Discovery walk: Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Chambéry

The old own of Chambéry is characterised by a maze of streets and private mansions. The Piedmont-style architecture is often enhanced by decorative elements (trompe-l'oeil, ironwork, sculpture, etc.). Guided tours all the year round.Near the castle, the historical center of Chambéry offers an urban configuration dense and original, strongly marked by the presence of water. This set is quite homogene and is protected by a saving area program. The rue de Boigne : This straight street, lined with torinese gantry, was created thank to the liberality of the general de Boigne. Real hole in the urban tissue inherited from the middle age, this is the artery that is linking the castle to the fountain of the elephants. The place Saint Léger : Primitive center of the town, this place has become an area of life thank to its development at the end of the 1970's. Behind its colored fronts, a whole maze of streets and court of hotel particulier, giving to Chambéry its particular appearance. The rue Basse du Château : This strret inherited from the middle age conserves one of the last aerial footbridge of the town. The rue Croix d'or : During centuries, travellers coming from Italy were entering the town by this street. Artisanal district and aristocratic until the XIXth century, numerous testimony are still visibles, for example : the metal gates of the Hôtel of Castagnéry (n°18) and the front of the hôtel des Marches et de Bellegarde (n°19).

Discover the large number of townhouses in the old town of Chambéry.This fountain, located on the place Saint Léger, is representing two cherubs supporting a small bowl which water is pouring in a large pool. Despite its old appearence, this fountain was realized in 1978. Its pool is the replica of the one of the old fountain of lans, first fountain built in Chambéry in 1670 and destructed in 1864 during the construction of the Townhall.

Nestling in a quiet valley overlooking Chambéry, this country house was the home of Jean-Jacques Rousseau when he stayed with Mme de Warrens from 1736 to 1742.The House of Charmettes is described in books V and VI of the Confessions and in the 10th of the Reveries of the solitary walker. From the revolutionary period, it became a pilgrimage site for visitors from all over the world and many celebrities (George Sand and Alphonse de Lamartine tell their visit with emotion). Classified as a historic monument in 1905, it is also a preserved natural site, and a botanical garden. This place, where the personality of one of the greatest writers of the French language was formed, is testament to Rousseau's influence in the evolution of universal thought: nature, romance, education, happiness, the century of Enlightenment, human rights and citizenship. With its peaceful atmosphere, Les Charmettes is today a museum of literary memories. The French garden of Les Charmettes contains a collection of medicinal plants, vegetables, fruits and condiments as in the eighteenth century.

Statue de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, sculpted by Mars Valett in 1910.‘It’s a shame that the Savoyards are not wealthy, or maybe it would be a shame if they were… for whatever they are, they are the best and most friendly people that I know. If there is a small town in the world where you can taste the sweetness of life in agreeable company, it’s surely Chambéry’. (Les Confessions, Book V). In 1728, at the age of 16, Rousseau decided to leave his home town of Geneva, and after a few days of wandering, he arrived in the Savoie. The priest of Confignon welcomed him and sent him to a ‘charitable good woman’ in Annecy. Madame de Warens received the young Jean-Jacques in her home, and despite her being 12 years his senior, Rousseau soon fell under her spell. Françoise-Louise de Warens was born in Vevey, in the Vaud region. Abandoned by her husband, she decided to convert to Catholicism, as, in the Savoie, it had a significant amount of wealth, during a period of intense power struggle against the Reform. The King of Sardinia, Victor-Amédée II, provided Madame de Warens with an annual pension to welcome Swiss Calvinists who had fled to the Savoie to join the Catholic church. Rousseau renounced Calvinism and was baptised in Turin within a few days, before returning to Madame de Warens’ house in Annecy. A few months later, at the beginning of autumn 1731, he found her again in Chambéry, where she had recently moved. ‘The house that she lives in is sombre and sad, and my room is the most sombre and saddest of them all. A view of a wall, a cul-de-sac for a road, no air, no space, crickets, rats, rotten boards – hardly conducive to pleasant lodgings. But I was with her, close to her…’ Madame de Warens found Rousseau (her future lover) a job at the ‘mensuration Générale de Savoie’, that is to say in the Sardinian land registry, in the Château. The adventurous spirit of the young man quickly tired of the routine and monotony of such a job, so he would find excuses to read and learn arithmetic, geometry and design. For the time being, he was uninterested in botany. However, since he was a child, music completely absorbed him - this passion would last his whole life. He would organise small concerts, with the help of artists and amateurs, and offered his services as a professor of music theory and singing for well-heeled young ladies, despite the misgivings of his protector. From 1735 or 1736, Madame de Warens and Jean-Jacques would spend the summer in the Charmettes estate.

Built on the primitive side of the town, the church is notable for its crypt, religious vestige among the oldest and most beautiful of Savoy.The church was finished in 1513, on others older religious building. The first written mention of this place was from 866 and the archeological furnitures that were found make think of the existence of a temple of Mercury at the same place. She was modified during the centuries well or badly, which explains its curious aspect. The major interest of Lemenc is in its crypt, which represents one of the oldest testimony of christendom in Savoy, and is still a mistery for the archeologists. It is composed of a pre-romane rotonda, dated from the IXth century, which center is occupied by a kiosk made with 6 columns. The purpose of this element is still dividing the experts. The rotonda is extended by three romanesque naves with very thick walls. On the vault of the main nave, recent restorations have allowed to discover wall paintings from 1510. Theses naves ends on a gothic crypt much more recent, it was realized in 1445. At the end of the crypt, there is a spectacular entombment.