Abstract : This paper studies the number of extrema (and their positions) of a countinuous Morse function on the Brillouin zone, when it is invariant by the point group symmetry of the crystal. Forty years ago, Vanhove had shown the importance of this problem in physics, but he could use only the crystal translational symmetry. In that case Morse theory predicts at least eight extrema. With the added use of general symmetry arguments we show that this number is larger for six of the 14 classes of Bravais lattices ; moreover it is possible to give the position of the extrema (and their nature) for 30 of the 73 arithmetic classes.This paper is written for a larger audience than that of solid state physicists ; it also defines carefully the necessary crystallographic concepts which are generally poorly understood in the solid state literature.]]>