Editing Alpe d'Huez (section)

==History==
The site of the Alpe has been permanently occupied since the [[Middle Ages]]. East of ''L'Alpe veti'', a medieval agglomeration had grown from the end of the 11th to the 14th century under the name of [[Archaeological site of Brandes|Brandes]]. It was composed of a castle, a parish church with a cemetery, a village with about 80 homes, surface and underground mine workings, as well as several industrial districts. Its occupants operated a silver mine on behalf of the Dauphin. It is currently the only medieval {{Interlanguage link|Coron (urban planning)|fr|3=Coron (urbanisme)|lt=coron}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://la3m.cnrs.fr/pages/recherche/axes/axe-3/A3_Prog3/mine-Brandes/mine-Brandes.php|first=Marie-Christine|last=Bailly-Maître|title=L'agglomération minière de Brandes (Huez-Isère)|language=fr|trans-title=The mining community of Brandes (Huez-Isère)|work=Laboratoire d'archéologie médiévale et moderne en Méditerranée|access-date=10 May 2015|archive-date=4 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181004095209/http://la3m.cnrs.fr/pages/recherche/axes/axe-3/A3_Prog3/mine-Brandes/mine-Brandes.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> known and preserved in its entirety, making it a unique site in Europe and classified as [[Monument historique|historical monuments]] by a decree of 6 August 1995.<ref name="PA00125738">{{Base Mérimée|PA00125738}}</ref>

Excavated and studied continuously since 1977 by a team of the [[Centre national de la recherche scientifique|CNRS]], this site is registered as an historic monument.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Marie-Christine|last1=Bailly-Maître|first2=Joëlle|last2=Dupraz|title=Brandes en Oisans, La mine d'argent des Dauphins (12e-14e siecles)|language=fr|trans-title=Brandes en Oisans, the silver mine of the dauphins (12th-14th centuries)|id=Isère, DARA|location=Lyon|year=1994}}</ref> The medieval mining operation stretched from Gua (the {{Interlanguage link|Sarenne|fr}} Valley) to the Lac Blanc [White Lake] (Massif des Rousses). The massif was also the subject of mining operations, including copper, from the [[Bronze Age]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bailly-Maitre (M.-Ch)|last2=Gonon (Th.)|title=L'exploitation de la chalcopyrite à l'Âge du Bronze dans le massif des Rousses en Oisans (Isère)|language=fr|trans-title=The exploitation of chalcopyrite in the Bronze Age in the Massif des Rousses in Oisans (Isère)|work=actes du 131e congrès national des sociétés historiques et scientifiques, Tradition et innovation|location=Grenoble|date=April 2006|publisher=CTHS|id=2008|pages=207–223}}</ref>

It is also at Alpe d'Huez where [[botany|botanist]] [[Gaston Bonnier]] began his study of [[flora]] of France in 1871.

The station was developed from the 1920s. This is where the first [[platter lift]] for skiers was opened in 1936 with perches by {{Interlanguage link|Jean Pomagalski|fr}}, creator of the [[Poma]] company.