Chambery

Chambery is a city in the department of Savoie, located in the Rhone-Alpes region in southeastern France. It is the capital of the department and has been the historical capital of the Savoy region since the 13th century, when Amadeus V of Savoy made the city his seat of power.

Chambery was founded at crossroads of ancient routes through the Dauphine (Dofena), Burgundy, Switzerland, and Italy, in a wide valley between the Bauges and the Chartreuse Mountains on the Leysse River.The Fontaine des Elephants ("Elephants Fountain") is the most famous landmark in Chambéry. It was built in 1838 to honour Benoit de Boigne's feats when he was in India. The monumental fountain has strikingly realistic sculptures of the head and forelimbs of four lifesize elephants truncated into the base of a tall column in the shape of the savoyan (savoyarde) cross, topped by a statue of de Boigne.