With their Latin, Renaissance, or Dauphinoise soul, oh how beautiful are the squares of Grenoble!

Formidable theatres of everyday life, they offer a peaceful haven to visitors wishing to pause for a drink or enjoy a meal.

At night, the energy heats up as friends meet each other for a night on the town.

Grenette Square

Grenette Square, Grenoble

La Place Grenette, or the PG as some locals still call it, has been the lively heart of the city for the past few years.

For everyone in the greater Grenoble area, its also the most famous square of the capital of the Alps.

It's a popular meeting place, ideal for taking a break at one of the café or restaurant terraces or for strolling past the many shops that line the square.

 

Saint-André square

Saint-André square, Grenoble

La place Saint-André is one of the liveliest places in Grenoble.

Also known as "la place du Trib" in reference to the old tribunal that was located here until 2002, the square attracts students and tourists all year long who come to enjoy the incomparable atmosphere at one of the numerous café terraces set up here.

 

Herb Square

Herb Square, Grenoble

At the heart of the old city, la Place aux Herbes is very lively on market days, where sellers set up their stands every morning except Monday beneath the 19th century metal canopy.
This square, called la Place du Mal-Conseil for many years, was traditionally the seat of the people's power in medieval Grenoble.
This was where locals would gather to discuss the city's affairs. It was also here that public executions were held, until the 17^th century.
A regional produce market is organized here every Friday afternoon.

 

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Notre Dame square

Notre Dame square, Grenoble

The Notre Dame cathedral and its 13th century clock tower, the Saint Hugues church (13th century) and the Baptistery (4th-6th centuries) stand on the lively Place Notre Dame. The vestiges of the baptistery are accessible via the Museum of the Old Bishopric.

The fountain of the Three Orders (1897) commemorates the pre-revolutionary events of 1788 (Day of the Tiles) that paved the way for the French Revolution.

 

Gordes Square

Gordes Square, Grenoble

Picturesque square created in 1791 at the heart of the old city, la place des Gordes sits where the Provost and Canons of Saint André house were once located.

Notice the wonderful view of the 14^th century collegiate church Gothic steeple.

 

Sainte Claire Square

Sainte Claire Square, Grenoble

With its elegant covered marketplace (1874) decorated with a fountain and the produce markets that surround the building every morning (except Monday) la place Saint Claire is a square that the locals greatly appreciate.

The square gets its name from the Convent of the Clarisses, created in the 15^th century and suppressed during the Revolution, whose buildings stood approximately in the place of today's covered market.

The northern part of the square did not look as it does today until the end of the 19^th century when a row of apartments was built on the odd number side of the square.

The even numbered apartments on the other side of the square are much older, some of which have kept their beautiful 17^th century doors.

 

Tilleuls Square

Tilleuls Square, Grenoble

This picturesque little square gets its name from the lime trees planted there ("Tilleul" is French for "lime tree.") Today there are four trees.

It was largely spared from the the upheavals that this old cathedral chapter neigborhood went through before and after the French Revolution, notably with the creation of the rue Bayard and rue Auguste Gaché.

The residences surrounding la place des Tilleuls date from the 17^th and 18^th centurys and were inhabited by the canons of the cathedral chapter up until the French Revolution.

Since 1990, a work of Brazilian artist Roberto Sà decorates the center of the square: a bronze tree with a couple of bronze children at its base.

 

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Jardin de Ville

Jardin de Ville, Grenoble

Once a private garden of the Dukes of Lesdiguières, the city park became public in 1719 and is the setting for many events.

Near the French gardens, the former Lesdiguières townhouse, built between 1600 and 1650, became the city hall from 1719 to 1967 and today houses the Maison de l'International.

 

Verdun Square

Verdun Square, Grenoble

A show square during the Second Empire, once known as the place d'Armes, la place de Verdun is today surrounded by limestone buildings such as the Isere prefecture, the old museum-library, and the headquarters of the Mountain Troops.

 

Museum Esplanade

Museum Esplanade, Grenoble

The François Mitterand esplanade is a pleasant park-like area, created at the same time as the museum of Grenoble in 1993/1994.

Until the time of the Religious Wars, the Cordeliers convent and the city's fortifications, then the citadel built by the Duke of Lesdiguières stood here.
Two walls of the citadel still stand today on the quai Jongkind side.

There were also large barracks, the caserne Vinoy, which were destroyed in the 1980s.

The massive Island Tower, part of the city's fortifications finished in 1418, stands near the quai. The esplanade features three works of modern art: Monsieur Loyal, work of Alexandre Calder (1968), North Star by Mark di Suvero (1972), and a sculpture, "Young girl standing, " created in 1934 by Marcel-Antoine Gimond.

 

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Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Grenoble

Famous pedestrian street in the old city, this street housed many noble and bourgeois families and has maintained many interesting architectural elements.

The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau lived at n°2 from July to August 1768.

The lawyer Antoine Barnave, a grand figure of the early years of the French Revolution, lived with his family at n°4, which features impressive 18^th century ironwork.



At n°14, the famous romantic writer Henri Beyle, also known as Stendhal, was born on the third floor. There is a commemorative plaque on the façade.

At n°16 : remarkable double door in walnut wood from the 17th and 18th centuries.

At n°17 : Corbelled Renaissance tower of the old townhose of the lordso f Rabot from the 16th century.

 

Rue Chenoise

Rue Chenoise, Grenoble

With its ancient façades, its shop front arches of stone and numerous little restaurants, the rue Chenoise is one of the most picturesque streets of the old city. It gets its name from the family Chaulnais who owned land and a strong house nearby.

Located at the foot of the ramparts, in the Island district, the street soon became an important passage way for travelers and merchants who left the city to cross the bridge spanning the Isere. Noble and bourgeois families had beautiful houses built here. N° 8 and 10 of the street are good examples.

 

Rue Voltaire

Rue Voltaire, Grenoble

Ever since its creation in the 18th century, this street, formerly known as the rue Neuve des Pénitents, was the heart of an elegant neighborhood where parliamentary noble families lived, including the family of the first president of the parliament who moved here in 1761.

Today it still features several beautiful dwellings from the 17^th and 18^th centuries.

The rue Voltaire, together with the neighboring rue Bayard, forms the antique shop district.

Notice the gate way of n°6, which was once the townhouseo f the first parliamentary presidence (1770) and at n°17 the façade of the former chapel of the White Penitents (17^th century), now the chapel of the Adoration.

 

Rue Bayard et Rue Auguste Gaché

Rue Bayard et Rue Auguste Gaché, Grenoble

The rue Bayard, created in the 1790s and the rue Auguste Gaché, built in the 1820s, occupy part of the land that once belonged to the cathedral chapter before the Revolution.

The rue Bayard, along with the rue Voltaire makes up the antique shop district and also houses book shops and art framing galleries.

At n°17, the Laiterie Bayard cheese shop has kept its original décor, dating from the 1920s.

The rue Auguste Gaché owes its existence to one of Grenoble's first privately initialized urban operations.

The architectural harmony of the buildings lining these streets, with their mezzanines, arched windows, and four-floor living quarters, make these streets some of the most original of the city.

 

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