Auron, a resort created in 1933 and equipped with the 37th cable car in France in 1937, pays tribute to Victor de Cessole, a true mountain lover, a key player in its economic transformation and its opening to winter sports.
Born into an old Nice family, the knight Victor de Cessole, an aesthete, humanist, and open to new experiences, was a major force in the discovery of the mountains by city dwellers, the creation of archives of an unexplored territory, and the emergence of new leisure activities—hiking, mountaineering, and skiing—in the Alpes-Maritimes.
Beginning in 1889, captivated by the sublime beauty of these unspoiled lands, he traveled the Alpine valleys, climbed to the peaks, and opened climbing routes. A scholar, he produced a truly scientific and topographical work of his expeditions and built up an exceptional photographic collection. A far-sighted and visionary president of the Alpes-Maritimes section of the French Alpine Club from 1900 to 1932, he developed the mountain landscape by building mountain huts, including the Rabuons mountain hut, which was inaugurated on July 15, 1905. A nature conservationist, he had the prefect ban the uprooting of alpine flora in 1904.
Following the example of the Northern Alps, he organized the first ski competitions in the Alpes-Maritimes in 1909, and, concerned about the safety of hikers and climbers, he founded the first mountain rescue service in 1930.
Victor de Cessole
1859-1941
Statue inaugurated in 2019 and created by the Nice-based painter of Moldovan origin, Viktor Kiritsa.
Pricing
Free access.
Opening periods
All year round, daily.
