Quite a large and beautiful city in the east of the country Besançon is located near the Swiss border and lakes . However, not so far from here and to Dijon - about 90 km along the highway . Besançon has about a quarter of a million inhabitants, and tourists here are also quite a lot of them . Perhaps very few of them go specifically and purposefully to Besancon: rather, they look on the way . However, for neighbors, Swiss and Germans, visiting the city is a pleasant trip for one day, which it is even worth taking as minimum due to located here famous citadel . fans of military history, this day will surely be a joy .

How to get to Besancon

It's not typical for a city of this size, but Besançon does not have its own airport. The nearest are the Lyon and joint airport of the three countries in Karlsruhe; get from both by car about two hours. But the train to Besançon can be reached from Paris, Dijon, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille. And also from Basel, Zurich or Frankfurt.

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A little history

The history of the city began in Roman times, and until the middle of the 17th century Besancon remained a free city. After the Thirty Years' War, he went to the French, and emigrants from Switzerland in the late 18th century began to make hours here, which also went to Besançon only for good. By the 19th century there was already quite a developed industry here. During the Second World War, the city did not play any significant role, although it was occupied, and the Nazis occupied the Vobanov fortifications for a time.

Entertainment, Excursions and Attractions of Besancon

An important city attraction is the Vauban Citadel, which the Marshal built here at the time of Louis XIV . She was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2008 . @ The city encircles the river Du, making a big loop around it, and just at the site of the branch Vauban, a specialist trained and trained in the field of military architecture, planned his fortification . The fortress stands on Mount Saint Etienne, one of the seven hills around the city - the strategical importance of this location was mentioned by Julius Caesar himself . By now it has been destroyed by the order of our days, but still quite a lot of the original construction is left . In addition, there is a beautiful view of the whole city and its surroundings from the top . Today in qi Adelie opened Museum of Resistance and Deportation, Museum of Archeology and Natural History Museum with the zoo, the aquarium, vivarium, aviary with nocturnal and Insectarium . More than a million tourists visit the castle every year .

The Cathedral of Saint-Jean in a cursory external examination can not be called a particularly large or impressive one. This is a classically Romanesque building at the foot of Mount Saint Etienne, at the citadel. The cathedral dates from 11-13 centuries. But in its colorful and rich interior you can see several valuable canvases, including "Virgin Mary with the Infant and Saints" by Fra Bartolomeo (1518). On the clock tower of the cathedral are placed the astronomical clock of the 19th century with tens of thousands of parts and eleven movable elements

To the east of the cathedral stand the 16th century Rivotte Gate with two round towers and a pedestrian sidewalk of the 19th century. To the west are the Black Gate, a Roman triumphal arch of the 2nd century with a rich sculptural decoration. Another evidence of the Roman presence in the city is the Kashtanov Square in the form of a semicircular amphitheater with partially preserved columns.

The Church of Saint Madeleine is another important religious landmark of the city . This is a neoclassical church built in the mid-18th century by Nicolas Nicole and dedicated to Mary Magdalene . Symmetrical facade towers were completed in the first half of the 19th century . Inside the church a museum is opened today . A much smaller but also very beautiful church of the same architect - the Notre-Dame du Refuge chapel at St. Jacques Hospital . There is also a church Saint-Pierre on the square 8 Se built in the late 18th century in neoclassical style, with the Corinthian colonnade and the pyramidal tower . In the same square you can see the famous Hotel de Ville of the 16th century built with the Besancon eagle and a bronze fountain, also with an eagle .

Granvell Palace was built in the 16th century for Cardinal Granvel, Chancellor at the Habsburg King Charles V. It stands in the heart of the city and arcades encircle the courtyard and the most important of the adjacent buildings . Inside you can see a set of seven tapestries made of wool with silk, which were woven since 1635 in Bruges. They depict seven important milestones in the life of Charles V. And in addition to that, a museum of time is opened in the palace, where beautiful and unusual clocks of different centuries are gathered.

Besancon is famous and as one of the richest in the sense of museum values ​​of the cities of the country . Not the least role in this is played by the Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology, where the collection is stored, which was started in 1694 again . The museum building was completely rebuilt in 1960 . by architect Louis Miguel, a student of Le Corbusier . And among his treasure - an excellent selection of classic sculptures antiquity and ancient Egyptian artifacts, as well as a very rich collection of paintings of Bellini, Tintoretto, Rubens, Titian, Cranach, Goya, Fragonard, David, Engr, Courbet, Constable, Matisse, Picasso .

Other curious city buildings - this is, for example, a theater on Theater Square, built at the end of the 19th century . The building is pretty and in itself, and its funny story: once it united the brewery and the circus . Noteworthy and the building city ​​theater, built in the 18th century . Prefect building urs on the street . Charles Nodier built Nicolas Nicole also in the 18th century, his front facade is adorned by an attractive small colonnade, and the rear is a rotunda of a round shape . A Besancon embankment forms the natural boundary of the Old City and represents the wonderful shady avenues for a walk .

And the modern spirit of Besançon reflects "La City", a high-tech glass-metal complex of office premises, combined with a communications center and several hotels. It was built on Gabriel Planson Street since 1992, was completed in 2006 and today forms one of the river panoramas of the city.

Besançon Neighborhood

To the southeast of the city, 20 minutes by car lies Ornan . In this village in the 19th century was born Gustav Courbet, the famous landscape painter .Ornan is located in the beautiful valley of Lu, and the painter often depicted local places . Today Ornan is a charming little town where no more than 5 thousand . people live, on the river there are still pile houses and there is its Old stone bridge with three arches, decorated with flowers . In Ornan, you should see the church of Saint-Laurin built in the 16th century: its interior is incomparably more pleasant than the exterior .Among other attractions Ornan is a white stone statue of Cardinal Granvel, also a native of the country and of course a very interesting Courbet museum .

To the southwest of Besancon is the Royal Salt Lake in Arc-e-Senan . In the 18th century it was designed as a kind of "ideal city" by the prominent architect Claude Nicolas Ledou . The architect's goal was, with enlightened rationality, to plan the enterprise so that it was as efficient as possible due to strict geometricity . Ideally semicircular, graceful and symmetrical the complex of buildings of the saltworks was to become the germ of the future city, which was prevented by the revolution . But the failed city was still recorded by UNESCO in World Heritage sites, and today it houses the museum .

Events of Besancon

In September in the city hosts the International Music Festival, one of the oldest and most prestigious festivals of classical music in the country. In addition, in June Besançon hosts the regional jazz festival, in August - the festival of French country music, and in October - the street music festival.