CHAMPAGNOLE
Capital of canton in Jura (39)
Stage town for the third time
Population: 8,000 (Champagnolais), 23,500 in the Champagnole Nozeroy Jura Community of Communes
Specialities: charcuterie, including ‘Fumé du Jura’. Cheeses: in the heart of Comté country, Champagnole (goat’s cheese). Galette jurassienne (savoury or sweet). Champagnolais (pastry). Honey (spruce, flowers). Traditional crafts: until the 1990s, Champagnole was home to Jouef (a model train manufacturer) and the Champagnole Cement Works.
Notable figures: Aimé Berthod (minister under the Third Republic), Marc Janin (Meilleur Ouvrier de France 2015 in the cheese-making category), Aymeric Carrez (comedian), Hervé Balland (cross-country skiing, 1993 world silver medallist in the 50 km), Élodie Bourgeois-Pin (cross-country skiing), Quentin Fillon Maillet (biathlon, world champion in the relay and world runner-up in the Mass Start and Sprint), Sylvain Guillaume (Nordic combined, Olympic silver medallist in 1992), Aurélie Perrillat-Collomb (cross-country skiing), Benjamin Gattaz (snowboard cross), Alain Carminati (rugby), Grégory Pujol (football), Laszlo Bodrogi (cycling, adopted son of Champagnol)
Culture: Funfair (June), Assaut des Remparts (July, medieval festival in Nozeroy), Summer Swing Festival (July, open-air jazz)
Sport: 2,000 members across some sixty clubs. Events: Ronde du Jura (February, snow rally), Raid Jurazimut (May, multi-sport adventure race), Tram'Jurassienne (June, walking, cycling, mountain biking, para-sport), Mont-Rivel Ascent (July, hike), Relay Marathon (September). Cycling Clubs: Association Cycliste Champagnolaise (FFC) – Club Cyclo Champagnole (FFCT)
Economy: eight business parks dedicated to commerce, crafts and industry (printing, eyewear manufacturing, bar turning). Wood-based industries (furniture, crafts, toys, etc.). Agriculture and livestock farming (12,000 dairy cows, 13 cheese cooperatives).
Slogan: Champagnole, the Pearl of Jura
Ratings: 3 flowers. Gateway town to the Haut-Jura Regional Nature Park
Websites and social media: www.champagnole.fr / www.jura.fr / www.champagnolenozeroyjura.fr / www.cnjtourisme.fr / facebook.com/Champagnole / facebook.com/cccphj / facebook.com/OfficeDeTourismeChampagnoleNozeroyJura / @champagnolenozeroyjura / www.jura.fr
CHAMPAGNOLE AND CYCLING
In the men's Tour de France, Champagnole was particularly kind to Søren Kragh-Andersen, who won there solo in 2020, taking his second stage of that edition. The Dane, winner of Paris-Tours, had already won a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir in Tournus in 2015, which started in... Champagnole. In 2024, the town hosted the start of a stage of the Tour de France Femmes, which was won in Le Grand-Bornand by Belgium's Justine Ghekiere ahead of France's Maeva Squiban. Few remember the Tour's first visit to the town, as it was in 1937 for a 35-km team time trial, won by the Belgians led by Sylvère Maes ahead of the French led by Roger Lapébie, the future winner, and the Italians led by Gino Bartali. In 1964, the race started in Champagnole, a few hours before Jan Janssen's sprint victory in Thonon-les-Bains. More recently, the Tour de l'Avenir stopped there twice, in 2015 and also in 2011 for the start of a stage won at Salève by Romain Bardet ahead of Jesper Hansen, Esteban Chaves, Warren Barguil and Tim Wellens. Champagnole is above all a stronghold of Nordic skiing, where many French internationals were born, such as former Olympic silver medallist in the Nordic combined Sylvain Guillaume and former world silver medallist in cross-country skiing Hervé Balland.
CHAMPAGNOLE
Gallo-Roman and Merovingian Archaeological Museum
The Archaeological Museum was created in 1985 to house important collections from archaeological excavations carried out at that time in the vicinity of Champagnole. Its aim is to preserve and display collections that help visitors understand the history and evolution of the Upper Ain Valley region. This municipal museum is under the scientific and technical responsibility of the Jura Departmental Archaeology Conservation Service.
Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte Church
Construction: 1755
Style: classical.
History: in this church, the tabernacle was built in 1764 and then demolished in 1793. It was replaced by a 17th-century altarpiece from the Ursulines of Poligny, purchased in 1792 after the convent was closed. In 1788, the church was deemed too small and was enlarged with two side aisles. The organ was built in 1721 by the organ builder Marin Carouge. It was first installed in the Dominican church in Poligny and only became the property of the church in Champagnole during the French Revolution in 1792. It was not installed until 1807 in the specially built gallery. It remains one of the jewels of the town's cultural heritage.
Listed as: Historic Monument in 1994.
Route des Sapins Little elves guide travellers along the Route des Sapins, from Champagnole to Levier, through one of the most beautiful fir tree forests in Europe, dotted with 19 tourist sites where you can discover its history, fauna, flora, unique features, exploitation, walks, viewpoints, etc.
Palladian Villa of Syam (6 km away)
Built in 1818.
History: a unique testimony to the life of the ironmasters, the Palladian villa is a treasure of neoclassical architecture built by its patron, Emmanuel Jobez. Respecting the rules of the art of Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, the house is built around a peristyle forming a theatre. The villa has retained its period furniture, creating a moving atmosphere that takes visitors on a journey through the centuries.
Special characteristics: visitors can admire a fabulous collection of papers dating from the early 19th century, which are in an astonishing state of preservation.
Listed as: Historic Monument since 1994.
FOOD
Trout in yellow wine
Ingredients: 6 good-sized trout; 15cl of vin jaune or Savagnin; 6 tablespoons of cream; butter; shallots; parsley, salt, pepper.
Preparation: gut the trout. In a frying pan, sear them in butter over a very low heat. Season with salt. Once cooked and golden, keep them warm in a porcelain dish. Place a knob of butter in the frying pan. Melt a teaspoon of finely chopped shallots. Add 15cl of vin jaune and stir well to blend the juices. Simmer gently for 5 minutes. Add one tablespoon of cream per person, stirring well to thicken the sauce. Drizzle the trout with the sauce, strained through a sieve, and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley.
