan France and 9 in the overseas departments), with 26.48 million people living in them. Since then many communautés de communes have been merged or have joined a communauté d'agglomération, a communauté urbaine or a métropole. Whereas there were 2,409 communautés de communes in January 2010 and 1,842 in January 2016, there were only 989 communautés de communes left in January 2025. The population of the communautés de communes (2022 population data, 2025 borders) ranged from 106,433 inhabitants (Communauté de communes Le Grésivaudan, covering the area between Grenoble and Chambéry), to 3,986 inhabitants (Communauté de communes du Causse de Labastide-Murat, Lot department).

The Susa Valley (Arpitan: Vâl Susa; Piedmontese: Valsusa; Occitan: Val d'Ors; Italian: Val di Susa; French: Val de Suse) is a valley in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont region of northern Italy, located between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the south. It is one of the longest valleys of the Italian Alps. It extends over 50 kilometres (31 mi) in an east-west direction from the French border to the outskirts of Turin. The valley takes its name from the city of Susa which lies in the valley. The Dora Riparia river, a tributary of the Po, flows through the valley.

A motorway runs through the valley from Turin to Chambéry in France through the Fréjus tunnel or by crossing the Col du Mont Cenis (2083m), and to Briançon, also in France, over the Col de Montgenèvre.

Savoie (French: [savwa]; Arpitan: Savouè or Savouè-d'Avâl; Italian: Savoia; English: Savoy /səˈvɔɪ/) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of 436,434.

Together with Haute-Savoie, it is one of the two departments of the historical region of Savoy; the Duchy of Savoy was annexed by France in 1860, following the signing of the Treaty of Turin. The area is known for its numerous ski resorts and contribution to French cuisine, with culinary specialities such as fondue savoyarde, tartiflette, génépi, as well as various sorts of saucisson.

Tignes (French pronunciation: [tiɲ]) is a commune in the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France, known for the highest skiable area and the longest ski season in Europe. It is located in the Savoie region with good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambéry.

It is best known as a snow sure ski resort. Together with neighbouring Val d'Isère, it forms the Tignes – Val d'Isère ski area. The proximity of two resorts offers one of the most seamless links between ski areas in Europe, in effect creating a single skiable area of over 300 km piste. Whilst not the largest ski area in the Alps, the level of integration between the two resorts is so good that it is often described as feeling like one of the largest single ski areas as a result.

Val-d'Isère (French pronunciation: [val dizɛʁ], literally Valley of Isère) is a commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region) in southeastern France. It lies 5 km (3 mi) from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise National Park created in 1963, with good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambéry.

During the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics, the Face de Bellevarde was the site of the men's downhill race. Other alpine skiing events held during those games included men's giant slalom and alpine combined. Val d'Isère regularly hosts World Cup alpine events, usually for the men in early December, and hosted the World Championships in 2009. The ski area of Val d'Isère and Tignes forms the Espace Killy, named after the triple Olympic champion Jean-Claude Killy who grew up in Val d'Isère. There are two mountain huts (called “refuges” in French) owned by the Vanoise National Park on the territory of Val d'Isère: le Refuge du Prariond and le Refuge du Fond des Fours.

The French Prealps (French: Préalpes françaises [pʁealp fʁɑ̃sɛːz]) are a group of subalpine mountain ranges of medium elevation located immediately west of the French Alps. They roughly stretch from Lake Geneva southwest to the rivers Isère and Drôme; east to a line running from Chamonix, to Albertville, to Grenoble, to Gap, to Barcelonette; and south from Grasse to Vence.

In the northern subalpine regions, the various ranges are easily identifiable by geographical separations, such as the Voreppe Gorge between Vercors and Chartreuse, or Chambéry, which sits in a valley between the Bauges and Chartreuse ranges. In the southern subalpine regions, the ranges are generally disorganized and lack the wide, deep valleys that divide them in the north.

Voiron (French pronunciation: [vwaʁˈɔ̃]; Arpitan: Vouèron) is a commune (French municipality) in the Isère department in southeastern France. It is the capital of the canton of Voiron and has been part of the Grenoble-Alpes Métropole since 2010. Voiron is located 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Grenoble and 85 km (53 mi) southeast of Lyon. Its roughly 20,000 inhabitants are named Voironnais in French.

Voiron, along with Chambéry and Grenoble, is a gateway city of the Chartreuse Mountains in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Aix-les-Bains (US: /ˌeɪks leɪ ˈbæ̃, ˌɛks -/, French: [ɛks le bɛ̃] ; Arpitan: Èx-los-Bens), known locally and simply as Aix, is a commune in the southeastern French department of Savoie.

Situated on the shore of the largest natural lake of glacial origin in France, the Lac du Bourget, this resort is a major spa town; it has the largest freshwater marina in France. It is the second largest city in the Savoie department in terms of population, with a population of 32,175 as of 2022. It is part of the Chambéry functional urban area.

Termignon (Savoyard: Trémyon) is a former commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Val-Cenis. It is ideally located in the Maurienne region with good transport links in and out of Modane, Lyon, Geneva and Chambéry.

The Bauges Mountains (French: Massif des Bauges, pronounced [masif de boʒ]; Italian: Prealpi dei Bovili) are a mountain range in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Eastern France, stretching from the city of Annecy, Haute-Savoie to the city of Chambéry, Savoie, which is part of the French Prealps.

A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education could read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written material. This usually indicated secretarial and administrative duties such as dictation and keeping business, judicial, and historical records for kings, nobles, temples, and cities. Scriveners later developed into notaries, court reporters, and in England and Wales, scrivener notaries.

They were and are generally distinguished from scribes, who in the European Middle Ages mostly copied books; with the spread of printing, this role largely disappeared, but scriveners were still required. Styles of handwriting used by scriveners included secretary hand, book hand and court hand.

The Shroud of Turin (Italian: Sindone di Torino), also known as the Holy Shroud (Italian: Sacra Sindone), is a length of linen cloth that bears a faint image of the front and back of a naked man. Because details of the image are consistent with traditional depictions of Jesus of Nazareth after his death by crucifixion, the shroud has been venerated for centuries, especially by members of the Catholic Church, as Jesus's shroud upon which his image was miraculously imprinted. The human image on the shroud can be discerned more clearly in a black-and-white photographic negative than in its natural sepia colour, an effect discovered in 1898 by Secondo Pia, who produced the first photographs of the shroud. This negative image is associated with a popular Catholic devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus.

The documented history of the shroud dates back to 1354, when it began to be exhibited in the new collegiate church of Lirey, a village in north-central France. The shroud was denounced as a forgery by the bishop of Troyes, Pierre d'Arcis, in 1389. It was acquired by the House of Savoy in 1453 and later deposited in a chapel in Chambéry, where it was damaged by fire in 1532. In 1578, the Savoys moved the shroud to their new capital in Turin, where it has remained ever since. Since 1683, it has been kept in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, which was designed for that purpose by the architect Guarino Guarini and which is connected to both the royal palace and the Turin Cathedral. Ownership of the shroud passed from the House of Savoy to the Catholic Church after the death of the former king Umberto II of Italy in 1983.