History of the cable car

With the lifting of military constraints and the development of a positive mind-set, a grand idea emerges: “Climb up” to the Bastille Fort, previously reserved for military purposes. This fortification, looking over the city of Grenoble, is a fantastic location for strolling and taking in an incomparable view of the city and surrounding mountains.

And so it was, that between 1920 and 1934, Paul Michoud, Vice-President of the Chamber of Tourism, supported by successive City Mayors Paul Mistral and Léon Martin, took forward a project to construct a cable car to make the Bastille accessible to the public and become a new way of discovering a site that was so near, and yet so far.

Once that decision was made, the German company “Bleichert” proposed a system that was not only the simplest and safest, but was also the best value for money. Architect Jean Benoit designed the two stations. The ironwork was made by the Grenoble firm “Para”.

And, on 9 September 1934, the great adventure of the Grenoble Bastille Cable Car finally came to life!