Allos (; ) is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France.
Allos is a high mountain commune in the southern Alps. The commune experienced a significant rural exodus in the 19th century, following the population movement of the department. Then the town was overwhelmed for eighty years by winter sports: the construction of accommodations and ski-lifts has changed the landscape and the mountain urbanisation. The economy was profoundly altered with almost all jobs being found in tourism. Traditional agricultural activities persisted only marginally.
Historically Allos, located in the valley of the Verdon, has long been linked to the Ubaye Valley: first at the time when Ubaye belonged to the States of Savoy (from 1388 to 1713) then after it became part of France it continued to be administered across the Col d'Allos (impassable in winter). Even after the Revolution, it was attached to the Barcelonnette district. It was not until 1985 that it was (administratively) turned towards the valley by accepting the connection to the Canton of Colmars.
Geography Allos is located some 12 km south of Barcelonnette and some 100 km north-west of Nice at an altitude of 1425 m. The Allos valley is traversed by the Verdon which has its source in the Foux d'Allos in the Sestriere valley at 2500 m altitude.
Access to the commune is by the D908 road: a tortuous road running off the D902 south of Barcelonette which passes through the heart of the commune and the village before continuing south to Colmars.
Located at the edge of the Mercantour National Park, the country of Upper Verdon and the Allos valley offers landscapes of great beauty: from the famous Lac d'Allos (Allos Lake) which is the largest mountain lake in Europe to the waterfall of La Lance, near Colmars-les-Alpes. The flora is rich and varied depending on the altitude: larch, spruce, fir as well as Alpine clematis, peonies, and Martagon.
Geology The mountains around Allos are composed of black schist.
Relief
All around Allos from the Col d'Allos (2247 m, north of the village) and in a clockwise direction: on a north-south ridge of the Cheiroueche mountain (2362m) which overlooks the village, the Roche Grande (2409 m), completely denuded of vegetation; to the north: the Petit Cheval de Bois (Little Wooden Horse) (2754 m) and the Grand Cheval de Bois (Large Wooden Horse) (2838 m), the Pichs or Nivoulet (2575 m); to the east: the Cimet (3020 m), separated from the Teton (2969 m) by the small col de Talon (2678 m), Mount Pelat (3050 m), and between Allos and Mont Pelat the Tête du Vallonnet (Head of Vallonnet) (2710 m) and the Tête de Prachastel (Head of Prachastel) (2320 m); around Lake Allos: the Trou de l'Aigle (Hole of the Eagle) (2961 m), the Col de la Petite Cayolle (2639 m), the Garrets summit (2822 m), the Montagne de l'Avalanche (Mountain of Avalanches) (2729 m), the Tete du Lac (Head of the Lake) (2626 m), the group of Tours du Lac (Towers of the Lake) which is five peaks between 2585 and 2745 m, and the Tete de Valplane (Head of Valplane) (2624 m); to the South: the Roche Cline (2415 m) and on the right bank of the Verdon the Autapie (2435 m); to the west: the Gros Tapie (2371 m), the summit of Valcibière (2375 m), the Mourre Gros (2652 m), the Tete Noire (Black Head) (2560 m), the Tete de l'Auriac (Head of Auriac) (2639 m), the Trois-Évêchés (Three bishoprics) (2818 m), the Tete de la Sestriere (Head of Sestriere) (2575 m); to the northwest of the Col d'Allos: the Tete de Vescal (Head of Vescal) (2515 m).
The peaks to the west of Allos belong to the Massif des Trois-Évêchés (Three bishoprics mountains) while to the east are the secondary mountains of Mount Pelat.
Environment The town has 1,869 hectares of woods and forests.
Hamlets
La Beaumelle; La Beaume; La Foux; La Foux d’Allos; Le Seignus (Bas and Haut); le Villard (Bas and Haut); Le Brec Bas et Haut; Sainte-Brigitte (Basse and Haute); Le Foreston; Bouchiers; La Peyrière (Basse and Haute); Prémin; Montgros; Champrichard; La Colette;
Natural and technological risks None of the 200 communes of the department is in a no-risk seismic area. The commune is in zone 1b (low risk) according to the deterministic classification of 1991 and based on historical earthquakes. It is in Zone 4 (medium risk) according to the ECS probability classification of 2011. Allos commune is also exposed to four other natural hazards: avalanche, forest fire, flooding (in the valley of the Verdon), landslide (the commune is affected by a random medium to high risk in limited areas).
Allos commune is exposed to a risk of technological origin - i.e. the risk of dam breakage on the hill reservoir of Tardée above the Foux-d'Allos ski-station.
The prevention plan for foreseeable natural risks (PPR) for the commune was approved in 1998 for flood risk, landslide, and avalanche; and a Communal Dossier on Major Risks (DICRIM) has existed since 2010.
The commune has been the location of several natural disasters: an earthquake in 1984, flooding and mudslides in 1994 and 2003. In November 2012 a landslide cut off the only access road to the hamlets of Bouchiers and La Colette - a cut that lasted more than seven months.R. F. and F. R., The two isolated hamlets after a landslide, La Provence, 21 June 2013, p. 14
Neighbouring communes and villages
Google Maps
Toponymy The locality appears for the first time in texts from 1056 under the name of ad Alodes which means Allods in Occitan. A Pre-Gallic hypothesis has also been considered more in line with local phonetic rules such as Fénié. The name Allos derived then from Al- designating "rocks". The form Alodes would be in this case a bad romanization. The commune is called Alòs in Occitan Vivaro-Alpine dialect.
The name of the station La Foux-d'Allos means "narrow gorges" between the surrounding peaks.
History The name of the people located in the upper valley of the Verdon is not certain but it may be the Eguiturii. At the end of the Roman Empire the upper valley of the Verdon depended on the civitas and the bishopric of Thorame.
It is possible that the first village was built around Notre-Dame-du-Valvert in the High Middle Ages. It would then have been perched at Banivol before moving lower in the 12th to 13th centuries. The village was cited in 1056Ministry of Culture, Mérimée and had its own consulat from 1233, by privilege from the Comte de Provence,André Gouron, Diffusion of Southern consulates and expansion of Roman law in the 12th and 13th centuries, Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, 1963, Vol. 121. p. 49. and a Fair. Allos belonged to the Counts of Provence until 1388 then, with the Ubaye Valley and Nice, passed to the Counts of Savoy until 1713. From that time until the beginning of the French Revolution Allos was administratively attached to Barcelonnette. The first division of Basses-Alpes included Allos in the Barcelonnette district.
During the Wars of religion the Duke of Lesdiguières bombarded the town without taking it in 1597. He had brought his army through the Col de Thuiles.
The peculiarities of the Allos community, which occupies several deep valleys and whose habitat is dispersed across multiple villages, led to the creation of three parishes in the 17th century: one in La Foux, one in Bouchiers, and one in Baumelle. A large number of chapels were also built: 29 in total throughout history.
Several major fires ravaged the town in 1718, 1747, and 1769.
During the French Revolution the commune had a patriotic society which was created at the end of 1792.
In the 20th century Allos became a tourist town: in 1935, the ski-lifts were built at Seignus and Foux. In the 1970s, when winter sports become mass entertainment, more ski resorts were built in two hamlets. It was not until 1985 qu'Allos turns towards the valley by integrating with the Arrondissement of Castellane.
Heraldry
Canting arms: Allos, in Latin Allosium, in Provençal Alouès. Alo-west Wing-bone.
Administration List of Successive MayorsList of Mayors of France
From To Name Party Position 1726 Jean-Hyacinthe Pascalis 1748 Hyacinthe Pellissier 1750 Honoré Pascalis 1751 Pierre-Jacques Pascalis 1756 Alexandre Pascalis du Laus 1758 Pierre Pellissier 1780 Joseph Guirand 1794 1796 Michel Michel 1796 1798 Pellissier 1798 1799 Joseph Caire 1799 1800 Jacques Gariel 1800 1801 Guirand 1801 1802 Alexandre Pellissier 1802 1803 Jean Honnorat 1803 1806 Hyacinthe-Marie Gariel 1806 1813 Augier 1813 1830 Rebattu 1830 1840 Jean-Jacques-Laurent Gaubert 1840 1843 Pierre Pascal 1843 1846 Hyacinthe Pellat 1846 1856 Joseph Pellissier 1856 1886 Désiré Boyer 1886 1888 Sébastien Reynaud 1888 Antoine Reynaud
Mayors from 1971 From To Name Party Position 1971 1996 René Cèze RPR 1996 2014 Michel Lantelme President of the Haut-Verdon Val d'Allos Community of communes 2014 2015 Chantal Caire-Caïs DVG 2015 2020 Marie-Annick Boizard 2020 Current Michel Lantelme
The election of the City Council in March 2008 was the subject of an appeal to the administrative court of Marseille; the judgment led to new elections in September.
Population The inhabitants of the commune are known as Allossards or Allossardes in French.Le nom des habitants du 04 - Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, habitants.fr
Education The town has had a computerized library since 2004 (See online catalogue) in the Haut-Verdon library network (Communauté de communes du Haut-Verdon-Val-d'Allos) and has two primary schools (one at Allos and one in La Foux d'Allos).
Economy
Overview Allos is a high mountain commune whose main resource is tourism - hiking in the summer - but especially winter sports.
In 2017 the active population was 525 people including 24 unemployed. These workers are mostly employed (66.9%) and the vast majority work in the commune (83%). This can be explained by the predominance of the tourism sector which provides sufficient employment to the people of the commune. As a result, most of the people of the commune work in services and administration (96% at the end of 2015). Industry, construction and agriculture employ 12 people in total.
At the end of 2015 establishments active in the commune were mainly shops and services (372 of 501 establishments) and health and social administrative sector (91).
Agriculture At the end of 2015 the primary sector (agriculture, forestry, fisheries) had 9 different establishments with 2 employees.
Most of the survey data from the Ministry of Agriculture are subject to statistical secrecy which indicates low numbers and extent of cultivated land. In 2000 three farms used a utilized agricultural area (UAA) of 281 hectares - the area has been in sharp decline since 1988 (406 hectares).
Industry In late 2015 the secondary sector (industry and construction) had 29 establishments mainly crafts (24 companies with no employees). The sector employs 10 people.
Service activities
The commune has two ski-stations: Val d'Allos-La Foux, which links to the Pra-Loup ski area; Val d'Allos-Le Seignus, which is called the village-station because it is connected by Aerial tramway to Allos village.
Summer tourism is also developed with different lakes and mountain walks.
In late 2015 the tertiary sector (trades and services) had 372 establishments (with 286 employees) plus 91 administrative establishments and the health and social sectors (employing 30 people).
According to the Department of Tourism, tourism activity is very important for the commune with more than 5 tourists per resident and with a large capacity for accommodation. Several accommodation facilities for tourists exist in the commune (as of January 2020): 10 hotels (3 ranked two stars, and one three-star) with a capacity of 161 beds; no camping; some furnished, some approved; B & Bs are absent from the commune; a large carrying capacity in various collective accommodations (summer shelters, youth hostels, holiday villages).