Description & Facts: Aix-les-Bains is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It lies near the Lac du Bourget, 9 km (5.6 mi) by rail north of Chambéry. Aix derives from Latin Aquae (literally, "waters"; cf Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) or Aix-en-Provence), and Aix was a bath during the Roman Empire, even before it was renamed Aquae Gratianae to commemorate the Emperor Gratian, who was assassinated not far away, in Lyon, in 383. Numerous Roman ruins survive. The town lies at an altitude of about 250 m (820.21 ft) and stretches along the eastern end of the beautiful Lac du Bourget and up the slopes above the lake that culminate in the Tour de L'Angle Est that overlooks the town and lake at a height of 1,562 m (5,124.67 ft). The western shore of the lake is narrower as the mountains along its edge are closer to the lakeshore, although lower than those on the eastern side. The lake drains out of its northern end into the Rhone river about 5 km to the north. Aix-les-Bains is situated in the hilly country of the Bugey that makes up the foothills of the Alps and also forms part of the lower western extension of the Jura Mountains. From 1949 to 1961, Aix-les-Bains had a temporary race track, called the Circuit du Lac (lake race track), that received different events: Grand-Prix Formula 2, Formula Junior and Grand-Prix Motorcycle. Being close to Switzerland and Italy, these events always received international audiences. On July 21, 1989, during the Tour de France, cycling great Greg LeMond won Stage 19 which ended at Aix-les-Bains in a sprint from a small group of remaining riders. In 1996 and 2001, a stage arrived in Aix-les-Bains, with Dutchman Michael Boogerd and Russian Serguei Ivanov, respectively, as the winners. The Faure Museum, an art museum is situated at Aix-les-Bains. It was founded in 1949 and comprised the second collection in France of works from Rodin and the second collection of impressionist paintings of France.