Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) 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 c ...

. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the

Jura Mountains The Jura Mountains ( , , , ; french: Massif du Jura; german: Juragebirge; it, Massiccio del Giura, rm, Montagnas da Jura) are a sub-alpine mountain range a short distance north of the Western Alps and mainly demarcate a long part of the Fre ...

and the border with Switzerland. Capital of the historic and cultural region of

Franche-Comté Franche-Comté (, ; ; Frainc-Comtou: ''Fraintche-Comtè''; frp, Franche-Comtât; also german: Freigrafschaft; es, Franco Condado; all ) is a cultural and historical region of eastern France. It is composed of the modern departments of Doubs, ...

, 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 c ...

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 with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

s and one of the two divisions of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed Force ...

. In 2019 the city had a population of 117,912, in a metropolitan area of 280,701, 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 of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...

of the river Doubs, the city was already important during the Gallo-Roman era under the name of ''Vesontio'', capital 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 ...

. 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 A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their part ...

in France. This has led it to become a centre for innovative companies in the fields of

microtechnology Microtechnology deals with 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 str ...

, micromechanics, and

biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

. The

University of Franche-Comté The University of Franche-Comté (UFC) is a pluridisciplinary public French university located in Besançon, Franche-Comté, with decentralized campuses in Belfort, Montbéliard, Vesoul and Lons-le-Saunier. It is a founding member of the communi ...

, founded in 1423, enrolls nearly 30,000 students each year, including around 4,000 trainees from all over the world within its

Centre for Applied Linguistics {{unreferenced, date=December 2011 The Centre for Applied Linguistics (CLA), Besançon (French: ''Centre de linguistique appliquée de Besançon'') is one of the world's leading schools for teaching French as a foreign language and French linguistic ...

(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 is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

, designed by Vauban, have been listed as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

since 2008.

History

Toponymy

The city is first recorded in 58 BC as ''Vesontio'' in Book I of Julius Caesar's ''

Commentarii de Bello Gallico ''Commentarii de Bello Gallico'' (; en, Commentaries on the Gallic War, italic=yes), also ''Bellum Gallicum'' ( en, Gallic War, italic=yes), is Julius Caesar's firsthand account of the Gallic Wars, written as a third-person narrative. In it ...

''. 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. 0 Besançon - Doubs - Quai Vauban (3)

Ancient history

The city sits within an oxbow of the river Doubs (a tributary of the

Saône The Saône ( , ; frp, Sona; lat, Arar) is a river in eastern France. It is a right tributary of the Rhône, rising at Vioménil in the Vosges department and joining the Rhône in Lyon, at the southern end of the Presqu'île. The name der ...

); a mountain closes the fourth side. During the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, 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 () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...

rise abruptly to its immediate south, presenting a significant natural barrier. According to Strabo, 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 River ), Surselva, Graubünden, Switzerland , source1_coordinates= , source1_elevation = , source2 = Rein Posteriur/Hinterrhein , source2_location = Paradies Glacier, Graubünden, Switzerland , source2_coordinates= , so ...

and had built an

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretch ...

(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 ...

tribe and the Germanic

Suebi The Suebi (or Suebians, also spelled Suevi, Suavi) were a large group of Germanic peoples originally from the Elbe river region in what is now Germany and the Czech Republic. In the early Roman era they included many peoples with their own name ...

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. He and his followers took part in a war in Gaul, assisting the Arverni and Sequani in defeating their rivals, the Aedui. They ...

. Julius Caesar, in his commentaries detailing his conquest of

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only durin ...

, describes ''Vesontio'' (possibly

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

ized), as the largest town of the

, a smaller

ic tribe, and mentions that a wooden palisade surrounded it. It appears as ''Vesontine'' in the

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the '' cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The map is a 13th-ce ...

. Over the centuries, the name permutated to become ''Besantio'', ''Besontion'', ''Bisanz'' in

Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. 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 In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

since the 4th century.

Middle Ages

In 843, the

Treaty of Verdun The Treaty of Verdun (), agreed in , divided the Francia, Frankish Empire into three kingdoms among the surviving sons of the emperor Louis the Pious, Louis I, the son and successor of Charlemagne. The treaty was concluded following almost three ...

divided up

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Em ...

's empire. Besançon became part of

Lotharingia Lotharingia ( la, regnum Lotharii regnum Lothariense Lotharingia; french: Lotharingie; german: Reich des Lothar Lotharingien Mittelreich; nl, Lotharingen) was a short-lived medieval successor kingdom of the Carolingian Empire. As a more durable ...

, under the Duke of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) 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. The ...

. As part of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

since 1034, the city became an

, and was designated the

Free Imperial City of Besançon The Free Imperial City of Besançon was a self-governing free imperial city that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Besançon. From 1184 until 1654 the city of Besançon was a free imperial city () as shown by the coat of arms un ...

(an autonomous city-state under the Holy Roman Emperor) in 1184. In 1157, Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt ...

held the

Diet of Besançon The Diet of Besançon was a ''Hoftag'' (diet) of the Holy Roman Empire held in the city of Besançon by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in October 1157. The contemporary historian Rahewin provides important coverage of the diet. Two charters iss ...

. There, Cardinal

Orlando Bandinelli Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland ( it, Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a con ...

(the future Pope Alexander III, then adviser of

Pope Adrian IV Pope Adrian IV ( la, Adrianus IV; born Nicholas Breakspear (or Brekespear); 1 September 1159, also Hadrian IV), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 4 December 1154 to his death in 1159. He is the only Englishman t ...

) 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 (; la, feudum) 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 f ...

), 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 ( la, princeps imperii, german: Reichsfürst, cf. '' Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised as such by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors ...

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

. 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. He was never crowned by the pope, as the journey to Rome was blocked by the Venetians. He proclaimed himself Ele ...

, the city was in effect a Habsburg fief. In 1519 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

, 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 , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ve ...

claimed the province as a consequence of his marriage to Marie-Thérèse of Spain in the

War of Devolution In the 1667 to 1668 War of Devolution (, ), France occupied large parts of the Spanish Netherlands and Franche-Comté, both then provinces of the Holy Roman Empire (and properties of the King of Spain). The name derives from an obscure law known ...

. 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 bullock. A bow pin holds it in place. The term "oxbow" is widely used to refer to a U-shaped meander in a river, ...

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 The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen ('; german: Friede von Nimwegen) were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen between August 1678 and October 1679. The treaties ended various interconnected wars among France, the Dutch Republi ...

(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 Dole may refer to: Places * Dole, Ceredigion, Wales * Dole, Idrija, Slovenia * Dole, Jura, France ** Arrondissement of Dole * Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska * Dole, Ljubuški, ...

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

Modern Europe

In 1814, the Austrians invaded and bombarded the city. It also occupied an important position during the Franco-Prussian War 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 Lyon and Paris experiences.Michel Cordillot, ''L ...

is engaged. The

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

occupied the citadel during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Between 1940 and 1944, the Germans executed some one hundred

French resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

fighters there. However, Besançon saw little action during the war. The allies 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 slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite e ...

to the Brégille Heights. The funicular passed from private ownership to the SNCF, 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 (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earl ...

in Burgundy, northwest of

Lausanne Lausanne ( , , , ) ; it, Losanna; rm, Losanna. is the capital and largest city of the Swiss French speaking canton of Vaud. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway between the Jura Mountains and the Alps, and fac ...

in Switzerland, and southwest of

Belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Terr ...

in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is located at the edge of the

Topography

The city initially developed in a natural

(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 Planoise () is an urban area in the western part of Besançon, France, built in the 1960s between the hill of Planoise and the district of Hauts-de-Chazal. It is the most populous district of Besançon, with 21,000 inhabitants (17% of the total ...

, Chaudanne, Montfaucon, and Montboucon. (There is a barge canal that cuts through rock under Mont Saint-Étienne, short-cutting the meander.)

Climate

Besançon is under the influence of both an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(notable precipitations in quantity as much as in frequency) and a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in the middle latitudes (40 to 55 north), within large landmasses where prevailing winds blow overland bringing so ...

with hard winters (snow, frost) and warm and dry summers. The year-round average is . The warmest month is July and the coldest is January . Besançon receives about of

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hai ...

per year. The wettest month is May (); the driest is August (). The highest temperature ever, recorded on 28 July 1921, was , and the lowest was a reached on 1 January 1985.

Neighborhoods

La Boucle LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

* Battant * Bregille * Les Clairs-Soleils * Velotte * La Butte * Les Chaprais * Palente * Les Tilleroyes *

Montrapon Montrapon, with Fontaine-Écu are two sectors forming an area located in the north of Besançon (France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas Fra ...

* Saint-Claude * Saint-Ferjeux * Chailluz

Population

As of 2019, the population of the City of Besançon was 117,912, lower than the historical peak of 120,315 in 1975.

Grand Besançon Métropole Grand Besançon Métropole is the urban community, 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 was created in December 200 ...

covers , 68

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

and has a population of 195,745. The metropolitan area covers , 312

and has 280,701 inhabitants. It is the 39th metropolitan area of France, and its population increased by 4.5% between 2008 and 2019.

Government and politics

Until 2016, Besançon was the capital of the

administrative ''

région France is divided into eighteen administrative regions (french: régions, singular ), of which thirteen are located in metropolitan France (in Europe), while the other five are overseas regions (not to be confused with the overseas collect ...

'' of France, a ''région'' including the four ''départements'' of Doubs,

Haute-Saône Haute-Saône (; Arpitan: ''Hiôta-Sona''; 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.Jura and

Territoire de Belfort The Territoire de Belfort () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, eastern France. It had a population of 141,318 in 2019.Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) 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. The ...

, and the "préfecture" was transferred to the city of

. However, Besançon remains the seat of the

regional council and of various decentralised administrations such as the regional offices of the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) or the Centre régional des œuvres universitaires et scolaires (Crous). Mayor of the City of Besançon is Anne Vignot ( The Greens).

Economy

The city is known for its

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, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

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 Université de Franche-Comté. , 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 purposes (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic). BME is also traditionally logical sciences ...

field. The city is also home of the

École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et des Microtechniques École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(ENSMM), a technological school with a strong reputation in the fields of

and

mechanics Mechanics (from Ancient Greek: μηχανική, ''mēkhanikḗ'', "of machines") is the area of mathematics and physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among physical objects. Forces applied to objects ...

and the

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 late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

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 adjacient parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. under provincial rule in the Roman Empire from the 1st century ...

. 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 cond ...

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 The Porte Noire (literally, "Black Gate") is a Roman triumphal arch in Besançon, France. The limestone arch was located at the southern end of the ''cardo'', the main north-to-south route of a Roman city. It measured 5.6 metres in width and 11.2 ...

, 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. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

built under

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...

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 (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

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

for the construction of other buildings. There are several domii 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_(1).jpg, The

, Roman triumphal arch File:Square Castan.JPG, Square Castan. File:Vestiges Arènes Besançon.jpg, Promenade Micaud.

Fortifications and military buildings

Most of the current fortification system (

citadel A citadel is the core 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. In ...

, defensive wall made up of ramparts and

bastion A bastion or bulwark 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 fi ...

s, Fort Griffon) is the work of the

Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Seigneur de Vauban, later Marquis de Vauban (baptised 15 May 163330 March 1707), commonly referred to as ''Vauban'' (), was a French military engineer who worked under Louis XIV. He is generally considered the ...

. This group of buildings allows Besançon to appear on the

UNESCO World Heritage List A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

with eleven other sites under the title

Fortifications of Vauban A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. 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

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: * 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 * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infant ...

in the sixteenth century with a belt provided with six bastioned

battery tower A battery tower was a defensive tower built into the outermost defences of many castles, usually in the 16th century or later, after the advent of firearms. Its name is derived from the word battery, a group of several cannon. These, usually ...

s : 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

. 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

'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 half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc taken ...

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 and dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. It currently houses the headquarters of the 1st Armored Division and the

7th Armoured Brigade 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

Places of worship

After the city acquired an episcopal see 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 period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD ...

. 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 Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

community while the

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

community inaugurated its synagogue in 1869. Finally, the Muslim community had two

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a Place of worship, place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) ...

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 (or pointed architecture) is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. I ...

, dating from the 9th, 12th and 18th centuries. It has two

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

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 S. Marco, and his original nickname Baccio della Porta, was an Italian Renaissance painter of religious subjects ...

, the painting of the ''Madonna in Glory with Saints'' painted in 1512. The cathedral dominates the old chapter district which includes the

Archbishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

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 secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

. The Grand

Seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

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 (plural ''cardines'') was a north–south street in Ancient Roman cities and military camps as an integral component of city planning. The cardo maximus, or most often the ''cardo'', was the main or central north–south-oriented street. ...

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. Ancient Egypt Colossal statue ...

glazed tile Porcelain tiles or ceramic tiles are porcelain or ceramic tiles commonly used to cover floors and walls, with a water absorption rate of less than 0.5 percent. The clay used to build porcelain tiles is generally denser. They can either be g ...

s. Cathédrale Saint-Jean Besançon.jpg, Besançon, la cathédrale Saint-Jean ; portail nord.jpg, Besancon Ste. Madeleine 1.jpg, Besançon, la basilique Saint Ferjeux.jpg, Chapelle Notre-Dame Refuge 001.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 for the town hall 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. Besançon, la synagogue (1)

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, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

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 begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th centur ...

, many

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

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 Greek and Roman thought ...

built for

Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle (1486–1550) was a Franc-Comtois politician who served as a close trusted adviser to Emperor Charles V. He was made suzerain of the imperial city of Besançon and held an influential position in the Netherlands. Fr ...

, Chancellor and Keeper of the Seals of

Emperor Charles V Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) fr ...

. It now houses the Museum of Time. The Town Hall was built by the architect Richard Maire who completed it in 1573. It has an

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

facade in the spirit of Italian Renaissance palaces. Until the Revolution, a large niche in the facade housed a bronze statue of Charles V riding a two-headed eagle. The Palais de Justice ( Court of Appeal) was originally the second main building of the town hall. In 1582, the municipality decided to enlarge the town hall to establish its court and its chapel. 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 with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry wall ...

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 June 4, 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 (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

s: the city has preserved from this important viticultural past a dozen ''cabordes'', former vineyard huts made of dry

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

. 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 or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

, 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 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 Victor Louis (10 May 1731, Paris – 2 July 1800, Paris) was a French architect, disqualified on a technicality from winning the Prix de Rome in architecture in 1755. Life He was born Louis-Nicolas Louis in Paris. He did not adopt the name Vic ...

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 Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (21 March 1736 – 18 November 1806) was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only domestic architecture but also town planning; as ...

who drew up the plans and entrusted the construction to Claude-Joseph-Alexandre Bertrand which began in 1778 and ended with its inauguration on August 9, 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 the area in a theater (usually located in a lowered area in front of the stage) in which musicians perform. Orchestral pits are utilized in forms of theatre that require music (such as opera and ballet) or in cases when incid ...

. On April 29, 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, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. H ...

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. 0 Besançon - Kursaal.JPG, Hôtel des Bains Besançon.jpg, Casino de Besançon.jpg, Café du Commerce.jpg, Observatoire de Besançon.jpg, Besançon's specialization in

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 Auguste Perret (12 February 1874 – 25 February 1954) was a French architect and a pioneer of the architectural use of reinforced concrete. His major works include the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the first Art Deco building in Paris; the Ch ...

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 Spanish architect and city planner. Biography Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Sert showed keen interest in the works of his uncle, the painter Josep Maria Sert, and of Gaudí. He ...

. The Cité des Arts inaugurated in 2013 is the work of the Japanese architect

Kengo Kuma is a Japanese architect and 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 prolific writi ...

Parks and gardens

With of

urban open space In land-use planning, urban green space is open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features -also referred to as blue spaces- and other kinds of natural environment. Most urban open spaces are ...

s, including of

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s, Besançon is considered the first green city in France with 204 m2 of green spaces per capita. The

Forest of Chailluz The Forest of Chailluz is a wooded area comprising 1,673 hectares, located in Besançon, in the Doubs, France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of oversea ...

, 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 leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, a ...

forest, which includes a wildlife park and a

fitness trail A fitness trail, trim trail or parcourse consists of a path or course with outdoor exercise equipment or obstacles installed along its length for exercising the human body to promote good health. The course is designed to promote physical fi ...

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 th ...

under the citadel. The park around the basin is currently owned by the departmental council of

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) 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 The term Field of Mars ( la, Campus Martius) goes back to antiquity, and designates an area, inside or near a city, used as a parade or exercise ground by the military. Notable examples of places which were used for these purposes include: * Campus ...

). It was at first a

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

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

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 they can fly; hence, aviaries are also sometimes known as flight cages. A ...

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:Parc Gare d'Eau Besançon.jpg, Jardins de la Gare d'Eau. File:Promenade Chamars Besançon.jpg, Promenade Chamars. File:Promenade Micaud Besançon.jpg, Promenade Micaud. File:Promenade Granvelle Besançon.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 flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can b ...

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 (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are blind, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille display ...

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 deciduous tree belonging to the beech family Fagaceae. Description ''Fagus sylvatica'' is a large tree, capable of reaching heights of up to tall and trunk diameter, though more ...

, 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 orname ...

, 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 Wallace Fountains are public drinking fountains named after, financed by and roughly designed by Richard Wallace (art collector), Sir Richard Wallace. The final design and sculpture is by Wallace's friend Charles-Auguste Lebourg. They are large ca ...

, statues of

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

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, an ...

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.

Culture

Museums and galleries

There are five museums in Besançon that all bear the designation "

Museum of France Museum of France (''Musée de France'') is a title given to the main state museums in France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and te ...

". 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 the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

by almost a century. It has benefited from a remarkable series of bequests over time. In the 1960s the architect

Luis Miquel Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

, a pupil of

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

, 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 Bellini is an Italian name, Italian surname, formed as a patronymic or plural form of Bellino (surname), Bellino. People *Family of Italian painters: **Jacopo Bellini (c. 1396–c. 1470), father of Gentile and Giovanni **Gentile Bellini (c. 1429� ...

Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( it, Il Bronzino ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italian Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or red ...

Tintoretto Tintoretto ( , , ; born Jacopo Robusti; late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594) was an Italian painter identified with the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized the speed wit ...

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, n ...

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition ...

Jordaens Jacob (Jacques) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and tapestry designer known for his history paintings, genre scenes and portraits. After Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, he was the leading Fle ...

, Ruisdael, Cranach, Zurbarán,

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 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, and e ...

Philippe de Champaigne Philippe de Champaigne (; 26 May 1602 – 12 August 1674) was a Brabançon-born French Baroque era painter, a major exponent of the French school. He was a founding member of the Académie de peinture et de sculpture in Paris, the premier art ...

, Fragonard, Boucher,

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( , ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassical painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic orthodoxy against the a ...

, Géricault,

Courbet Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet ( , , ; 10 June 1819 – 31 December 1877) was a French painter who led the Realism movement in 19th-century French painting. Committed to painting only what he could see, he rejected academic convention and t ...

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

, Bonnard,

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primar ...

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is kn ...

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 horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a fl ...

hourglass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) 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) ...

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 (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its terr ...

, 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 Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simp ...

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

, 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 the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...

of Burgundy-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 historic ma ...

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 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 centres that m ...

. 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 A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning co ...

repertoire,

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small num ...

and

recital A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

s. 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 Seiji (written: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , or in hiragana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese ski jumper *, Japanese racing driver *, Japanese politician *, Japanese film directo ...

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 Wilhelm ...

Michel Plasson Michel Plasson (born 2 October 1933, Paris, France) is a French conductor. Plasson was a student of Lazare Lévy at the Conservatoire de Paris. In 1962, he was a prize-winner at the International Besançon Competition for Young Conductors. ...

Zdeněk Mácal Zdeněk Mácal (; born 8 January 1936) is a Czech conductor. Mácal was born in Brno, Czechoslovakia, and began violin lessons with his father at the age of four. He later attended the Brno Conservatory and the Janáček Academy of Music and ...

. 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:

, Besançon,

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: or , ; ; meaning ''mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace af ...

. 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 instrument In the historically informed performance movement, musicians perform classical music using restored or replicated versions of the instruments for which it was originally written. Often performances by such musicians are said to be "on authenti ...

s. The Foire Comtoise is a trade fair and a

travelling funfair A traveling carnival (US English), usually simply called a carnival, or travelling funfair (UK English), is an amusement show that may be made up of amusement rides, food vendors, merchandise vendors, games of chance and skill, thrill acts, ...

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 Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (i.e., shared by ...

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.

Media

* Radio BIP. Originally operating as a

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

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 Communauty 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 France Bleu is a network of local and regional radio stations in France, part of the national public broadcasting group Radio France. The network has a public service mission to serve local audiences and provides local news and content from each ...

, generalist. *

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air public television channel and part of the France Télévisions group, which also includes France 2, France 4, France 5 and France Info. It is made up of a network of regional television services prov ...

Franche-Comté. Public TV. *

L'Est Républicain ''L'Est Républicain'' is a daily regional French newspaper based in Nancy, France. ''L'Est Républicain'' was established in 1889 by Léon Goulette, a French Republican. The newspaper was founded on the grounds of ''anti-Boulangisme''. It was ...

. 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 sports Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...

such as

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A His ...

mountain biking Mountain biking is a sport of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, usually using specially designed mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and p ...

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done ...

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically at ...

Sports venues

The Palais des sports Ghani-Yalouz, the largest indoor sports

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectato ...

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 Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

configuration. The main

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

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 An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

, the La Fayette ice rink, two indoor

Olympic swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool conforms to regulated dimensions that are large enough for international competition. This type of swimming pool is used in the Olympic Games, where the race course is in length, typically referred to as "long cour ...

s (Mallarmé and La Fayette), two outdoor swimming pools (Chalezeule and Port Joint) and ten

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ...

s. A large

indoor climbing A climbing wall is an artificially constructed wall with grips for hands and feet, usually used for indoor climbing, but sometimes located outdoors. Some are brick or wooden constructions, but on most modern walls, the material most often used ...

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 BMX, an abbreviation for bicycle motocross or bike motocross, is a cycle sport performed on BMX bikes, either in competitive BMX racing or freestyle BMX, or else in general street or off-road recreation. History BMX began during the earl ...

, skateboarding) and balance practices (

parkour Parkour () is an athletic training discipline or sport in which practitioners (called ''traceurs'') attempt to get from point A to point B in the fastest and most efficient way possible, without assisting equipment and often while performing ...

slacklining Slacklining refers to the act of walking, running or balancing along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors. Slacklining is similar to slack rope walking and tightrope walking. Slacklines differ from tightw ...

). 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, at the gates of Besançon, there is a free flight site for the practice of

paragliding Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched Glider (aircraft), glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a :wikt:harness, harness o ...

and

hang-gliding Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covere ...

as well as a

cliff In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on ...

with nearly 150 climbing routes from 20 to 40 meters. The Golf de Besançon is an 18-hole

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". The ...

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 Entente Sportive Bisontine Feminine (ESBF) club, founded in 1970, plays in the French Women's First League. It is the most successful club in the city with notably 4 French league titles and a

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. 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 football, the city has two clubs playing in

Championnat National 3 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

, the fifth tier in the French football league system :

Racing Besançon Racing Besançon is a French football club based in Besançon. It was founded in 1904. They play at the Stade Léo Lagrange. The club currently competes in the Championnat National 2 the fourth tier of France Football. History Founded in 1904 ...

(RB) and Besançon Football (BF).

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

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 Besançon Basket Comté Doubs was a basketball club based in Besançon, France that played in the Ligue Nationale de Basketball. Their home arena was the Palais des sports Ghani-Yalouz. The club was placed into receivership In law, receivershi ...

, now defunct, played nine seasons in the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France and counted Bruce Bowen,

Tanoka Beard Tanoka Dwight Beard (born September 29, 1971) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. During his career, he was able to play both the power forward and center positions. He earned an All-EuroLeague Second Team selection ...

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 Khédafi Djelkhir, or sometimes Khesafi Djelkhir, (born 26 October 1983) is a French featherweight amateur boxer of Algerian origin. He qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal at the 2004 European Championships. Career Dje ...

, wrestling with Olympic medalist Ghani Yalouz, archery with

Jean-Charles Valladont Jean-Charles Valladont (born 20 March 1989) is a French archer. He competed at the 2008 and 2016 Olympics, the latter in which he won a silver medal. He won another silver medal at the 2015 World Cup.Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consist ...

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 Trail running is a sport-activity which combines running, and, where there are steep gradients, hiking, that is run "on any unpaved surface". It is similar to both mountain and fell running (also known as hill running). Mountain running may, ...

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 Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of ...

and southwest Europe, and the N–S route linking northern France and the Netherlands with Switzerland. The city is served by the A36 motorway, which connects the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

border with

Rail

Besançon is well connected with the rest of France by train. One can reach major destinations such as

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, Strasbourg,

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

, Montpellier and

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the Nord ...

directly. The city has some international connections to cities such as

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS) ...

in Switzerland,

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian dialects, Hessian: , "Franks, Frank ford (crossing), ford on the Main (river), Main"), is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as o ...

and

Freiburg im Breisgau Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

. * 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 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 Hauts-de-Chazal is a new sector of the area of Planoise, located in the west of Besançon ( Doubs, Franche-Comté, France). History Hauts-de-Chazal is a sector of Planoise, located in the French city of Besançon. The area was built in 2007 ...

and alternative destinations of Chalezeule ("parc Micaud") and the Besançon railway station at "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: *

Ludovic Arrachart Ludovic Arrachart (15 August 1897, Besançon - 24 May 1933, Maisons) was a French aviator. His long-distance flights made him a pioneer of intercontinental aviation. He notably beat two world records : first flying a Breguet 19 from Étampes to ...

(1897–1933), aviator *

Henry Aron Henry Aron (11 November 1842 – 13 November 1885) was a French journalist and political essayist. He wrote for several prominent Parisian journals and was director of the ''Journal officiel de la République française'' from 1876 until 1881. He ...

(1842–1885), journalist *

Gaspard Augé Gaspard Augé (; born 21 May 1979 in Besançon) is a French musician and graphic designer. He is one of the two members of French electronic music duo Justice. Biography Augé was born into a family of Protestant industrialists from Besançon, ...

(born 1979), one half of electronic music duo

Justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

* Philippe Bender (born 1942), flutist and conductor *

Tristan Bernard Tristan Bernard (7 September 1866 – 7 December 1947) was a French playwright, novelist, journalist and lawyer. Life He studied law, and after his military service, he started his career as the manager of an aluminium smelter. In the 1890s, ...

(1866–1947), journalist and humorist * Philippe Berta (born 1960), MP *

Jean-Baptiste Besard Jean-Baptiste Besard (c.1567 – c.1625) was a bisontin lutenist, composer and anthologist who lived and worked in the Holy Roman Empire.Julia Sutton: ''The Lute Instructions of Jean-Baptiste Besard'', in: ''The Musical Quarterly'' vol. 51, no. 2 ...

(1567 – c. 1625), lawyer, Doctor of Medicine and composer for the lute *

Raymond Blanc Raymond Blanc OBE (born 19 November 1949) is a French chef. Blanc is the chef patron at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, a hotel-restaurant in Great Milton, Oxfordshire, England. The restaurant has two Michelin stars and scored 9/10 in the ''Good F ...

(born 1949), chef *

Michel Blavet Michel Blavet (March 13, 1700 – October 28, 1768) was a French composer and flute virtuoso. Although Blavet taught himself to play almost every instrument, he specialized in the bassoon and the flute which he held to the left, the opposite of ho ...

(1700–1768), flutist, composer * Bernard Blum (1938–2014), agronomist and founder of IBMA and ABIM * Jean-Baptiste Boisot (1638–1694), abbot and scholar *

Adolphe Braun Jean Adolphe Braun (13 June 1812 – 31 December 1877)John Hannavy, Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography', Vol. 1 (Routledge, 2007), pp. 204–205. was a French photographer, best known for his floral still lifes, Parisian street scenes ...

(1812–1877), early photographer *

Hilaire de Chardonnet Louis-Marie Hilaire Bernigaud de Grange, Count (''Comte'') de Chardonnet (1 May 1839 – 11 March 1924) was a French engineer and industrialist from Besançon, and inventor of artificial silk. In the late 1870s, Chardonnet was working with Loui ...

(1838–1924), inventor of artificial silk * Maurice Clerc (born 1949), mathematician * Arnaud Courlet de Vregille (born 1958), painter *

Charles Fourier François Marie Charles Fourier (;; 7 April 1772 – 10 October 1837) was a French philosopher, an influential early socialist thinker and one of the founders of utopian socialism. Some of Fourier's social and moral views, held to be radical i ...

(1772–1837), inventor of socialist " phalansteries" (vast communal buildings surrounded by a highly cultivated agricultural area) * Claude Goudimel (1510–1572), musician, teacher of Palestrina. Composer of Protestant hymns *

Jean de Gribaldy Jean de Gribaldy (18 July 1922 – 2 January 1987) was a French road cyclist and directeur sportif. He rode in the Tour de France in 1947 and 1948. Biography Born in Besançon, Doubs ''département'', Gribaldi was a professional racing cycl ...

(1922–1987), professional racing cyclist and

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is s ...

* Morrade Hakkar (born 1972), boxer *

(1802–1885), writer and poet * Cyril Kali (born 1984), footballer *

Yohann Lasimant Yohann Lasimant (born 4 September 1989) is a French professional footballer who plays as a winger and midfielder for Championnat National 3 club Besançon Football. Club career Rennes and Sedan Born in Besançon, Lasimant began his career at ...

(born 1989), footballer *

Lucien Laurent Lucien Laurent (10 December 1907 – 11 April 2005) was a French association football player who played as a forward. Playing for France, at the 1930 World Cup he scored the first ever FIFA World Cup goal against Mexico. Career Laurent was ...

, footballer *

Auguste and Louis Lumière The Lumière brothers (, ; ), Auguste Lumière, Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (19 October 1862 – 10 April 1954) and Louis Lumière, Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1948), were French manufacturers of photography equipment ...

(1862–1954) and (1864–1948), inventors of cinematography * Olivier Maire (1960–2021), assassinated Catholic priest *

Jean Mairet Jean (de) Mairet (10 May 160431 January 1686) was a classical french dramatist who wrote both tragedies and comedies. Life He was born at Besançon, and went to Paris to study at the Collège des Grassins about 1625. In that year he produce ...

(1604–1686), dramatist * Sylvie Mamy, musicologist *

Charles Nodier Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (29 April 1780 – 27 January 1844) was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the ''conte fantastique'', gothic literature, and vampire tales. His dream related writings ...

(1780–1844), writer. Leader of the Romantic movement * Marie Louise Outhwaite (née Roget) (1814–1905), prominent early settler of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. * Marie-Louise Paris (1889–1969), French engineer who founded the Women's Polytechnic * Thomas Paris (born 1970), author * Jean Claude Eugène Péclet (1793–1857),

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate ca ...

, gave his name to the

Péclet number In continuum mechanics, the Péclet number (, after Jean Claude Eugène Péclet) is a class of dimensionless numbers relevant in the study of transport phenomena in a continuum. It is defined to be the ratio of the rate of advection of a physical ...

Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (20 August 151721 September 1586), Comte de La Baume Saint Amour, was a Bisontin (Free Imperial City of Besançon) statesman, made a cardinal, who followed his father as a leading minister of the Spanish Habsburg ...

(1517–1586), cardinal, statesman and humanist. Counsellor of Charles V, Viceroy of Naples *

Georges Petetin Georges Camille Gabriel Petetin (10 February 1920, Saint-Lupicin – 13 January 2012, Auxerre), was a French still life and landscape painter and sculptor. Biography Georges Petetin was raised in Saint-Lupicin in the Jura region of France b ...

(1920-2012), painter and sculpter *

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (, , ; 15 January 1809, Besançon – 19 January 1865, Paris) was a French socialist,Landauer, Carl; Landauer, Hilde Stein; Valkenier, Elizabeth Kridl (1979) 959 "The Three Anticapitalistic Movements". ''European So ...

(1809–1865), politician, economist and author, theorist of anarchism *

Louis-Jean Résal Jean Résal (22 October 1854, in Besançon – 14 November 1919, in Paris) was a French civil engineer. He was a professor of mechanical engineering at the École polytechnique, and designed several metal bridges in France, especially bridges ...

(1854–1920), engineer who built the Pont Mirabeau and the

Pont Alexandre III The Pont Alexandre III is a deck arch bridge that spans the Seine in Paris. It connects the Champs-Élysées quarter with those of the Invalides and Eiffel Tower. The bridge is widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the cit ...

in Paris *

Charles-Étienne-François Ruty Charles-Étienne-François de Ruty (1774–1828), count, was a French artillery officer during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, who rose to the rank of general of division, state counsellor (1818) and Peer of France from 1819. Fi ...

(1777–1828), comte, general, peer—commissioned into the army in 1793 and promoted to lt. general in 1813 *

Émile Scaremberg Émile Scaremberg (26 April 1863 – 26 February 1938) was a French tenor. Biography Scaremberg (sometime spelled Scaramberg) was born in Besançon in Franche-Comté.

(1863–1938), tenor * Albert Seitz (1872–1937), composer and violist *

Viviane Wade Viviane Wade née Vert (born 13 September 1932) is a French-born Senegalese public figure who served as First Lady of Senegal from 2000 to 2012, as the wife of President Abdoulaye Wade. Early life Born in Besançon, she was raised in France. Sh ...

(born 1932), French-born First Lady of Senegal (2000 - 2012) *

Charles Weiss Charles "Chuck" Weiss is an American computer scientist and software designer. Life and career Weiss was a childhood friend of Larry Ellison. He graduated from the College of Engineering at Cornell University in 1966. Weiss worked at Ameri ...

(1779–1866), librarian and bibliographer King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands is also the ''Lord of Besançon''.

Literary references

* Julius Caesar, in his account ''

'' gives a description of the antique city of Besançon, named Vesontio (first book, section 38):

.38 .38 caliber is a frequently used name for the caliber of firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). Th ...
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 ountain and connects it with the town.

Gary Jennings Garry or Gary Jennings may refer to: *Gary Jennings (author) (1928–1999), American novelist *Garry Jennings, English rock guitarist active since 1985 *Gary Jennings (athlete) (born 1972), English Olympic hurdler *Gary Jennings Jr. Gary Jennin ...

's novel ''

Raptor Raptor or RAPTOR may refer to: Animals The word "raptor" refers to several groups of bird-like dinosaurs which primarily capture and subdue/kill prey with their talons. * Raptor (bird) or bird of prey, a bird that primarily hunts and feeds on v ...

'', which takes place in the 5th century AD, describes Vesontio lavishly. * In

Stendhal Marie-Henri Beyle (; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (, ; ), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels ''Le Rouge et le Noir'' ('' The Red and the Black'', 1830) and ''La Chartreuse de ...

's novel '' Le rouge et le noir'', Julien Sorel, the main character, studies for a while at the Catholic

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...

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"),

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 Julian Patrick Barnes (born 19 January 1946) is an English writer. He won the Man Booker Prize in 2011 with '' The Sense of an Ending'', having been shortlisted three times previously with ''Flaubert's Parrot'', '' England, England'', and ''Ar ...

'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 Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer. ...

' ''

The Last Cavalier ''The Knight of Sainte-Hermine'' (published in France in 2005 under the title ''Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine'', and translated to English under the title ''The Last Cavalier'') is an unfinished historical novel by Alexandre Dumas, believed to ...

'', 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

twinned Twinning (making a twin of) may refer to: * In biology and agriculture, producing two offspring (i.e., twins) at a time, or having a tendency to do so; * Twin towns and sister cities, towns and cities involved in town twinning * Twinning inst ...

with: *

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; cs, Bílsko-Bělá, german: Bielitz-Biala, szl, Bjylsko-Bjoło) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 168,319 as of December 2021, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of . It is a ...

, Poland * Bistriţa, Romania *

Charlottesville Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen ...

, United States * Douroula, Burkina Faso *

, Germany *

Hadera Hadera ( he, חֲדֵרָה ) is a city located in the Haifa District of Israel, in the northern Sharon region, approximately 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the major cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa. The city is located along 7 km (5&nb ...

, Israel *

Kirklees Kirklees is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Kirklees Council with the status of a metropolitan borough. The largest town and administrative centre of Kirklees is Huddersfield, and the district also includes ...

, England, United Kingdom *

Kuopio Kuopio (, ) is a Finnish city and municipality located in the region of Northern Savonia. It has a population of , which makes it the most populous municipality in Finland. Along with Joensuu, Kuopio is one of the major urban, economic, and cult ...

, Finland *

Man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chrom ...

, Ivory Coast * Matsumae, Japan *

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, , ; german: Neuenburg) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, situated on the shoreline of Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, ...

, Switzerland *

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the cap ...

, Italy *

Tver Tver ( rus, Тверь, p=tvʲerʲ) is a city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is northwest of Moscow. Population: Tver was formerly the capital of a powerful medieval state and a model provincial town in the Russia ...

, Russia

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Besancon Communes of Doubs Prefectures in France Sequani 58 BC Germania Superior Doubs communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia Cities in France