Grasse

Grasse (French pronunciation: ​[ɡʁas]; Provençal Occitan: Grassa in classical norm (and Italian) or Grasso in Mistralian norm) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department (of which it is a sub-prefecture), on the French Riviera.

The town is considered the world's capital of perfume. It obtained two flowers in the Concours des villes et villages fleuris contest and was made "Ville d'Art et d'Histoire" (town of art and history).

Main sights

Three perfume factories offer daily tours and demonstrations, which draw in many of the region's visitors. In addition to the perfumeries, Grasse's other main attraction is the Cathedral, dedicated to Notre Dame du Puy and founded in the 11th century. In the interior, are three works by Rubens and one by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, a French painter native of the town.

Other sights include:

Grasse (disambiguation)

Grasse is a commune in France.

Grasse may also refer to:

See also

Pierre-Paul Grassé

Pierre-Paul Grassé (November 27, 1895, Périgueux (Dordogne) – July 9, 1985) was a French zoologist, author of over 300 publications including the influential 52-volume Traité de Zoologie. He was an expert on termites and one of the last proponents of neo-Lamarckian evolution.

Biography

Education

Grassé began his studies in Périgueux where his parents owned a small business. He went on to study medicine at the University of Bordeaux and studied biology in parallel, including the lectures of the entomologist Jean de Feytaud (1881–1973). Mobilized during World War I, he was forced to interrupt his studies during four years. By the end of the war he was a military surgeon.

Grassé continued his studies in Paris, focusing exclusively on science. He obtained his Licence in Biology and frequented the laboratory of biologist Étienne Rabaud (1868–1956). He abandoned his preparations for the agrégation to accept a position as professor in the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Montpellier (1921), where the department of zoology was led by François Picard (1879–1939). There he frequented several phytogeographers like Charles Flahault (1852–1935), Josias Braun-Blanquet (1884–1980), Georges Kuhnholtz-Lordat (1888–1965) and Marie Louis Emberger (1897–1969). He became the assistant of Octave Duboscq (1868–1943) who oriented the young Grassé toward the study of protozoan parasites. After the departure of Duboscq to Paris, Grassé worked for Eugène Bataillon (1864–1953) and there discovered techniques for experimental embryology.