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The gardens of Europe and the Hôtel-de-Ville are located on an old marshy island, located outside the walls of the city.
It becomes a 15th century possession of the Italian Asinari Lombard family of bankers.
The island then takes the name of meadow Lombard.
In 1563, a channel from Thiou to Vassé is dug, cutting the meadow in two. One of these two new insalubrious islands is home to a few "health huts" reserved for contagious insects that were isolated during plague epidemics.
May 17, 1602, the meadow Lombard is arranged in place of walk and approval by Duke Henry I of Savoie-Nemours.
Duke Charles Amadeus of Savoy-Nemours then gives it to the order of the Visitation.
The land is enclosed by a wall over four meters high, and is connected to the city by a covered walkway with drawbridge. A chapel is also built.
The meadow is also used at that time as a vegetable garden for visitors.
Became well national to the Revolution, the closed is resold in 1795 to a Geneva businessman who uses it for the spreading of printed fabrics.
Between 1835 and 1843, the municipality bought the closed Lombard and undertakes urban works. Both islands are transformed into a peninsula. A school and the new Hôtel-de-Ville are then built3.
Finally, in 1863, the day after the annexation of the Duchy of Savoy, the city council decided to set up an English garden according to Henri Porreaux's plans.
This is the birth of the gardens of Europe. Begun in December 1863, the establishment of nearly 650 trees and more than 1000 varied shrubs was completed in January 1864.
The garden is listed in the General Inventory of Cultural Heritage in 2003.
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