Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the department of
Doubs
Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...
. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the
Jura Mountains
The Jura Mountains ( ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper (" folded Jura", ) is located in France and Switzerla ...
and the border with
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
.
Capital of the historic and cultural region of
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...
, Besançon is home to the
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...
regional council headquarters, and is an important administrative centre in the region. It is also the seat of one of the fifteen French
ecclesiastical province
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...
s and one of the two
divisions
Division may refer to:
Mathematics
*Division (mathematics), the inverse of multiplication
* Division algorithm, a method for computing the result of mathematical division Military
*Division (military), a formation typically consisting of 10,000 t ...
of the
French Army
The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...
.
In 2022 the city had a population of 120,057, in a metropolitan area of 284,474, the second in the region in terms of population.
Established in a
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
of the river
Doubs
Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Sequani
The Sequani were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper river basin of the Arar river (Saône), the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Sequanos'' by Caesar (mid-1 ...
. Its geography and specific history turned it into a military stronghold, a garrison city, a political centre, and a religious capital.
Besançon is the historical capital of watchmaking in France. This has led it to become a centre for innovative companies in the fields of
microtechnology
Microtechnology is technology whose features have dimensions of the order of one micrometre (one millionth of a metre, or 10−6 metre, or 1μm). It focuses on physical and chemical processes as well as the production or manipulation of structures ...
,
micromechanics
Micromechanics (or, more precisely, micromechanics of materials) is the analysis of heterogeneous materials including of composite, and anisotropic and orthotropic materials on the level of the individual constituents that constitute them and th ...
, and
biomedical engineering
Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...
. Its
university
A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
, founded in 1423, has an enrollment of nearly 30,000 students, including around 4,000 trainees from all over the world within its Centre for Applied Linguistics (CLA).
The greenest city in France, it enjoys a quality of life recognized in Europe. Thanks to its rich historical and cultural heritage and its unique architecture, Besançon has been labeled a " Town of Art and History" since 1986. Its
fortifications
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
since 2008.
History
Toponymy
The city is first recorded in 58 BC as ''Vesontio'' in Book I of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
's ''
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; ), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' (), is Julius Caesar's first-hand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it, Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine yea ...
''. The etymology of ''Vesontio'' is uncertain. The most common explanation is that the name is of Celtic origin, derived from ''wes'', meaning 'mountain'. During the 4th century, the letter B took the place of the V, and the city name changed to ''Besontio'' or ''Bisontion'' and then underwent several transformations to become ''Besançon'' in 1243.
Ancient history
The city sits within an oxbow of the river Doubs (a tributary of the
Saône
The Saône ( , ; ; ) is a river in eastern France (modern Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department an ...
); a mountain closes the fourth side. During the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
, c. 1500 BC, tribes of Gauls settled the oxbow.
From the 1st century BC through the modern era, the town had a significant military importance because
the Alps
The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia.
...
rise abruptly to its immediate south, presenting a significant natural barrier.
The Arar (
Saône
The Saône ( , ; ; ) is a river in eastern France (modern Regions of France, region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté). It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges (department), Vosges Departments of France, department an ...
) River formed part of the border between the Haedui and their hereditary rivals, the
Sequani
The Sequani were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper river basin of the Arar river (Saône), the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Sequanos'' by Caesar (mid-1 ...
. According to
Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...
, the cause of the conflict was commercial. Each tribe claimed the Arar and the tolls on trade along it. The Sequani controlled access to the
Rhine
The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...
and had built an
oppidum
An ''oppidum'' (: ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age Europe, Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celts, Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread acros ...
(a fortified town) at Vesontio to protect their interests. The Sequani defeated and massacred the Haedui at the
Battle of Magetobriga
The Battle of Magetobriga (Amagetobria, Magetobria, Mageto'Bria, Admageto'Bria) was fought in 63 BC between rival tribes in Gaul. The Aedui tribe was defeated and massacred by the combined forces of their hereditary rivals, the Sequani ...
, with the help of the
Arverni
The Arverni (Gaulish: *''Aruernoi'') were a Gallic people dwelling in the modern Auvergne region during the Iron Age and the Roman period. They were one of the most powerful tribes of ancient Gaul, contesting primacy over the region with the n ...
tribe and the Germanic
Suebi
file:1st century Germani.png, 300px, The approximate positions of some Germanic peoples reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 1st century. Suebian peoples in red, and other Irminones in purple.
The Suebi (also spelled Suavi, Suevi or Suebians ...
tribe under the Germanic king
Ariovistus
Ariovistus was a leader of the Suebi and other allied Germanic peoples in the second quarter of the 1st century BC, who name appears prominently in Julius Caesar's '' Commentarii de Bello Gallico''. Before their conflict with the Romans, Ariovis ...
.
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
, in his commentaries detailing his conquest of
Gaul
Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
, describes ''Vesontio'' (possibly
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
ized), as the largest town of the
Sequani
The Sequani were a Gallic tribe dwelling in the upper river basin of the Arar river (Saône), the valley of the Doubs and the Jura Mountains during the Iron Age and the Roman period.
Name
They are mentioned as ''Sequanos'' by Caesar (mid-1 ...
, a smaller
Gaul
Gaul () was a region of Western Europe first clearly described by the Roman people, Romans, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, and Northern Italy. It covered an area of . Ac ...
ic tribe, and mentions that a wooden palisade surrounded it. It appears as ''Vesontine'' in the
Tabula Peutingeriana
' (Latin Language, Latin for 'The Peutinger Map'), also known as Peutinger's Tabula, Peutinger tablesJames Strong (theologian) , James Strong and John McClintock (theologian) , John McClintock (1880)"Eleutheropolis" In: ''The Cyclopedia of Bibli ...
.
Over the centuries, the name permutated to become ''Besantio'', ''Besontion'', ''Bisanz'' in
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...
, and gradually arrived at the modern French ''Besançon''. The locals retain their ancient heritage referring to themselves as ''Bisontins'' (feminine: ''Bisontine'').
It has been an archbishopric since the 4th century.
Middle Ages
In 843, the
Treaty of Verdun
The Treaty of Verdun (; ), agreed to on 10 August 843, ended the Carolingian civil war and divided the Carolingian Empire between Lothair I, Louis the German, Louis II and Charles the Bald, Charles II, the surviving sons of the emperor Louis the ...
divided up
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
's empire. Besançon became part of
Lotharingia
Lotharingia was a historical region and an early medieval polity that existed during the late Carolingian and early Ottonian era, from the middle of the 9th to the middle of the 10th century. It was established in 855 by the Treaty of Prüm, a ...
, under the Duke of
Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
.
As part of the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...
) in 1184. In 1157, Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa
Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...
Pope Adrian IV
Pope Adrian (or Hadrian) IV (; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear); 1 September 1159) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 until his death in 1159. Born in England, Adrian IV was the first Pope ...
) openly asserted before the Emperor that the imperial dignity was a papal beneficium (in the more general sense of favour, not the strict feudal sense of
fief
A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
), which incurred the wrath of the German princes. He would have fallen on the spot under the battle-axe of his lifelong foe, Otto of Wittelsbach, had Frederick not intervened. The Archbishops were elevated to
Princes of the Holy Roman Empire
Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (, , cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor.
Definition
Originally, possessors of the princely title bore it as immediate vassal ...
in 1288. The close connection to the Empire is reflected in the city's coat of arms.
In 1290, after a century of fighting against the power of the archbishops, the Emperor granted Besançon its independence.
Renaissance
In the 15th century, Besançon came under the influence of the dukes of
Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
. After the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519) was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 until his death in 1519. He was never crowned by the Pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed hi ...
, the city was in effect a
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
fief. In 1519
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) ...
, King of
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, became the Holy Roman Emperor. This made him master of the Franche-Comté and Besançon, a francophone imperial city. In 1526 the city obtained the right to mint coins, which it continued to strike until 1673. Nevertheless, all coins bore the name of Charles V.
When Charles V abdicated in 1555, he gave the Franche-Comté to his son, Philip II, King of Spain. Besançon remained a free imperial city under the protection of the King of Spain. In 1598, Philip II gave the province to his daughter on her marriage to an Austrian archduke. It remained formally a portion of the Empire until its cession at the peace of Westphalia in 1648. Spain regained control of Franche-Comté and the city lost its status as a free city. Then in 1667,
Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
claimed the province as a consequence of his marriage to Marie-Thérèse of Spain in the
War of Devolution
The War of Devolution took place from May 1667 to May 1668. In the course of the war, Kingdom of France, France occupied large parts of the Spanish Netherlands and County of Burgundy, Franche-Comté, both then provinces of the Holy Roman Empire ...
.
Louis conquered the city for the first time in 1668, but the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle returned it to Spain within a matter of months. While it was in French hands, the famed
military engineer
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...
Vauban visited the city and drew up plans for its fortification. The Spaniards built the main centre point of the city's defences, "la Citadelle", siting it on Mont Saint-Étienne, which closes the neck of the
oxbow
__NOTOC__
An oxbow is a U-shaped metal pole (or larger wooden frame) that fits the underside and the sides of the neck of an ox or wikt:bullock, bullock. A bow pin holds it in place.
The term "oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meand ...
that is the site of the original town. In their construction, the Spaniards followed Vauban's designs.
In 1674, French troops recaptured the city, which the Treaty of Nijmegen (1678) then awarded to France. At this time the city became the administrative centre for the Franche-Comté, with its own Parlement of Besançon, which replaced Dole.
As a result of control passing to France, Vauban returned to working on the citadel's fortifications, and those of the city. This process lasted until 1711, some 30 years, and the walls built then surround the city. Between the train station and the central city there is a complex moat system that now serves road traffic. Numerous forts, some of which date back to that time and that incorporate Vauban's designs elements sit on the six hills that surround the city: Fort de Trois Châtels, Fort Chaudanne, Fort du Petit Chaudanne, Fort Griffon, Fort des Justices, Fort de Beauregard and Fort de Brégille. The citadel itself has two dry moats, with an outer and inner court. In the evenings, the illuminated Citadelle stands above the city as a landmark and a testament to Vauban's genius as a
military engineer
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...
.
Modern Europe
In 1814, the Austrians invaded and bombarded the city. It also occupied an important position during the
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
of 1870–71. In 1871, a project of
Besançon Commune
The Besançon Commune (in French ''Commune de Besançon'') was a short-lived revolutionary movement conceived and developed in 1871, aiming at the proclamation of a local autonomous power based on the experiences of the Paris
Paris () i ...
is engaged.
The
Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
occupied the citadel during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Between 1940 and 1944, the Germans executed some one hundred
French resistance
The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
fighters there. However, Besançon saw little action during the war. The
allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...
bombed the railway complex in 1943, and the next year the Germans resisted the U.S. advance for four days.
Besançon was also the location, between 1940 and 1941, of an Internment Camp (''Konzentrationslager''), Frontstalag 142, also known as ''Caserne Vauban'', which the Germans set up for 3–4,000 holders of British passports, all women and children. The conditions were harsh; many hundreds of internees died of pneumonia, diarrhea, food poisoning, dysentery, and frostbite.
In 1959, the French Army turned the citadel over to the city of Besançon, which turned it into a museum.
The forts of Brégille and Beauregard sit across the Doubs from the city. In 1913, a private company built a
funicular
A funicular ( ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep grade (slope), slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to ...
to the Brégille Heights. The funicular passed from private ownership to the
SNCF
The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...
, who finally closed it in 1987. The funicular's tracks, stations and even road signs remain in place to this day.
Geography
Location
Besançon is located in the north-east quarter of France on the river Doubs. It is about east of the national capital of Paris, east of
Dijon
Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
in Burgundy, northwest of
Lausanne
Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...
in Switzerland, and southwest of
Belfort
Belfort (; archaic , ) is a city in northeastern France, situated approximately from the Swiss border. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Territoire de Belfort.
Belfort is from Paris and from Basel. The residents of the city ...
in Franche-Comté. It is located at the edge of the
Jura Mountains
The Jura Mountains ( ) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the French–Swiss border. While the Jura range proper (" folded Jura", ) is located in France and Switzerla ...
.
Topography
The city initially developed in a natural
meander
A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...
(or oxbow loop) of the river Doubs with a diameter of almost . The flat inner loop has an elevation of about , and is bounded to the south by a hill called ''Mont Saint-Étienne'', which has a maximum height of . The city is surrounded by six other hills which range in elevation from : Brégille, Griffon, Planoise, Chaudanne, Montfaucon, and Montboucon. (There is a barge canal that cuts through rock under Mont Saint-Étienne, short-cutting the meander.)
Climate
Besançon has an
oceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...
: ''Cfb'', Trewartha: ''Do''), with cool to cold winters, warm summers, and frequent precipitation year-round. The year-round average is . The warmest month is July with an average temperature of , and the coldest is January, with an average temperature of . Besançon receives about of
precipitation
In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, rain and snow mixed ("sleet" in Commonwe ...
As of 2022, the population of the City of Besançon was 120,057. It is the 34rd most populous city of France.
Grand Besançon Métropole
Grand Besançon Métropole is the urban community (''communauté urbaine''), an intercommunal structure, centred on the city of Besançon. It is located in the Doubs department, in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, northeastern France.
It ...
covers , 67
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
and has a population of 198,387. The metropolitan area covers , 308
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality' ...
and has 284,474 inhabitants. Its population increased by 4.9% between 2008 and 2020.
Government and politics
Until 2016, Besançon was the capital of the
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...
administrative '' région'' of France, a ''région'' including the four ''départements'' of Doubs,
Haute-Saône
Haute-Saône (; Frainc-Comtou: ''Hâte-Saône''; English: Upper Saône) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of northeastern France. Named after the river Saône, it had a population of 235,313 in 2019.
Territoire de Belfort
The Territoire de Belfort (; "Territory of Belfort") is a department in the northeastern French region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. In 2020 it had a population of 140,120.Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
, and the "préfecture" was transferred to the city of
Dijon
Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
. However, Besançon remains the seat of the
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region ...
microtechnology
Microtechnology is technology whose features have dimensions of the order of one micrometre (one millionth of a metre, or 10−6 metre, or 1μm). It focuses on physical and chemical processes as well as the production or manipulation of structures ...
and watch industries. It is host of the biannual Micronora trade fair, one of Europe's major events in the field of microtechnologies. The city has a little-known specialty, automatic ticketing machines for car parking, airports, date stamping etc.
The watch industry, for which Besançon remains the French capital, endured a major crisis in the 1970s when the advent of quartz watches from Asia knocked out the traditional watch industry in the space of just a few years. The "Lip" affair epitomizes the industrial crisis. LIP is to this day the name of one of Besançon's most prestigious brands of watches. Refusing to let their factory close, the workers set up a
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...
to run it. The action produced a lot of notoriety and sympathy for the workers but also resulted in branding Besançon as a city of the radical left. It also did nothing to help revive the watch industry; the cooperative went out of business a short while later. The city took a long time to recover from the collapse of the watch industry and its other major industry of the industrial age, artificial textiles.
Since the 1980s, Besançon's watch industry has clawed its way back on the basis of its historic reputation and quartz watches, establishing itself in a number of niche markets including customized watches, high quality watches, and fashion articles. Since the 1990s, the town has developed a reputation as one of France's leading centres of technology in all fields, including telecommunications and biotechnology.
Education
Besançon is the seat of the Marie and Louis Pasteur University. , there were approximately students enrolled at the university, including around foreign students. The Institut Supérieur d'Ingénieurs de Franche-Comté (ISIFC), part of the Université de Franche-Comté, is the first school created in the country specifically for the
Biomedical engineering
Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...
field. The city is also home of the
École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et des Microtechniques
Supmicrotech (officially, the École nationale supérieure de mécanique et des microtechniques) is a Grandes Écoles, French school of engineering. It is part of Polyméca, a network of schools focusing on mechanical engineering.
History
The ...
(ENSMM), a technological school with a strong reputation in the fields of
microtechnology
Microtechnology is technology whose features have dimensions of the order of one micrometre (one millionth of a metre, or 10−6 metre, or 1μm). It focuses on physical and chemical processes as well as the production or manipulation of structures ...
and
mechanics
Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...
and the Centre for Applied Linguistics which teaches ten languages to non-native speakers (French, Arabic, Chinese, English, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish) and any other known language on request. The Centre welcomes more than students every year from all over the world. As well as being famed as one of France's finest "villes d'art" (art cities), Besançon is the seat of one of France's older universities, of France's National School of Mechanics and Micromechanics, and one of the best known French language schools in France, the CLA.
Landmarks
The most historic center of the town is characterised by the broad horse-shoe of the river Doubs, "la Boucle", which encircles the old town. Vauban's imposing Citadelle blocks off the neck. The historic center presents an ensemble of classic stone buildings, some dating back to the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
and others to the Spanish Renaissance.
Gallo-Roman remains
During Antiquity, Vesontio was an important metropolis of
Roman Gaul
Roman Gaul refers to GaulThe territory of Gaul roughly corresponds to modern-day France, Belgium and Luxembourg, and adjacent parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. under provincial rule in the Roman Empire from the 1st century B ...
. It is adorned with monuments, some of which have survived,
archaeological excavation
In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...
s carried out during construction sites often revealing new discoveries dating from this period.
The most emblematic and best-preserved monument dating from this period is the Porte Noire, a Gallo-Roman
triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...
built under
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus ( ; ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher. He was a member of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty, the last of the rulers later known as the Five Good Emperors ...
in the 2nd century in the Saint-Jean district. Heavily deteriorated by the vagaries of time and pollution, it was the subject of a long and difficult restoration operation at the beginning of the 21st century. Immediately below is the Square Castan, a garden with a collection of archaeological remains from the 2nd century or the 3rd century including in particular eight
Corinthian column
The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...
s.
On the other bank of the river Doubs, in the Battant district, the remains of the Vesontio arena are visible: only a few steps and foundations have been unearthed, its stones having been widely used in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
for the construction of other buildings.
There are several domus in the residential district of Vesontio. Among them, the domus of the Palace of Justice and the domus of the Lumière college with Roman mosaic exhibited in situ at the Besançon Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology. Other remains can be seen in more anonymous places, such as the ancient foundations in the underground car park of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regional council.
File:Besançon, la porte Noire (2).jpg, The Porte Noire, Roman
triumphal arch
A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road, and usually standing alone, unconnected to other buildings. In its simplest form, a triumphal ...
File:Besançon (Doubs) - Square Castan - Vestiges gallo-romains de Vesontio (52062478772).jpg, Square Castan.
File:Vestiges Arènes Besançon.jpg, Archaeological remains of the Arena.
File:Besançon, le musée des Beaux-Arts et d'archéologie.jpg, Roman mosaics from ancient Vesontio.
Fortifications and military buildings
Most of the current fortification system (
citadel
A citadel is the most fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of ''city'', meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
...
,
defensive wall
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications such as curtain walls with t ...
bastion
A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...
s, Fort Griffon) is the work of the
military engineer
Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...
Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban
Sébastien is a common French given name. It is a French form of the Latin name ''Sebastianus'' meaning "from Sebaste". Sebaste was a common placename in classical Antiquity, derived from the Greek word ''σεβαστος'', or ''sebastos'', mea ...
. This group of buildings allows Besançon to appear on the
UNESCO World Heritage List
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...
with eleven other sites under the title Fortifications of Vauban. The forts on the other hills were all built in the 19th century. The only remaining pre-Vauban fortifications are Porte Rivotte, Porte Taillée, Tour Carrée, Tour Notre-Dame and Tour de la Pelote.
The citadel of Besançon was built by Vauban from 1678 to 1771 and is the most visited site in
Franche-Comté
Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou dialect, Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; ; also ; ; all ) is a cultural and Provinces of France, historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of France, departments of Doub ...
with more than 250,000 visitors each year. It extends over eleven hectares at the top of Mont Saint-Étienne at an altitude between 330 and 370 meters, thus overhanging the meander of the river Doubs which has an altitude between 240 and 250 meters. It brings together a museum of Resistance and Deportation, a museum of Franche-Comté traditions, the regional archeology service and a zoo. It is the symbol of the city. Fort Griffon, whose name is that of the Italian architect Jean Griffoni who was commissioned to build a first fortification at this location in 1595, is a second citadel. It was Vauban who, at the end of the 17th century, had the current fort built.
The city walls designed by Vauban includes all the fortifications of La Boucle historic district which were rebuilt from 1675 to 1695. Vauban in fact replaced the medieval defenses restored and completed by
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
Kings and Emperors
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
Others
* Charles V, Duke ...
in the sixteenth century with a belt provided with six bastioned battery towers: the Notre-Dame tower, the bastioned tower of Chamars, the bastioned tower of the Marais, the bastioned tower of the Cordeliers (completed in 1691), the bastioned tower of Bregille and the bastioned tower of Rivotte.
File:Citadelle Besançon.jpg, Citadel of Besançon.
File:Besancon Porte Rivotte.jpg, Porte Rivotte.
File:Besançon,_la_tour_de_la_Pelote_(1).jpg, Tour de la Pelote.
File:Tour bastionnée de Chamars - panoramio.jpg, Tour de Chamars.
Fortifications prior to the French conquest are also numerous. The Tour de la Pelote, located on the Quai de Strasbourg, is a defensive tower built in 1546 by the municipal government on the orders of
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
Kings and Emperors
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
Others
* Charles V, Duke ...
. Its name would come from the former owner of the land where it was built, Pierre Pillot, lord of Chenecey. The Porte Rivotte is a city gate dating from the 16th century, consisting of two round towers and a pediment carved with a sun which was King
Louis XIV
LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
's personal emblem. The Porte Taillée ("Carved Gate"), opened in a rocky outcrop, is the work of the Romans. It marks the entrance to the city on the road to Switzerland. It is surmounted by a guardhouse and a watchtower built in 1546. The "square tower", located in the promenade des Glacis, is also called the Montmart tower. It was built in the 13th century to defend the old entrance to the Battant district.
The fortifications of the 19th century consist of a set of forts covering all the heights of the city: the fort of Chaudanne built from 1837 to 1842, the fort of Bregille built from 1820 to 1832, the fort of Planoise built from 1877 to 1880, Fort Benoit was built from 1877 to 1880, Fort Beauregard in 1830.
Another example are the Trois-Châtels and Tousey
lunette
A lunette (French ''lunette'', 'little moon') is a crescent- or half-moon–shaped or semi-circular architectural space or feature, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void.
A lunette may also be ...
s, both built at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries, as well as the Rosemont battery built during the war of 1870–1871, the Fort des Montboucons built from 1877 to 1880 and the Fort des Justices built from 1870. A third Lunette d'Arçon was located on the site of Fort Chaudanne; only its tower was preserved during the construction of the fort in the first half of the 19th century.
The Ruty barracks, formerly Saint-Paul barracks, are made up of four pavilions surrounding a courtyard serving as a
Place d'Armes
Place d'Armes () is a Town square, square of the Old Montreal quarter of Montreal, in Quebec, Canada anchored by Maisonneuve Monument, a monument in memory of Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, Paul de Chomedey, founder of Montreal. Buildings that s ...
episcopal see
An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...
in the 3rd century, churches and abbeys multiplied during the period of the
High Middle Ages
The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...
. Important constructions or reconstructions of religious buildings then took place in the 11th century during the episcopate of Hugues Ier de Salins and many churches were embellished or rebuilt after the French conquest of 1674. In 1842, the Church of the Holy Spirit was officially ceded to the
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
community while the
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
community inaugurated its
synagogue
A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...
in 1869. Finally, the
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
community had two
mosque
A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard.
Originally, mosques were si ...
s built at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.
The most important religious building dedicated to Catholic worship in Besançon is Saint John's Cathedral, of
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...
, dating from the 9th, 12th and 18th centuries. It has two
apse
In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
s and contains a masterpiece by
Fra Bartolomeo
Fra Bartolomeo or Bartolommeo (, , ; 28 March 1472 – 31 October 1517), also known as Bartolommeo di Pagholo, Bartolommeo di San Marco, Bartolomeo di Paolo di Jacopo del Fattorino, and his original nickname Baccio della Porta, was an Ital ...
, the painting of the ''Madonna in Glory with Saints'' painted in 1512. The cathedral dominates the old chapter district which includes the Archbishopric of Besançon located in the former Hôtel Boistouset and the former Archbishop's Palace currently occupied by the Rectorate of the
academy
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
. The Grand
Seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...
was built from 1670 to 1695 by Archbishop Antoine-Pierre Ier de Grammont and completed in the 18th century by the elevation of the portal and the construction of the main facade. The chapel has a two-storey facade of Corinthian pilasters on the street. Its portal is surmounted by a tympanum where the sculptor Huguenin represented a Madonna and Child in 1848.
At the other end of the old
cardo
A ''cardo'' (: ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Rome, ancient Roman cities and military castra, camps as an integral component of Urban planning, city planning. The ''cardo maximus'', or most often the ''cardo'', was the main ...
and current Grande Rue, is the Sainte-Madeleine church built from 1746 to 1766 on plans by Nicolas Nicole. It was definitively completed in 1828–1830 with the construction of its two towers, one of which hosts the Jacquemart bellstriker automaton. Its roof is made of
polychrome
Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors.
When looking at artworks and ...
glazed tiles.
Besançon, la cathédrale Saint-Jean.jpg,
Besancon Ste. Madeleine 1.jpg,
Besançon, la basilique Saint Ferjeux.jpg,
Besançon, la chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Refuge (2).jpg,
In the heart of the city centre, St Peter's Church, built by the Bisontin Claude Joseph Alexandre Bertrand from 1782 to 1786, impresses with the height of its bell tower which served as a
belfry
The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...
for the Hôtel de Ville, which is opposite. St Maurice's Church, founded in the 6th century, was rebuilt from 1711 to 1714 with a Jesuit-style facade surmounted by a carillon. Notre-Dame Church corresponds to the former Benedictine abbey of Saint-Vincent which was founded in the eleventh century. It was under the Empire that it became the parish church of Notre-Dame. Its facade was designed in 1720 by the architect Jean-Pierre Galezot. You can still make out the large entrance gate to the abbey and the 16th-century bell tower. Today it is occupied by the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences. Saint-François-Xavier Church, former chapel of the Jesuit college, was built between 1680 and 1688. Its plan is in the shape of a Latin cross surrounded by small side chapels. It was decommissioned in 1975. The Saint-Paul abbey, church of the former abbey founded around 628 by Saint Donat, archbishop of Besançon, was rebuilt in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Notre-Dame-du-Foyer chapel, built from 1739 to 1745 by the Bisontin Nicolas Nicole, was once the chapel of the Couvent du Refuge before being attached to the Saint-Jacques hospital in 1802.
Outside the old town, among the important Catholic buildings, is the Saint-Ferjeux basilica of Romano-Byzantine style built on the cave of the patron saints of Besançon, Saint Ferjeux and Saint Ferréol. Notre-Dame des Buis, a 19th-century chapel, overlooks the city at an altitude of 491 metres.
The Protestant community was assigned in 1842 the former hospice of the Holy Spirit, today the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is a 13th-century Gothic building augmented by a 15th-century chapel and deprived of its bell tower during the Revolution. It is distinguished by its gallery of sculpted wood, a masterpiece by an anonymous artist. Its neo-Gothic portal was created in 1841 by the architect Alphonse Delacroix in place of the old porch.
The Jewish community, booming in the city in the middle of the 19th century, built the synagogue of Besançon from 1869 to 1871 on plans by the architect Pierre Marnotte. Listed as a historic monument in 1984, it is particularly remarkable for its
Moorish
The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages.
Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...
style inspired by the Alhambra in Granada.
The most recently built places of worship in Besançon are of Muslim faith: the Sounna Mosque built at the end of the 20th century on land ceded by the city in the Saint-Claude district, and the Al-Fath located in the district of Planoise.
Government and residentials buildings
In the
16th century
The 16th century began with the Julian calendar, Julian year 1501 (represented by the Roman numerals MDI) and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used (the Gregorian calend ...
, many
palace
A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...
s and
mansion
A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...
s were erected in the Boucle and Battant districts. The most important is the Palais Granvelle with
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...
Emperor Charles V
Charles V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain (as Charles I) from 1516 to 1556, and Lord of the Netherlands as titular Duke of Burgundy (as Charles II) fr ...
. It now houses the Museum of Time. The Hôtel de Ville (city hall) was built by the architect Richard Maire who completed it in 1573. It has an
ashlar
Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones.
Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...
façade in the spirit of Italian Renaissance palaces. Until the Revolution, a large niche in the façade housed a bronze statue of Charles V riding a two-headed eagle.
The Palais de Justice (
Court of Appeal
An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
) was originally the second main building to the Hôtel de Ville. The construction was entrusted to the architect Hugues Sambin who was greatly inspired by the spirit of the Renaissance. The Hôtel de Champagney was built in the Battant district by Jacques Bonvalot, Lord of Champagney, during the first half of the 16th century. His daughter Nicole Bonvalot, widow of Nicolas de Granvelle, had the premises redesigned and the courtyard designed from 1560 to 1565 by architect Richard Maire. It is distinguished by the four
gargoyle
In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed Grotesque (architecture), grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from ...
s that adorn its facade and by its interior courtyard with arched passageways and galleries with wooden columns. The Hôtel Mareschal belonged to an important Besançon family, the Mareschal family. Burnt down on 4 June 1516, Guillaume Mareschal had it rebuilt in 1532 with an ornamental flora that heralded the Renaissance. Other notable buildings dating from the sixteenth century are the Hôtels of Chevanney, Gauthiot d'Ancier, Anvers, Bonvalot, and Bouteiller. At that time, the hills around Besançon were covered with
vineyard
A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...
s: the city has preserved from this important viticultural past a dozen ''cabordes'', former vineyard huts made of dry
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
.
Immediately after the French conquest, the installations were mainly of a military nature. However, two other notable constructions were erected at the end of the 17th century. Work on the Saint-Jacques hospital, which was intended to replace the one located on rue d'Arènes, began in 1688 and was completed in 1701. Its monumental entrance gate, executed by the locksmith Nicolas Chapuis in 1703 has been replaced by a copy. The Vauban Quay was built from 1691 to 1695 by the engineer Isaac Robelin. It is a monumental set of houses with arcades.
Cour du Palais Granvelle.jpg,
Hôpital Saint-Jacques Besançon.jpg,
Besançon, l'hôtel de ville (1).jpg ,
Hôtel Mareschal.jpg,
Quai Vauban Besançon.jpg,
During the
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment (also the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment) was a Europe, European Intellect, intellectual and Philosophy, philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained th ...
, the town's urban planning underwent major transformations and the construction of remarkable buildings, notably due to its new status as capital. The Hôtel de l'Intendance, currently
prefecture
A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...
of the Doubs departement, was built from 1771 to 1778 at the request of the intendant Charles André de Lacoré. The plans were drawn up by the great Parisian architect Victor Louis and the work directed by the bisontin architect Nicolas Nicole. It adopts the traditional plan of private mansions, with a main courtyard with a facade made up of six Ionic columns surmounted by a pediment and a garden at the rear of the building whose facade is decorated with a rotunda jutting out slightly. on the garden. The Théâtre Ledoux is an order from Monsieur de Lacoré to Claude-Nicolas Ledoux who drew up the plans and entrusted the construction to Claude-Joseph-Alexandre Bertrand which began in 1778 and ended with its inauguration on 9 August 1784 under the crook of Louis V Joseph of Bourbon-Condé. With a capacity of 2,000 seats, it was considered very innovative, as it had a seated parterre, an amphitheater hall without boxes, and it was the first in the world to have an
orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is an area in a theatre (usually located in a lowered area in front of the stage) in which musicians perform. The orchestra plays mostly out of sight in the pit, rather than on the stage as for a concert, when providing music fo ...
. On 29 April 1958 a dramatic fire completely destroyed the interior and the roof of the building. The walls are the only witnesses that have survived, including the facade and its six monumental columns. Many mansions also attest to the prosperity of the city during this period. The Hotel Terrier de Santans was built between 1770 and 1772 for the Marquis Terrier de Santans, first president of parliament, by the architect Claude Bertrand. Other eminent families call on the greatest architects for their homes: the Hôtels Petit de Marivat, de Magnoncourt, Boistouset, de Courbouzon, de Clévans, de Camus, Querret, Terrier, and de Rosières.
If the thermal baths of Besançon were completely destroyed in the 1950s, the city retains a number of buildings emblematic of its thermal past: the Grand Hôtel des Bains inaugurated in 1893, the municipal casino installed in a Belle Époque-style building inaugurated in 1882 or the Kursaal opened in 1893. It was also during this period that the
astronomical observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed.
Th ...
and the Café du Commerce were erected, a brasserie from the second half of the 19th century with a rich interior decor in the Belle Époque style.
Besançon, le Kursaal.jpg,
Besançon, le Grand Hôtel des Bains.jpg,
Besançon, le casino (2).jpg,
Café du Commerce.jpg,
Observatoire de Besançon.jpg,
Besançon's specialization in watchmaking has also left its mark on the city's heritage. The
astronomical clock
An astronomical clock, horologium, or orloj is a clock with special mechanisms and dials to display astronomical information, such as the relative positions of the Sun, Moon, zodiacal constellations, and sometimes major planets.
Definition ...
located inside St. John's cathedral was commissioned in 1858 by Cardinal Mathieu from Auguste-Lucien Vérité. Composed of 30,000 mechanical parts, 57 dials and presenting 122 all interdependent indications, it is considered a masterpiece of its kind and classified as a Historic Monument in 1991. The National School of Watchmaking was built from 1928 to 1932 by the architect Paul Guadet. This imposing Art Deco building with a monumental clock on its facade now houses the Lycée Jules-Haag. The Dodane watch factory, completed in 1943, is an L-shaped reinforced concrete building whose construction was entrusted to the architect Auguste Perret who also designed the interior decor elements. It has a private garden with swimming pool and tennis court. In the twenty-first century, two monumental clocks, works by Bisontin Philippe Lebru from the Utinam workshop, were installed on the facade of the Besançon Museum of Fine Arts and inside the Besançon Franche-Comté TGV station.
In addition to the watchmaking heritage, other buildings with notable architecture were built during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The Canot university campus was built from 1929 by the architect René Tournier and inaugurated by the President of the Republic Albert Lebrun in 1933. It was the first university residence in France. The Higher Institute of Fine Arts was built between 1970 and 1974 to plans by the Catalan architect
Josep Lluís Sert
Josep Lluís Sert i López (; 1 July 190215 March 1983) was a Catalan architect and city planner established in the USA after 1939.
Biography
Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, Sert showed keen interest in the works of his uncle, the painte ...
. The Cité des Arts inaugurated in 2013 is the work of the Japanese architect
Kengo Kuma
is a Japanese architect and emeritus professor in the Department of Architecture (Graduate School of Engineering) at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolif ...
.
Parks and gardens
With of
urban open space
In land-use planning, urban green spaces are open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces." These include plant life, water features also known as blue spaces and other kinds of natural environments. Most urban open spaces a ...
s, including of
forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
s, Besançon is considered the first green city in France with 204 m2 of green spaces per capita. The Forest of Chailluz, covering , represents a quarter of the total area of the commune. The city is the owner of this mainly
deciduous
In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
forest, which includes a wildlife park and a fitness trail in addition to numerous trails. The historic center is entirely surrounded by green spaces. To the west of the old town, on the left bank of the Doubs, are the Jardins de la Gare-d'Eau: in 1833, the construction of the Rhone-Rhine Canal led the city to create a small port river shipping but it quickly fell into disuse after the opening of a
canal tunnel
{{Refimprove, date=September 2009
A canal tunnel is a tunnel for a canal. The building of a canal tunnel is crucial to help a waterway that is normally used for shipping cross a difficult section of terrain. They are also constructed to reduce t ...
under the citadel. The park around the basin is currently owned by the departmental council of
Doubs
Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Field of Mars). It was at first a
marshland
In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...
separated into two parts by an arm of the River Doubs: the big and the small Chamars. Vauban, judging this place vulnerable, fortified it with the help of ramparts and
bastion
A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...
s. The city obtained permission to turn this space into a promenade in 1739. The architect Bertrand remodeled it between 1770 and 1778 by incorporating a café, public baths, an
aviary
An aviary is a large enclosure for confining birds, although bats may also be considered for display. Unlike birdcages, aviaries allow birds a larger living space where Bird flight, they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flig ...
of rare birds, waterfalls, a botanical garden and many plantings. It largely disappeared after 1830 with the leveling of the inner rampart and the creation of the Gare d'Eau port. A public garden was refurbished between 1978 and 1982. The only surviving elements of the former Chamars Promenade are the two guard houses, some plane trees, and the stone vases of the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Boutry.
File:Besançon, la Gare d'Eau.jpg, Jardins de la Gare d'Eau.
File:Besançon, la promenade Chamars.jpg, Promenade Chamars.
File:Besançon, les cascades du parc Micaud.jpg, Promenade Micaud.
File:Besançon, la promenade Granvelle.jpg, Promenade Granvelle.
North of the historic district of Battant, on the right bank of the River Doubs, the Glacis Promenade, created in the middle of the nineteenth century, is the work of the landscape architect Brice Michel and the architect Boutterin. Right in the heart of this district, the Clos Barbisier is a garden created in 1988 and presenting an important variety of
rose
A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...
s. The green belt extends east of the old town, still on the right bank of the River Doubs, by the Promenade of Helvetia which houses a botanical garden called Jardin des Sens et des Senteurs (Garden of Senses and Scents) realized in 1987, accessible to the visually impaired thanks to its plants and shrubs with certain sensory features (smell, touch), and
Braille
Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...
signs. Directly to the south is the Micaud Promenade, which has been progressively developed over from 1843 on plans by architect Alphonse Delacroix. It is named after Jules Micaud, the mayor who promoted the project. It includes more than four hundred trees, including a
southern magnolia
''Magnolia grandiflora'', commonly known as the southern magnolia or bull bay, is a tree of the family Magnoliaceae native to the Southeastern United States, from Virginia to central Florida, and west to East Texas. Reaching in height, it is a ...
and a
European beech
''Fagus sylvatica'', the European beech or common beech, is a large, graceful deciduous tree in the beech family with smooth silvery-gray bark, large leaf area, and a short trunk with low branches.
Description
''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large ...
, a
bandstand
A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an ornamen ...
, a pond, and several sculptures. The Jardins du Casino, a public garden with flowering lawns and tree-lined avenues, is directly on the other side of Edouard Droz Avenue, which runs along Micaud Promenade.
In the heart of the historic center, the Promenade Granvelle is the former private garden of the sixteenth century Granvelle Palace, which the municipality acquired in 1712 and which was opened to the public in 1728. The architect Bertrand redeveloped it into a public garden from 1775 to 1778. It includes a bandstand, an artificial cave, a Wallace fountain, statues of
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.
His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
and Auguste Veil-Picard, the portal of the church of the convent of the Great Carmelites, and a neoclassical colonnade, a remnant of a refreshment pavilion. The first
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...
in Besançon was created in 1580. It then occupied more than ten different sites, including the current location of Place Leclerc since 1957. The Parc de l'Observatoire, created in 1904 at the request of the director of the astronomical observatory Auguste Lebeuf, is home to a purple beech, a weeping beech, chestnut and pine trees.
A statue of Henri Bouchot stands in Besançon's Henri-Bouchot square. It was originally in bronze but was melted down by the Vichy régime. The replacement in stone was made by Georges Saupique.
Culture
Museums and galleries
There are five museums in Besançon that all bear the designation " Museum of France". Besançon has one of the finest city art galleries in France outside Paris. The Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology, created in 1694, was the first museum created in France and predates
The Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
by almost a century. It has benefited from a remarkable series of bequests over time.
In the 1960s the architect Luis Miquel, a pupil of
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...
, totally rebuilt the building. The building's interior takes the form of a gently rising concrete walkway that takes visitors up from classical antiquity to the modern age. Among the museum's treasures are a fine collection of classical antiquities and ancient Egyptian artifacts, as well as a very rich collection of paintings including works by Bellini,
Bronzino
Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...
,
Tintoretto
Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...
,
Titian
Tiziano Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), Latinized as Titianus, hence known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian Renaissance painter, the most important artist of Renaissance Venetian painting. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno.
Ti ...
,
Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...
Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...
,
Philippe de Champaigne
Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Duchy of Brabant, Brabant-born French people, French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French art, French school. He was a founding member of the Académie royale de pein ...
David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
,
Ingres
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...
Matisse
Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...
,
Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...
and many others.
The Musée du Temps (Museum of Time), inaugurated in 2002, was formerly the City's History Museum. Located in the Granvelle Palace, its concept is unique in Europe, grouping watch collections (watches,
sundial
A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...
s,
hourglass
An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, or sand clock) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) from the ...
es, all means of measuring time ...) and the funds of the history museum (paintings, engravings). In addition, three museums are grouped inside the Vauban citadel.
The Museum of Resistance and Deportation has been open since 1971 and is one of the largest in its category at the national level. It consists of twenty rooms, retracing the themes related to the Second World War (Nazism, the Occupation, the
Vichy regime
Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...
, the Resistance, Liberation, Deportation) through photographs, texts, documents and original collectibles. The establishment also has two rooms dedicated to artists whose works were made in
concentration camp
A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
s.
The Comtois Museum, installed in 1961 in the Royal Front, presents regional arts and traditions through sixteen permanent exhibition halls with collections of more than 20,000 objects, mainly from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The Museum of Natural History, created in 1959 under the leadership of Mayor Jean Minjoz, presents varied backgrounds in a small evolutionary course around collections of natural sciences (naturalized animals, herbaria ...); it also presents live animals in four sectors (zoo, insectarium, noctarium and aquarium). Besançon is also home to the birthplace of
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.
His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
, presenting the humanist political commitment of the writer. The Cité des Arts exhibits part of the works of the regional fund of
contemporary art
Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...
of Franche-Comté.
Performing arts centers
The city is home to a National Center for Dramatic Art, the Centre dramatique national Besançon Franche-Comté created in 1972. This theater installed in the former
ballroom
A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called ''balls''. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially histori ...
of the Casino has a capacity of 337 seats. The Scène nationale de Besançon performs since 2012 in two facilities including the Théâtre de l'Espace and the Théâtre Ledoux. The Théâtre Ledoux was inaugurated in 1784 and can accommodate 1100 people. Besançon also has smaller structures. The Scénacle located in the Saint-Jean district is a small theater with a capacity of about 100 seats that offers plays and concerts by the troupe or regional artists. On campus, the 150-seat Petit Théâtre de la Bouloie welcomes student projects to promote artistic and cultural practice (university theater, university choir...), artistic residencies of young companies, professional shows proposed by the partner structures and shows of young companies.
The Kursaal is the result of the will to offer entertainment and shows to spa guests of the spa resort of Besançon-les-Bains created in 1891 and military garrison in the city. The Kursaal-Circus opened at the end of 1893, but the promoter's finances, Madame Veuve Pellegrin, did not allow her to reimburse the expenses incurred. The city acquired it in 1895 and the Kursaal became the city's
concert hall
A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats.
This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...
. It closes in 1970 for reasons of obsolescence, before being renovated from 1979 and reopened in September 1982. A conference room with 360 seats, called Petit Kursaal was also created in the basement. The main hall, known as Grand Kursaal, has two balconies and a dome ceiling decorated with frescoes reminiscent of the circus arts. Its capacity can go up to 1,038 seats including 450 on both balconies.
Bands play throughout the year at La Rodia, located in the Prés-de-Vaux neighborhood. It includes a large 900-seat theater and a 330-seat "club" hall as well as two creative studios. The Micropolis Exhibition Center houses a modular hall with a capacity of 2,200 to 6,500 seats, where the majority of artists and bands on national and international tours are performing.
The city is home to the Victor Hugo Franche-Comté Orchestra.
Cinema
There are two multiplex cinemas, the Mégarama Beaux-Arts in the historic district and Mégarama École-Valentin in the suburban area. The Cinéma Victor-Hugo is a smaller cinema promoting indie movies, located in the city center.
Annual cultural events and fairs
The city of Besançon hosts many festive and cultural events.
Several music festivals punctuate the year, the most emblematic and the oldest of which is the Besançon Franche-Comté International Music Festival, created in 1948 and held every year in September. This festival honors the symphonic repertoire,
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
and recitals. It was completed in 1951 by the International Contest of Young Conductors held every two years (odd years), one of the most prestigious of the discipline which counts among its laureates
Seiji Ozawa
was a Japanese conductor known internationally for his work as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), where he served from 1973 for 29 years. After cond ...
,
Gerd Albrecht
Gerd Albrecht (19 July 1935 – 2 February 2014) was a German conductor.
Biography
Albrecht was born in Essen, the son of the musicologist Hans Albrecht (1902–1961). He studied music in Kiel and in Hamburg, where his teachers included Wilhel ...
, Michel Plasson or Zdeněk Mácal.
The Festival Détonation is another highlight of September: created in 2012 and organized by La Rodia, its programming mixes pop music, electronic music and interactive mapping installations.
Initiated in 2007, the GéNéRiQ Festival takes place in February in five cities:
Belfort
Belfort (; archaic , ) is a city in northeastern France, situated approximately from the Swiss border. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Territoire de Belfort.
Belfort is from Paris and from Basel. The residents of the city ...
, Besançon,
Dijon
Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
,
Montbéliard
Montbéliard (; traditional ) is a town in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, about from the border with Switzerland. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department.
History
Montbéliard is ...
and
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...
. Its programming is also focused on new musical trends such as electro clubbing, mediterranean surf, free metal, electro blues, alternative hip hop or neo ghetto folk.
Created in 1981, the Jazz and improvised music festival in Franche-Comté offers concerts in Besançon and other towns in the region in June.
The Circasismic Festival, held in May since 2015, presents a program of electro, dub and rock music as well as circus and street theater shows.
The Orgue en ville festival, created in 2009, offers about twenty concerts around the organ in religious buildings of Besançon and its agglomeration. It takes place between the end of June and the beginning of July.
The Besançon-Montfaucon Festival offers musical works played on period instruments.
The Foire Comtoise is a trade fair and a
travelling funfair
A traveling carnival (American English), usually simply called a carnival, travelling funfair or travelling show (British English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chan ...
held in the Micropolis exhibition center. This event created in 1922 was originally an agricultural fair. It now hosts around 600 exhibitors and 140,000 visitors around the
Feast of the Ascension
The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ (also called the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday) commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It ...
weekend. Each year, a country or a community is a guest of honor and presents its crafts and its customs and traditions through shows.
Since 1995, the Gourmet Instants market has been held on the Granvelle Promenade in September and showcases local gastronomic products.
The Christmas market in Besançon has been spreading throughout December since 1993, while a carnival parade has been held since 1978, bringing together 20,000 to 30,000 people each year in the streets of the city center.
The Grand Besançon Métropole book festival (Livres dans la Boucle) take place in September. Running over three days, it hosted in 2018 more than 200 authors and 30,000 visitors.
An African cinema festival called Lumières d'Afrique has been held in November since 1996.
Bien Urbain is a manifestation of street art and contemporary art in the public space held in June since 2011.
In the field of theater, Besançon has two festivals. The Festival de Caves has been offering shows since 2006 in the cellars of the city. Born in Besançon, the concept of this festival has since spread in many cities in France and Europe.
Since 2018, the Festival of World Languages and Cultures has been the heir to the International University Theater Meetings, which celebrated their 25th edition in 2017.
pirate radio
Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...
station from 1977 to 1978, refounded in 1981 as a "free radio".
* South radio. Created in 1982 for the Algerian and Arab community.
* Radio Shalom Besançon. Radio of the Jewish Community of Besançon.
* RCF Besançon. Local edition of RCF, for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Besançon.
* Radio Campus Besançon. Local edition of Radio Campus France, for students.
* France Bleu Besançon. Local edition of France Bleu, generalist.
* France 3 Franche-Comté. Public TV.
* ''L'Est Républicain''. Newspaper.
Sports
The practice of sport in the agglomeration of Besançon is quite diverse, on the one hand because the municipality does not want to bet everything on one or two professional disciplines that would carry the colors of the city high, but rather to encourage its population to practice all disciplines, and on the other hand because the particular setting of the city (hills, cliffs, rivers) makes it possible to practice a wide range of Outdoor recreation, outdoor sports such as hiking, mountain biking, climbing, rowing.
Sports venues
The Palais des sports Ghani-Yalouz, the largest indoor sports arena in the metropolitan area, was inaugurated in 1967 and refurbished in 2005. Its capacity is flexible, from 3,380 seats in handball configuration to 4,200 seats in basketball configuration. The main stadium is the Léo-Lagrange stadium, inaugurated in 1939 and renovated between 2003 and 2005. With a capacity of 11,500 seats, it exclusively hosts soccer matches. Three other stadiums are located in the town, the Rosemont stadium, the Orchamps stadium and the Henri Joran stadium in the Velotte district. The city has a single ice rink, the La Fayette ice rink, two indoor Olympic swimming pools (Mallarmé and La Fayette), two outdoor swimming pools (Chalezeule and Port Joint) and ten gyms. A large indoor climbing gym inaugurated in 2020 near the Léo-Lagrange stadium offers climbing routes that can reach up to 18 meters above the ground. The Centre des Cultures Urbaines de Besançon (CCUB) located in the Saint-Claude district is a 2,000 m2 indoor space inaugurated in 2019 and dedicated to boardsports (rollerblading, BMX, skateboarding) and balance practices (parkour, slacklining). An open-air skatepark is set up in the city center on the banks of the river Doubs in the Chamars area. Other notable facilities are located on the territory of peripheral municipalities. In Montfaucon, Doubs, Montfaucon, at the gates of Besançon, there is a free flight site for the practice of paragliding and hang-gliding as well as a cliff with nearly 150 climbing routes from 20 to 40 meters. The Golf de Besançon is an 18-hole golf course in the town of La Chevillotte.
Professional teams and sportspeople
In the field of team sports, the city is currently represented at the national level mainly in the discipline of handball. The ESBF Besançon, Entente Sportive Bisontine Feminine (ESBF) club, founded in 1970, plays in the French Women's Handball Championship, French Women's First League. It is the most successful club in the city with notably 4 French league titles and a Women's EHF Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup. Grand Besançon Doubs Handball (GBDH), men's handball club, participated in 4 seasons in the first division and 26 seasons in the second division. It is playing in the second division for the 2020–2021 season.
In Association football, football, the city has two clubs playing in Championnat National 3, the fifth tier in the French football league system: Racing Besançon (RB) and Besançon Football (BF).
Basketball is present with the Besançon Avenir Comtois (BesAC) club, playing in Championnat de Nationale 3, fifth tier in the French basketball league system. Former Besançon BCD, now defunct, played nine seasons in the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France and counted Bruce Bowen, Tanoka Beard and Tony Farmer among its most famous players.
In the field of individual sports at professional and amateur level, the city stands out in boxing with Olympic medalist Khedafi Djelkhir, wrestling with Olympic medalist Ghani Yalouz, archery with Jean-Charles Valladont several times medalist at the World and European championship and silver medalist at the Rio Olympics, judo, cycling (Amicale Cycliste Bisontine), weightlifting (La Française de Besançon) or canoeing (Société Nautique Bisontine, 2nd club French). Besançon also hosts the Franche-Comté Judo Besançon club with 90 national podiums, 50 French Champion titles in all categories and 20 European and world podiums.
Sport events
Grand Besançon Métropole is organizing from 2019 a festival called Grandes Heures Nature devoted to outdoor sports such as hiking, trail running, canoeing, climbing, mountain biking and road cycling. It takes place over four days during the month of June. The city of Besançon is a regular stage city in the Tour de France bicycle race, which it hosted 18 times between 1903 and 2018. The Besançon Trail des Forts has been taking place since 2004 every year in May and offers four trail running races of 48, 28, 19 and 10 kilometers, the longest course being registered among the ten stages of the National Trail Tour.
Transport
Road
Besançon is situated at the crossing of two major lines of communication, the NE-SW route that follows the valley of the river Doubs and links Germany and North Europe with Lyon and southwest Europe, and the N–S route linking northern France and the Netherlands with Switzerland. The city is served by the A36 autoroute, A36 motorway, which connects the Germany, German border with
Burgundy
Burgundy ( ; ; Burgundian: ''Bregogne'') is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. ...
.
Rail
Besançon is well connected with the rest of France by train. One can reach major destinations such as Paris,
Dijon
Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...
,
Belfort
Belfort (; archaic , ) is a city in northeastern France, situated approximately from the Swiss border. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Territoire de Belfort.
Belfort is from Paris and from Basel. The residents of the city ...
,
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...
, Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier and Lille directly. The city has some international connections to cities such as Basel in Switzerland, Frankfurt am Main and Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany and Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
* Gare de Besançon-Viotte, the main railway station, sits in the centre of the city.
* Gare de Besançon Franche-Comté TGV is the high speed railway station and it sits some north of the city.
Tram
A Trams in Besançon, tramway commenced service in September 2014. The length of the line is and the route follows a mainly South-West-North East direction through the city between Hauts du Chazal and alternative destinations of Chalezeule ("parc Micaud") and the Besançon railway station at Gare de Besançon-Viotte, "Gare Viotte".
Bus
Bus services in Besançon and its suburbs are run by the Ginko company. It runs 58 bus lines and its fleet has about 240 buses. The network serves the 68 municipalities of the urban community.
Notable people
Besançon was the birthplace of:
* Claude Goudimel (1510–1572), musician, teacher of Palestrina, composer of Protestant hymns.
* Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517–1586), cardinal, statesman and humanist.
* Jean-Jacques Boissard (1528–1602), an antiquary and Neo-Latin poet.
* Jean-Baptiste Besard (1567 – ca.1625), lawyer, Doctor of Medicine and composer for the lute
* Jean Mairet (1604–1686), dramatist.
* Jean-Baptiste Boisot (1638–1694), abbot and scholar
* Michel Blavet (1700–1768), flutist, composer
* Charles Fourier (1772–1837), inventor of socialist "Phalanstery, phalansteries" (a self-contained utopian community building for 500–2000 people).
* Jean Joseph Antoine de Courvoisier (1775–1835), magistrate and politician.
* Charles-Étienne-François Ruty (1777–1828), comte, general, peer—commissioned into the army in 1793 and promoted to lt. general in 1813
* Charles Weiss (librarian), Charles Weiss (1779–1866), librarian and bibliographer
* Charles Nodier (1780–1844), writer. Leader of the Romanticism, Romantic movement.
* Claude Louis Séraphin Barizain (1783–1843), a French actor, known as ''Monrose''.
* Jean Claude Eugène Péclet (1793–1857), physicist, gave his name to the Péclet number
*
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.
His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
(1802–1885), poet, dramatist and romance-writer.
* Pierre-Marie-Charles de Bernard du Grail de la Villette, Charles de Bernard (1804–1850), a French writer.
* Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809–1865), politician, economist and author, theorist of anarchism.
* Adolphe Braun (1812–1877), early photographer
* Hilaire de Chardonnet (1838–1924), inventor of artificial silk
* Hippolyte Langlois (1839–1912), a French general, he wrote on military science.
* Alfred Nicolas Rambaud (1842–1905), a French historian.
* Henry Aron (1842–1885), journalist
* Louis-Jean Résal (1854–1920), engineer who built the Pont Mirabeau and the Pont Alexandre III in Paris
* Auguste and Louis Lumière (1862–1954) and (1864–1948), inventors of cinematography
* Émile Scaremberg (1863–1938), tenor
* Tristan Bernard (1866–1947), journalist and humorist
* Albert Seitz (1872–1937), composer and violist
* Marie-Louise Paris (1889–1969), French engineer who founded the Women's Polytechnic
* Ludovic Arrachart (1897–1933), aviator
* Fred Gerard (trumpeter), Fred Gerard (1924–2012), jazz trumpeter and composer
* Gabriel Plançon (1916–1943), French Resistance fighter.
* Georges Petetin (1920–2012), painter and sculptor
* Viviane Wade (born 1932), First Lady of Senegal (2000–2012)
* Bernard Blum (1938–2014), agronomist and founder of IBMA and ABIM
* Philippe Bender (born 1942), flutist and conductor
* Raymond Blanc (born 1949), chef
* Maurice Clerc (mathematician), Maurice Clerc (born 1949), mathematician
* Arnaud Courlet de Vregille (born 1958), painter
* Philippe Berta (born 1960), MP
* Killing of Olivier Maire, Olivier Maire (1960–2021), assassinated Catholic priest
* Sylvie Mamy (born ca.1965), musicologist
* Thomas Paris (born 1970), author
* Gaspard Augé (born 1979), one half of electronic music duo Justice (band), Justice
Sport
* Lucien Laurent (1907–2005), footballer
* Jean de Gribaldy (1922–1987), professional racing cyclist and directeur sportif
* Morrade Hakkar (born 1972), boxer
* Cyril Kali (born 1984), footballer
* Yohann Lasimant (born 1989), footballer
and
* Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (born 1967) is the Lord of Besançon.
Literary references
*
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...
, in his account ''
Commentarii de Bello Gallico
''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; ), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' (), is Julius Caesar's first-hand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it, Caesar describes the battles and intrigues that took place in the nine yea ...
'' gives a description of the antique city of Besançon, named Vesontio (first book, section 38):
[1.38] When he had proceeded three days' journey, word was brought to him that Ariovistus was hastening with all his forces to seize on Vesontio, which is the largest town of the Sequani, and had advanced three days' journey from its territories. Caesar thought that he ought to take the greatest precautions lest this should happen, for there was in that town a most ample supply of every thing which was serviceable for war; and so fortified was it by the nature of the ground, as to afford a great facility for protracting the war, inasmuch as the river Doubs almost surrounds the whole town, as though it were traced round it with a pair of compasses. A mountain of great height shuts in the remaining space, which is not more than , where the river leaves a gap, in such a manner that the roots of that mountain extend to the river's bank on either side. A wall thrown around it makes a citadel of this [mountain], and connects it with the town.
* Gary Jennings (author), Gary Jennings's novel ''raptor (novel), Raptor'', which takes place in the 5th century AD, describes Vesontio lavishly.
* In Stendhal's novel ''Le rouge et le noir'', Julien Sorel, the main character, studies for a while at the Catholic seminary at Besançon (first book, chapters 24 to 30):
Eventually he saw the white walls beyond the distant mountain; it was the citadel of Besançon. "What a difference", he said, sighing, "if I could come into this fine city as a sub-lieutenant of one of these regiments of the post." Besançon is not only one of the prettiest cities in France, but it abounds in brave and intelligent men. Julien, however, was only a little peasant, without any means of approaching distinguished personages.
* In the poem "This Century Was Two Years Old" (''Les Feuilles d'automne''; literally – "The Leaves of Autumn"),
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician.
His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...
evokes his birth in Besançon:
This century was two years old. Rome was replacing Sparta;
Already Napoleon was emerging from under Bonaparte.
And already the First Consul's tight mask
Had been split in several places by the Emperor's brow.
It was then that in Besançon, that old Spanish town,
Cast like a seed into the flying wind,
A child was born of mixed blood—Breton and Lorraine—
Pallid, blind and mute,...
That child, whom Life was scratching from its book,
And who had not another day to live,
Was me.
* Julian Barnes's novel ''A History of the World in Chapters'' features as chapter 3: "Wars of Religion"—a fictional manuscript reportedly from the Archives Municipales de Besançon.
* Balzac's novel ''Albert Savaron'' takes place in Besançon.
* Colonel Sainte-Hermine, the fictional hero of Alexandre Dumas' ''The Knight of Sainte-Hermine, The Last Cavalier'', is a native of Besançon.
The Christmas carol "Berger, Secoue Ton Sommeil Profond", known in English as "Shepherds, Shake Off Your Drowsy Sleep", originated in Besançon in the 17th century.
Twin towns – sister cities
Besançon is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with:
* Bielsko-Biała, Poland
* Bistriţa, Romania
* Charlottesville, Virginia, Charlottesville, United States
* Douroula, Burkina Faso
* Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
* Hadera, Israel
* Kirklees, England, United Kingdom
* Kuopio, Finland
* Man, Ivory Coast, Man, Ivory Coast
* Matsumae, Hokkaido, Matsumae, Japan
* Neuchâtel, Switzerland
* Pavia, Italy
* Tver, Russia
See also
* Battle of Besançon
* Centre-Chapelle des Buis
* Communes of the Doubs department
* List of works by James Pradier
* Paintings in Besançon Cathedral
* Protestantism in Besançon
* Immigration to Besançon
* Bregille Funicular
References
Further reading
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Besancon
Besançon,
58 BC
Cities in France
Communes of Doubs
Doubs communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia
Germania Superior
Prefectures in France
Sequani