France Province   +  Winter Olympic Games

The Austrian Tyrol comes to Dauphiné

Austrian Tyrol

The expenses for the installation of projectors were shared between Electricity of France, COJO and the Municipalities concerned:
— So, in the Oisans, the church towers of the following villages were illuminated at night-fall.
— LA GARDE and HUEZ, villages perched on the mountain side, and situated on the beautiful route leading to the Olympic resort of Alpe d'Huez.
— LE FRENEY-D'OISANS, in the deep valley of the Romanche.
— MIZOEN, from where the admirable site of the Chambon lake can be seen.
— MONT-DE-LANS, on the other side of the valley from MIZOEN, above the dam of Chambon, a picturesque village on the route which leads to the resort of DEUX-ALPES.
— LA GRAVE, opposite the glaciers of the «Massif de la Meije».
— VILLARD-D'ARÈNE, finally, at an altitude of 1,650 metres is the last locality on the road of the Passes of Lautaret and Galibier.
— Further North, in the valley of Gresivaudan, near the Isere, the little town of La TERRASSE.
— On one of the roads leading to the Olympic resort of Chamrousse, VAULNAVEYS-LE-HAUT, with its fifteenth century church tower.
— To the South of Grenoble, the Church at Vif whose square Norman tower has kept its twelfth century structure.
— In the Vercors, as well as the tower of the little church of Saint-Nizier du Moucherotte, which miraculously escaped the destruction of the village in 1944, the Memorial of the Pioneers of the Vercors, erected to the memory of the Resistance heroes, killed in the bitter fighting of the Liberation, was also illuminated on the slope overlooking Grenoble.
— Finally, from the top of the 2,200 m. Cross of Chamrousse, a powerful luminous signal, threw its beam towards Grenoble, recalling the presence there of the great Olympic resort.
Another, less spectacular participation, which was greatly appreciated by the motorists taking the difficult road of Lautaret, was the lighting, in collaboration with the Highway Department of the Hautes-Alpes, of the three road tunnels, the passage of which is known to be very difficult, by day as well as by night.

THE «TROIS PUCELLES» CLIFFS ILLUMINATED

Finally, a prestige achievement, dedicated to the Mountain, to the Olympic Games, and to the hardy pioneers, who made Grenoble the cradle of «white coal»; the spectacular illumination of the «Trois Pucelles» Cliffs.

This rock which marks, with the snow capped ridge of the Moucherotte, 1,900 metres high, the first spur of the Massif of the Vercors, dominates Grenoble and overlooks the immense Stadium of the Olympic Ski-jump, not far from Saint-Nizier du Moucherotte.