History

As part of the The archbishops were elevated to prince of the Holy Roman Empire in 1288. The close connection to the Empire is reflected by the city's coat of arms.

In the 15th century, Besançon came under the influence of the dukes of Burgundy. After the marriage of Mary of Burgundy to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, the city was in effect a Habsburg fief, which took it from Austrian to Spanish influence. In 1526 the city obtained the right to mint coins. It continued to strike coins until 1673. Nevertheless, all coins are in the name of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The Spaniards originally built the main defense complex, "la Citadelle" from 1668, following a design by the French military architect Vauban. In 1674 French troops took the city and Vauban himself got to upgrade its fortifications, which took some 30 years. At the Treaty of Nijmegen the city was awarded to France.

Surrounding the central city are walls built in that era, and between the train station and the central city is a complex moat system through which traffic has been directed. All of these fortifications are built with Vauban's classic star points. Surrounding the city a large number of fortifications were built at the time of Vauban, including the Fort de Trois Châtels, Fort Chaudanne, Fort du Petit Chaudanne, Fort Griffon, Fort des Justices, Fort Beauregard and Fort de Brégille, but the crown jewel of these is la Citadelle.

Built upon a mountaintop, bounded by sheer cliffs on one side, the Nazis during World War II. Nevertheless, action was limited to a bombing of the railway complex in 1943 and four days of ultimately futile German resistance to US attacks in 1944.

Across the Doubs sits the Forts Brégille and Beauregard. The Brégille Heights were reached by a funicular built in 1913. It passed from private ownership during its usage to the SNCF until 1987 when it was finally shut down. To this day the tracks, stations and even roadsigns of the funicular remain in place.

Sights

The city has one of the most beautiful historic centres of any major town in France. The old town, "la Boucle", is enclosed in a broad horse-shoe of the Doubs River|river Doubs, which is blocked off at the neck by Vauban's imposing Citadelle. The historic centre presents a remarkable ensemble of classic stone buildings, some dating back to the Middle Ages. Among the most visited historic monuments are:
the 16th century Palais Granvelle, built by Cardinal Granvelle, chancellor to the Habsburg emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V ,]
Vauban's citadel and remarkable riverside frontage
the St. Jean cathedral, dating largely from the 12th century
several Roman remains, notably the Porte Noire, a triumphal arch.

Besançon also has one of the finest city art galleries in France outside Paris. The Musée des Beaux Arts has a collection built up since 1694, and expanded over time by a remarkable series of bequests. The building itself was totally rebuilt in the 1960s by the architect Miquel, a pupil of Le Corbusier, its interior taking the form of a gently rising concrete walkway that takes visitors up from classical antiquity to the modern age. Among its treasures are a fine collection of classical antiquities and ancient Egyptian artefacts, as well as a very rich collection of paintings including works by Giovanni Bellini|Bellini, Bronzino, Tintoretto, Titian, Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens, Jordaens, Jacob Isaakszoon van Ruysdael|Ruysdael, Lucas Cranach the Elder|Cranach, Zurbaran, Goya, Philippe de Champaigne, Fragonard, Boucher, Jacques-Louis David|David, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres|Ingres, Géricault, Courbet, John Constable|Constable, Pierre Bonnard|Bonnard, Matisse, Picasso and many others.

Perhaps the most remarkable of the city's masterpieces is the massive Virgin and saints altarpiece in the St. Jean cathedral, by the Italian Renaissance painter Fra Bartolomeo.

Economy

The watch industry, for which Besançon remains the French capital, endured a major crisis in the 1970s when the advent of far-eastern quartz watches knocked out the traditional watch industry in the space of just a few years. This industrial crisis was epitomised by the famous "Lip" affair, by the name of one of Besançon's most prestigious brands of watches. Refusing to be beaten, the workers of Lip took over their factory and set it up as a worker's cooperative. The event branded Besançon as a city of the radical left, and though it produced a lot of notoriety and sympathy for the workers, it did little to help revive the watch industry, the cooperative going out of business after a short period. 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 technology in all fields, including telecommunications and biotechnology.

Transportation

A key staging post on the Strasbourg-Lyon (Germany-Spain) route, it also has direct high-speed train (TGV) links with Paris, Charles de Gaulle International Airport, and Lille. Unusually for a town of its size, it does not have a commercial airport, though two international airports, EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg and Lyon Saint-Exupéry International Airport, can be reached in about 2 hours.

Miscellaneous

It is also reputed to be France's most environmentally-friendly city, with a public transport network that has often been cited as a model. On account of the topography, the historic city centre lies at the edge of the modern city, and hiking tracks lead straight from the centre and up into the surrounding hills.

The city council has been in the hands of the Socialists and parties of the left since the second world war.

Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands is also Dame of Besançon.

Births

Claude Goudimel (1510-1572) - Musician, Teacher of Palestrina. Composer of the music for Protestant hymns
Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (1517-1586) - Cardinal, statesman and humanist. Counsellor of Charles V, Viceroy of Naples
Charles Fourier (1772-1837) - Inventor of socialist "phalansteries" (vast communal buildings surrounded by a highly cultivated agricultural area)
Charles Nodier (1780-1844) - Writer. Leader of the Romantic movement
Jean Claude Eugène Péclet (1793-1857) - physicist, gave his name to the Péclet number
Victor Hugo (1802-1885) - Writer and poet
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865)- Journalist (Le Peuple) and author of world-renowned socialist theories
Hilaire de Chardonnet (1838-1924) - Inventor of artificial silk
Louis-Jean Résal (1854-1920) - Engineer who built the Pont Mirabeau and the Pont Alexandre III in Paris
Auguste and Louis Lumière, (1862-1954) and (1864-1948) - Inventors of cinematography
Tristan Bernard (1866-1947) - Journalist and Humorist
Jean de Gribaldy (1922-1987) - Professional racing cyclist and directeur sportif

Popular culture

Besançon is where the Touché! series, an Australian series of books that teaches people French, is set. The series is about an Australian boy called Nick, who moves to a street in Besançon called rue Cézanne after his parents are separated. He befriends a French girl called Marianne, who introduces him to other residents of rue Cézanne, such as Ahmed, Annick, François Peitpain, Émile Mesquin, Monsieur Fric, Madame Boulin and Madamoiselle Moh. The first two books of the series take place in Besançon, whilst in the third, Nick visits his uncle in New Caledonia. In the fourth, Nick stays in Quebec, Canada. After the fourth book, Nick returns to Besançon.

Julian Barnes' novel "A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters" features as chapter 3: "Wars of Religion"--a fictional manuscript reportedly from the Archives Municipales de Besancon.

Twin towns