Besancon, France Attractions

The city of Besançon, picturesquely situated in a bend on the Doubs, on the northwestern fringes of the Jura, is the chief town of the département of Doubs, a university town and the see of an archbishop. It is the center of the watchmaking industry established by immigrants from the Swiss Jura, and since the late 19th century has also produced artificial silk (rayon). The poet and novelist Victor Hugo (1802-1885) and the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière, inventors of the cinematograph, were born in Besançon.

Besançon was the capital (Vesontio) of a Gallic people, the Sequani, who are mentioned by Caesar in his account of the Gallic War. In the Middle Ages it was for long the chief town of the Franche-Comté (the "free county" of Burgundy). In 1032-1034 it passed into the hands of the German kings. From the 13th century it was a free imperial city under the name of Bisanz; then in 1678, under the treaty of Nijmegen, it became French. The town was given its present character in the late 17th century, when Vauban pulled down the old upper town, including the cathedral, to make room for the Citadel.