Besançon in France

Wednesday, 4 January 2023 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time:  3 minutes

© Arnaud 25/cc-by-sa-3.0

© Arnaud 25/cc-by-sa-3.0

Besançon is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capital of the historic and cultural region of Franche-Comté, Besançon is home to the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regional council headquarters, and is an important administrative centre in the region. It is also the seat of one of the fifteen French ecclesiastical provinces and one of the two divisions of the French Army. In 2019 the city had a population of 117,912, in a metropolitan area of 280,701, the second in the region in terms of population.

Established in a meander of the river Doubs, the city was already important during the Gallo-Roman era under the name of Vesontio, capital of the Sequani. Its geography and specific history turned it into a military stronghold, a garrison city, a political centre, and a religious capital.

Port Noire, Roman triumphal arch © Wikipedro/cc-by-sa-4.0 Porte Rivotte © Zairon/cc-by-sa-4.0 Tour de Chamars © panoramio.com - ernst andre/cc-by-sa-3.0 © Arnaud 25/cc-by-sa-3.0 Citadel of Besançon © Arnaud 25 - Citypeek/cc-by-sa-3.0 Courtyard of the former city hall © Jean-Pol GRANDMONT/cc-by-sa-3.0 Doubs river and Quai Vauban © Jean-Pol GRANDMONT/cc-by-sa-3.0
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Courtyard of the former city hall © Jean-Pol GRANDMONT/cc-by-sa-3.0
Besançon is the historical capital of watchmaking in France. This has led it to become a centre for innovative companies in the fields of microtechnology, micromechanics, and biomedical engineering. The University of Franche-Comté, founded in 1423, enrolls nearly 30,000 students each year, including around 4,000 trainees from all over the world within its Centre for Applied Linguistics (CLA).

The greenest city in France, it enjoys a quality of life recognized in Europe. Thanks to its rich historical and cultural heritage and its unique architecture, Besançon has been labeled a “Town of Art and History” since 1986. Its fortifications, designed by Vauban, have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008.

Read more on Besançon Tourism, france.fr – Besançon, Wikivoyage Besançon and Wikipedia Besançon (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




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