Passy (Haute-Savoie)

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Passy
Passy coat of arms
Passy (France)
Passy
region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department Haute-Savoie
Arrondissement Bonneville
Canton Le Mont-Blanc (main town)
Community association Pays du Mont-Blanc
Coordinates 45 ° 55 '  N , 6 ° 41'  E Coordinates: 45 ° 55 '  N , 6 ° 41'  E
height 542-2,880 m
surface 80.03 km 2
Residents 10,902 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 136 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 74190, 74480
INSEE code
Website www.ot-passy.com

Passy - Mont Blanc in the background

Passy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the region of Auvergne Rhône-Alpes .

geography

Passy is located at 685  m , east of Sallanches , about 53 kilometers southeast of the city of Geneva (as the crow flies). The village with a view of Mont Blanc extends in a panoramic position on the northern slope of the wide valley basin of Sallanches, through which the Arve flows, in the Savoy Alps , in the southeast of Faucigny .

The area of ​​the community area of ​​80.03 km² comprises a section of the upper Arve valley. The main settlement area is the Sallanches basin , a depression filled with alluvial material by the Arve and its side streams, which has a flat valley floor more than 2 km wide. The northern and eastern parts of this basin belong to Passy, ​​as does the wooded height of the Tête Noire ( 1741  m ), a branch of the Mont-Blanc massif , to the southeast .

To the north, the municipal area extends over the sun-exposed slope of Passy with several terraces, including the Plan d'Assy , to the limestone plateau of the Désert de Platé with the adjacent peaks of Tête du Colonney ( 2690  m ) and La Vouardaz ( 2553  m ). The limestone plateau is characterized by various karst features such as cart fields and caves.

A narrow corner of the municipality floor extends east into the heavily reliefed area of ​​the Haut-Giffre (also called Massif de Sixt). The extensive Alp Anterne (with the mountain lake Lac d'Anterne in the Giffre catchment area ) and the alpine pastures in the upper part of the Diosaz catchment area belong to Passy. In the far north-east, the area extends to the slope of the Buet, where the Passy's highest point is reached at 2880  m . A significant part of the community area belongs to the Sixt-Passy nature reserve.

In addition to the actual town center, Passy also includes numerous villages, settlements and farms, including:

  • Les Ruttets ( 600  m ) slightly elevated on the northern edge of the Arve valley
  • Les Outards ( 580  m ) on the valley floor north of the Arve
  • part of Le Fayet ( 589  m ) in the valley floor south of the Arve
  • Les Plagnes ( 700  m ) on the southern slope of the Arve valley
  • Chedde ( 603  m ), an industrial settlement in the eastern part of the Sallanches basin
  • La Motte ( 770  m ) on the northern slope of the valley
  • Perrey ( 800  m ) on the northern slope of the valley
  • Maffray ( 870  m ) on the northern slope of the valley
  • Cran ( 980  m ) on the northern slope of the valley
  • Bay ( 950  m ) on a ledge above Passy
  • Les Julliards ( 950  m ) on a ledge below the Aiguille de Varan
  • Assy ( 1000  m ) on the northern slope of the valley
  • Praz Coutant ( 1170  m ) on the slope above Chedde

Neighboring municipalities of Passy are Magland and Sixt-Fer-à-Cheval in the north, Vallorcine , Chamonix-Mont-Blanc , Servoz and Les Houches in the east, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and Domancy in the south and Sallanches in the west.

history

Sanatoriums Martel de Janville and Sancellemoz

The municipality of Passy was already settled in the Neolithic as well as during the Bronze Age and the Roman Age, which has been proven by several finds, including the remains of a Roman road. However, the place is only mentioned in the documents in the early 15th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, Passy developed into a climatic health resort with numerous sanatoriums (especially on the Plateau d'Assy), while more and more industry settled on the valley floor.

On July 4, 1934, the physicist , chemist and two-time Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie died in the Sanatorium Sancellemoz in the municipality of Passy .

On the night of April 15-16, 1970, a mudslide destroyed the Le Roc des Fiz sanatorium. 72 people, including 56 children, were killed.

Attractions

The village church of Passy dates from the 18th century.

The Notre-Dame-de-Toute-Grâce church, built between 1937 and 1945, is in Assy. The decoration of the church, in which numerous well-known artists, including Fernand Léger , André Lurçat , Jean Bazaine , Georges Rouault and Marc Chagall , were involved, is of particular importance .

There is a chapel in the Bay district.

population

Population development
year Residents
1962 8,458
1968 8,891
1975 8,554
1982 8,722
1990 9,235
1999 10,104
2006 11,234

With 10,902 inhabitants (January 1, 2017), Passy is one of the largest municipalities in the Haute-Savoie department. After the population stagnated for a long time around the middle of the 20th century, a significant increase in population has been recorded since the beginning of the 1980s thanks to the attractive residential area. The largest settlement in the parish is Chedde.

Economy and Infrastructure

Until the 20th century, Passy was predominantly an agricultural community. Today there are numerous companies in the municipality, ranging in size from small businesses to large corporations. Chedde established itself as an industrial settlement and was the location of an important explosives factory (production of cheddite). In the course of the 20th century, several commercial and industrial zones were created on the valley floor. Construction and transport companies as well as suppliers for the watch industry (décolletage) have settled here.

The village is very well developed in terms of traffic. Le Fayet is the end point of the A40 motorway , which then runs as the four-lane main road N205 over the imposing Viaduc des Égratz to Chamonix. Other road connections exist with Sallanches, Saint-Gervais-les-Bains and Servoz. Also in Le Fayet is the end point of the standard-gauge railway line that leads from La Roche-sur-Foron through the Arve valley. The continuation to Chamonix and Vallorcine is on a meter gauge. Le Fayet is also the starting point for the Tramway du Mont-Blanc cog railway .

Web links

Commons : Passy  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Avalanche disaster: No hope . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna April 18, 1970, p. 7 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).