Grenoble

   A city located in the department of Isère, Grenoble, which is on the Grésivaudan plain, is surrounded by high mountains. it is one of the more important French centers of research and technology (second only to Paris), and to its three universities can be added six national engineering schools. it is also the site of the installation européenne de rayonnement synchrotron (ESRF). Major sites of Grenoble include the cathedral of Notre-Dame (12th-13th centuries), the Palais de justice (14th century), the Painting and Sculpture Museum, Stendhal Museum, and Museum of the Dauphiné. At first a settlement of the Allobroges, the city took its name from the Roman emperor Gratian in the fourth century. From the ninth to the 11th centuries, it was part of the kingdom of Burgundy-Provence and became part of France, with the rest of the Dauphiné, in the 13th century. The first university was founded there in the 14th century. The city was contested during the wars of religion. In 1968, Grenoble was the site of the Winter Olympic Games.