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Digne les Bains

A city in the Alpes de Haute Provence

Digne les Bains is crossed by the Bléone, one of the main rivers of the department, and lies halfway between the massive south-Alpine (in other words, Lower the Alps) and Provence, 144 km from Nice and 138 km from Marseille. Its population is 16 000 people making this town one of the smallest of France by its population.

The current name, Digne les Bains, was formalized on June 25, 1988, following the decree of June 21, 1988. Previously, the town was called Digne, a name still common in everyday speech. Digne les Bains form with Entrages, Marcoux, Robine-on-Galabre and Mezel, the Community of Commons Three Valleys (CC3V).

Among the remarkable places of Digne les Bains include "slab ammonites, a site located about 1.5 kilometers north of town on the road to Barles. This slab of rock dating back 200 million years, inclined at 60 degrees, is composed of limestone. It has approximately 1500 ammonites which 90% of the species Coroniceras Multicostatum dating Sinémurien (Jurassic below). These ammonites can reach a diameter of 70 cm.

Until 1994, only 200 square meters of the slab ammonites were visible. After that date, the geological reserve of Alpes de Haute Provence has undertaken to release approximately 150 square metres further to reach a total area of 350 square metres. This slab has been a cast for a museum in Japan.

The architectural heritage of Digne les Bains includes Notre-Dame du Bourg, a Romanesque cathedral, whose foundations date back to the ninth century. A victim of numerous attacks and looting, it was renewed in early thirteenth century. Finally, note the remains of fortifications and some tours around the city. The remains of the ramparts is currently based in the landscape of houses.

Another point of interest, the Museum of geological reserve of Haute-Provence, located on the hill St. Benedict. It includes an extraordinary garden of butterflies, which thrive naturally 124 species of Lepidoptera.

The garden of butterflies, located below museum buildings, in an intertwining greenery, is an oasis for the survival of many species of butterflies in Europe. To attract them, many plants and trees are grown, such as baguenaudier, buddleia, oak, fennel, fig, lavender, alfalfa, mint, plum, sage, thyme, thyme, linden, clover, valerian, violets and many other plants.

The Museum Reserve geological Haute-Provence is also a film recounting the geological history of the region "Voyage in the memory of landscapes", directed by Pierre Remy.

Digne-les-Bains was elected "city sportier de France" among cities with fewer than 20 000 inhabitants in 2006, by the newspaper "L'Equipe". It is true that across the city, there are sports structures, free access or reserved to the many sports clubs and schools. Digne is, for example, the only French city to offer free and unrestricted access to tennis courts.

Pictures of Digne les Bains

Around Digne les Bains

Thorame Basse - Thorame Haute - Beauvezer - Colmars les Alpes - Villars Colmars - Allos - Manosque - Saint André les Alpes - Saint Julien de Verdon - Moustiers Sainte Marie - Castellane - Sisteron

Other cities in Provence