European Heritage Days: Communication Between the Chappe Telegraphs of Haute Maurienne Vanoise

Discover the Chappe telegraph, the forerunner of telecommunications! Just as they were 200 years ago, coded messages are transmitted by sight between the three restored stations in Haute Maurienne Vanoise—a site that is unique in the world.

Description

Even before the telephone, radio, or the Internet, messages could already travel long distances in just a few hours thanks to the Chappe telegraph, the first long-distance telecommunications system.

On several days throughout the year, the three restored stations in Haute Maurienne Vanoise resume service and communicate with one another once again, just as they did nearly 200 years ago:

the Courberon station in Avrieux;
the Plan de l’Ours station in Saint-André;
the Mollard Fleury station in Val Cenis-Sardières.

Today, Haute Maurienne Vanoise is the only region to have three restored and fully operational Chappe telegraph stations, making it possible to recreate a genuine transmission chain between several stations.

What is the Chappe telegraph?

Developed by the Chappe brothers in the late 18th century, the Chappe telegraph is a visual communication system. Beginning in 1793, a vast network of towers was gradually installed throughout France, forming what was then the world’s first telecommunications network.

Each station was located on high ground so that it could be seen from neighboring stations. At the top of the tower, a mechanism consisting of large articulated arms could assume different positions.

Each combination corresponded to a code. Operators observed the signals from the previous station using a telescope, replicated the position of the arms on their own telegraph, and then transmitted the message to the next station.

Thanks to this system, information could be relayed from tower to tower over several hundred kilometers, much faster than a courier traveling on horseback.

Demonstrations to experience several times a year

There are four events where you can witness the telegraphs in action and the transmission of actual coded messages:

National Chappe Telegraphy Day, the first Sunday in June;
the Chappe Summer Festival, on the third Monday in July;
the first Friday in August;
European Heritage Days, on the third weekend in September.

A rare historical demonstration that lets you see one of the forerunners of our modern communication networks in action, on a full-scale model.

Environments

• Mountain location

Rates

Free of charge.

Opening period

Sunday 20 September 2026 between 10 am and 12 pm and between 2 pm and 5 pm.

Spoken languages

• French

Adapted tourism

• Accessible for wheelchairs with assistance

Location

Access to the Plan de l'Ours telegraph: follow the signs for Saint-André - L'Orgère, then follow the signs for "Télégraphe Chappe", access by car and bus, parking 200 m from the site.
Courberon telegraph access: from Aussois, take the route des barrages and turn left towards "le Clotte". Follow the signs, about 30 minutes' walk.
Mollard Fleury telegraph access: from Aussois, take the road to the dams, then the Balmes trail to the Source de Fournette parking lot (unpaved forest road).
Then a 20-minute walk along the forest path.

Animals

Pets allowed : No