Maillol sculptures in the Tuileries
This statue of a nude woman, with the Eiffel Tower visible in the distance over her left shoulder and the Orsay Museum off to her right, is called Pomone and Read More …
Category: France
Fort Griffon
This fort is on a hill at the northwest end of Besançon, on the opposite side of the city from the Citadel. It was named after an Italian engineer and Read More …
Cruising on the Doubs River
To do a one-hour circle cruise around Besançon on the Doubs River, you have your choice of two boats, which are called (of course) the Victor Hugo and the Vauban. Read More …
Cycling in Besançon
Before leaving home, I took out a seven-day subscription to VéloCité, Besançon’s bicycle sharing system, at their website www.velocite.besancon.fr/. This cost me all of two Euros — exactly a quarter Read More …
Synagogue of Besançon
At first glance you might think this building was a mosque, but it is actually a synagogue. When the Jewish community of Besançon commissioned the building from the local architect Read More …
The new Besançon tramway
When I visited Besançon in May 2014 the new tramway had been installed but was not yet operational, as only two of the nineteen trams had been delivered. They were Read More …
To Besançon by train
Like a number of other medium-sized French cities (such as Reims and Avignon, for example), Besançon has two railway stations: the traditional one near the center of town and a Read More …
The theater of Claude-Nicolas Ledoux
Besançon’s municipal theater was designed in 1775 by Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, the architect who also built (for example) the Rotonde de la Villette in Paris. In an age when most theaters Read More …
Birth house of the Lumière brothers
Auguste and Louis Lumière were born in this house in Besançon at 1 Place Rondot Saint-Quentin, which now has the address 1 Place Victor Hugo. They lived here until 1870, Read More …
Birth house of Victor Hugo (1802-1885)
Victor Hugo was born in Besançon for the same reason that the poet Paul Verlaine was born in Metz. Their fathers were military officers who happened to be stationed in Read More …