THONON-LES-BAINS

town, Haute-Savoie dpartement, Rhne-Alpes region, southeastern France, on a lacustrine terrace overlooking the southern shore of Lake Geneva near the mouth of the Dranse River. It was the capital of the historic district of Chablais. The site was occupied by the Romans and later by the Burgundians, and during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century it was fought over by the Bernese and the Duke of Savoy. In the Place du Chteau, site of a fortified chteau built by the dukes of Savoy and destroyed by the French in 1589, is a statue of General Joseph-Marie Dessaix, who organized and led a Savoyard military unit during the Revolution. The church of Saint-Hippolyte, decorated in 17th-century style, has a 12th-century crypt and a 13th-century font embellished with the arms of the House of Savoy. Attached to it is a modern, neo-Gothic basilica dedicated to St. Francis of Sales, who conducted missionary work in the vicinity and was responsible for the renunciation of Protestantism by the inhabitants of Chablais at the end of the 16th century. A museum in the Chteau de Sonnaz contains exhibits devoted to the prehistoric Lake Dwellers, as well as a hydrological model of Lake Geneva. Thonon-les-Bains is a popular summer resort, much frequented for its mineral springs. The town is also a centre for trade in cheeses. In addition to metallurgical industries, there are factories producing plumbing fixtures, bicycle parts, electrical apparatus, paper, cigarettes, furniture, and food products. A government fish hatchery produces trout, salmon, and char used to stock Lake Geneva and the rivers and lakes of the dpartement. A funicular railway runs from the lakeshore to the town. Pop. (1982) 26,421.