OK, I admit it. I chose this hotel because of the name. But it turned out to be a pleasant and convenient place to stay, so I can heartily recommend it even to those who are in Besançon for other reasons. The hotel is in one of the historic stone Read More …
The fortifications in this model were designed by Vauban in the seventeenth century, but the topography was the same when Julius Caesar came through with his army in the year 58 BC. His description of Besançon (then known as Vesontio) is in Book 1 (Chapter 38) of his Commentarii de Read More …
More than a hundred meters above the old town of Besançon, Vauban’s Citadel covers eleven hectares on the top of Mont Saint-Etienne. Besançon was controlled by the Spanish until 1674, when it was besieged and conquered by a French army of about 70,000 men under Vauban’s direction. Under one of Read More …
This “Space of Vauban” is located in one of the buildings in the Citadel of Besançon. It currently consists of four exhibition rooms which “explore the life and times of Vauban and other important figures and places including Louis XIV, Versailles and Molière.” Some of the exhibits “retrace the two Read More …
For each of his citadels, Vauban designed a simple chapel so the soldiers could attend Sunday mass. The one in Besançon is dedicated to Saint Étienne (Saint Stephen), in memory of a church by that name that was demolished to make room for the citadel. Vauban himself was a practicing Read More …
One of the buildings in the Besançon Citadel is now used for the Museum of the Resistance and Deportation, dealing with the Second World War, when the Nazis and their collaborators ruled France. The museum provides “an in-depth and emotional portrayal of this dark period of history.” They say that Read More …
Just to your right as you enter the Citadel, in the long building known as the Front Royal, is the Musée Comtois, a regional ethnological museum which “tells the story of the people and landscapes that shaped Franche-Comté over recent centuries.” The name Franche-Comté means “Free County”, not because the Read More …
Palais Granvelle is a sixteenth century Renaissance palace was built from 1534 and 1547 on the Grand Rue, the main street in the center of Besançon. At that time the Franche-Comté and Burgundy did not belong to France, but were ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558). His Read More …
The Musée du temps (Museum of time) in Besançon has a series of monumental tapestries devoted to the life of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500-1558), who was also the King of Spain, Prince of the Netherlands and King of Sicily. The tapestry in my first photo is called Read More …
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 these out-of-the-way places in the eastern frontier provinces of France. Verlaine’s father was only a captain, whereas Hugo’s was (later) Read More …