Laffrey

Laffrey
Commune
Laffrey Lake
Coat of arms
Location of Laffrey
Laffrey Show map of France Laffrey Show map of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Coordinates: 45°01′30″N 5°46′22″E / 45.0250°N 5.7729°E / 45.0250; 5.7729
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Isère
Arrondissement	Grenoble
Canton	Matheysine-Trièves
Intercommunality	Matheysine
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Philippe Faure1
Area 1	6.72 km2 (2.59 sq mi)
Population  (2023)2	466
• Density	69.3/km2 (180/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	38203 /38220
Elevation	680–1,262 m (2,231–4,140 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Laffrey (French pronunciation: [lafʁɛ]) is a commune in the Isère department in southeastern France. It stands at the top of the Rampe de Laffrey, which is known for a large number of deadly automobile accidents.

Napoleon passed through the village on 7 March 1815, during his return from Elba at the beginning of the Hundred Days. At a site in Laffrey now known as the "field of the encounter" (prairie de la Rencontre), Napoleon and the handful of troops accompanying him were met by a battalion of soldiers of the royal 5th Regiment of the Line, who had come to arrest him. Leaving behind his men, Napoleon presented himself to the soldiers and declared, "If any of you will shoot his Emperor, here I am". The soldiers defected to his cause, crying Vive l'Empereur! ("Long live the Emperor!").³ An equestrian statue of Napoleon by Emmanuel Frémiet, installed on the field in 1930, commemorates this event.