Office de Tourisme Villard de Lans


	Check out our virtual brochures : Accommodation guide Summer practical guide Winter practical guide


	Summer activities

Villages - Heritage

Heritage

Valchevrière

History and Valchevrière

agandir - V2VILLARD-ZIBLOCNE-HISTOIREEC-0001

A little historical background

Villard de Lans is a peasant town

at the start of the only chain of rocky mountains in the Vercors regional natural park. It dates back to the end of the post-glacial era and its old village mentality has been preserved in the sound constructions capped by the traditional gable ends: "pignons lauzés".
Economic life became more important in the 13th century.
Then, Corrençon (the largest of Villard's hamlets) became independent, founding its own community in 1857.

The end of the century marked the beginning of tourism.

At the time, this activity was mainly reserved for the grande bourgeoisie for medical purposes.
Villard de Lans' well-deserved reputation was built on its famous "milk and air" cures.
In 1920, a tramway was opened between Grenoble and Villard de Lans, making the development of winter tourism even easier.
In the village, a drag lift was installed on the Bains hill and it was here that the instructors of the Ecole de Ski Français gave their first lessons.
1925 was a real consecration for winter sports, with the organisation of the world ski champships in 1931.
1968 was another important date, as Villard de Lans hosted the luge event of the Grenoble Winter Olympics.

The hamlet of Valchevrière

Valchevrière, a place of silence and recollection: one of the most moving and evocative sites of the Resistance movement in the Vercors.

This hamlet in the middle of the forest was a camp for the "maquisards" members of the Resistance before being the site of a severe confrontation on July 22nd and 23rd 1944.
On the belevedere overlooking the village, a great many men gave their lives to delay the progression of Nazi forces, dying with their arms in their hands.
The houses were then burned down, leaving only the chapel intact.
The hamlet has been left in this state: bare stones, blackened by the fire.
A pilgrim's route, with an original edifice at each station, runs from Villard de Lans to Valchevrière.