For several decades, Le Bachat Villages – formerly known as the Bachat Bouloud Mountain Youth Centre – welcomed generations of children who came to discover the mountains in all seasons: summer camps, school trips, instructors in red jumpsuits, snowball fights, laughter in the corridors... More than three hundred people worked at the centre year-round and hundreds of thousands of children stayed there. One exceptional moment stands out in the centre's history: in 1968, during the Grenoble Olympic Games, athletes were housed at the centre, including Jean-Claude Killy, triple gold medallist, whose stay remains etched in people's memories.
It was also during this period that Pierre Székely's Totem was erected, a monumental sculpture that has become the symbol of the Children's Villages and, depending on how you look at it, represents either a schoolchild with a schoolbag or a seated angel.
Imbued with the experiences and memories of those who have visited it, this site remains a place brimming with energy, faithful to the spirit that has always animated it.