Étroubles

The Latin name of the place was 'Stipulae', straw, indicating the stubble left on the ground after the wheat had been harvested. Until the 1960s, the hamlets of Étroubles were home to undulating expanses of wheat and rye, dotted with the red of poppies and the blue of cornflowers. Étroubles is rich in history, in the hamlet of Vachéry the 12th-century Tour, in the main town the bell tower, built of hewn stone on a square plan from 1480 with a carved wooden portal from the 17th century that was the former entrance to the old church. In the mediaeval village, the cobbled streets, ancient fountains and renovated houses made of local stone with slate roofs set the scene for the open-air museum "A Etroubles avant toi sont passés", which houses 21 works of art signed by world-famous artists, created in collaboration with the Fondation Pierre Gianadda of Martigny and open all year round. The Etroubles museum circuit also includes the old dairy and the Bertin power station, the first hydroelectric power station in the valley, built in 1904.