История и культура

It is known, that before that date, Gryon was a dependency of Bex, serving as pasture land for the Burgundy leaders, who had been defeated by the Francs in 534. Through a deed kept at the archives of St. Maurice, we know that the town of Gryon dates from 1189. In fact Pierre de Griuns, the lord of the area, already had given his domain to the Abbey of Saint-Maurice before 1189, whilst the neighbouring territories remained dependencies of the Bishopric of Sion.

Tradition still speaks of lords having owned the domain de Gryon until one of them ceded it to the Abbey of Saint-Maurice. This would have been the chevalier Seguin who left for the crusades in 1217.

Remaining subordinated to the Abbey, which was the territorial lord, Gryon passed into the hands of  several different sovereigns, the Counts of Savoy and as of 1475 the Bernese, who held it until its liberation in 1798.

Its independence in 1798, which was marked by the death of the soldier Pierre Broyon, killed in action on the Col de la Croix, and its subsequent joining of the Confederation of the canton de Vaud in 1803, hardly changed the life of the people of Gryon. They continued to live frugally and worked hard in their steep fields and forests.

They experienced difficult moments, having to pay heavy tithes and property taxes to the noblemen, and suffering several recurrences of the plague. In addition to these hardships, a giant fire on 19 July 1719 destroyed 36 chalets on the alp of Taveyanne and 68 buildings in the Village of Gryon on the same day. As of the middle of the 19th century, the life of the inhabitants of Gryon changed for good when the essentially agricultural economy became a tourism economy with all its consequences.

The Bex-Gryon route, accessible by car, was constructed around 1857 and the Peuffeyre electrical plant in 1895. The Bex-Gryon electric railway came into existence at the dawn of the 20th century. These new communication routes were bringing the first urban guests to Gryon. Families from Lausanne, Geneva or from abroad were coming to spend their holidays in the numerous guesthouses. The first holiday chalets were built.

The most famous of these holidaymakers was certainly the poet Juste Olivier who settled in Gryon in 1871 after having spent several holidays at Cergnement. His famous song, the Mi-été de Taveyanne-, was sung for the first time in 1869.

As of 1900, the development began its frantic course, new construction occurred at a great pace, skiing came onto the scene and the gondola was built in 1956, followed by the ski lifts.

The dynamism of some Gryon citizens even became dangerous in the eyes of their co-citizens. Development projects for the plateau of Anzeinde appeared, with a railway to the top of the Diablerets. An opposition committee, and then the outbreak of the  First World War, led to the disappearance of these ideas.

Although the interest in tourism and the expansion of construction are still alive and well, the pace has somewhat stabilised in recent decades. Gryon can be proud to still offer a remarkable quality of life to its inhabitants and guests. It has also managed to preserve a family-style tourism, a warm ambiance and a human dimension.