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Chambéry

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Chambéry

Chambéry (UK: /ˈʃɒ̃bəri/, US: /ˌʃɒ̃bˈr/, French: [ʃɑ̃beʁi]; Arpitan: Chambèri) is the prefecture and largest city of the Savoie department in the southeastern Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France.

The population of the commune of Chambéry was 60,251 as of 2022, while the population of the Chambéry metropolitan area was 263,919. The city is located at the foot of the French Alps between Bauges and Chartreuse mountains, and is a railway and highway crossroads.

It has been the historical capital of the Savoy region since the 13th century, when Amadeus V, Count of Savoy, made the city his seat of power. The annexation of Savoy merged the city to France in 1860. Together with other alpine towns Chambéry engages in the Alpine Town of the Year Association for the implementation of the Alpine Convention to achieve sustainable development in the Alpine Arc. Chambéry was awarded Alpine Town of the Year 2006.

Chambéry was founded at a crossroads of ancient routes through the Dauphiné (Dôfenât) region of France, Switzerland, and Italy, in a wide valley between the Bauges and the Chartreuse Mountains on the Leysse River. The metropolitan area has more than 125,000 residents, extending from the vineyard slopes of the Combe de Savoie [fr] almost to the shores of the Lac du Bourget, the largest natural lake in France. The city is a major railway hub at the midpoint of the Franco-Italian Turin–Lyon high-speed railway (TGV).

Chambéry is situated in southeast France, 523 kilometres (325 miles) from Paris, 326 kilometres (203 miles) from Marseille, 214 km (133 mi) from Turin, 100 kilometres (62 miles) from Lyon and 85 kilometres (53 miles) from Geneva. It is found in a large valley, surrounded by the Massif des Bauges to the east (dominated by Le Nivolet, upon which La Croix du Nivolet is found), Mont Granier (Chartreuse) and the Chaîne de Belledonne [fr] to the south, the Chaîne de l'Épine (the most southern mountain of the Jura) to the west and the Lac du Bourget to the north. If seen as the meeting point of the Jura and the Alps, it is the westernmost point of the Swiss plateau which lies between them.

The towns surrounding Chambéry are Barberaz, Bassens, Cognin, Jacob-Bellecombette, La Motte-Servolex, La Ravoire, Saint-Alban-Leysse and Sonnaz.

The history of Chambéry is closely linked to the House of Savoy and was the Savoyard capital from 1295 to 1563. During this time, Savoy encompassed a region that stretched from Bourg-en-Bresse in the west, across the Alps to Turin, north to Geneva, and south to Nice. Chambéry declined after Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy moved his capital to Turin in 1563.

France annexed the regions that formerly constituted the Duchy of Savoy west of the Alps in 1792; however, the former duchy and Chambéry were returned to the rulers of the House of Savoy in Turin in 1815 following the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte. The need for urban revitalization was met by the establishment of the Société Académique de Savoie in 1820, which was devoted to material and ethical progress, now housed in an apartment of the ducal château. Chambéry and lands of the former duchy, as well as the County of Nice, were ceded to France by Piedmont in 1860, under the reign of Napoleon III. The Hôtel de Ville was officially opened in 1867.

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