Grenoble , (anc. Cularo or Gratianopolis), a fortified city of France, capital of the department of Isere, on both sides of the river Isere, 58 m. S. E. of Lyons and 290 m. S. E. of Paris; pop. in 1872, 42,660. The old part of the city, called the faubourg St. Laurent, is on the N. bank of the river, and is connected with the modern quarter on the opposite bank by two bridges. The church of Notre Dame, the episcopal palace, a hospital, several convents, halls of justice, a theatre, arsenal, and citadel are admired. There is a public garden, a normal school, schools of design and of architecture, a college, a public library of 80,000 volumes and 1,200 MSB., a museum, a cabinet of natural history, manufactories of kid gloves (which alone employ several thousand hands), liqueurs, leather, etc, and a trade in hemp, iron, and marble. The city was called Gra-tianopolis in honor of the emperor Gratian in the 4th century, and its present name is a corruption of that word. It was afterward the capital of Dauphiny.

Grenoble.