Besançon The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland.
| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Region | Bourgogne-Franche-Comté |
| Department | Doubs |
| Mayor (2020–2026) | Anne Vignot (The Greens) |
| Area | 65.05 km2 (25.12 sq mi) |
| Population (2017-01-01) | 115,934 |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Geography
Location
Besançon is located in the north-east quarter of France on the Doubs River. It is about 325 kilometres (202 miles) east of the national capital of Paris, 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of Dijon in Burgundy, 125 km (78 mi) northwest of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Climate
Besançon is under the influence of both an oceanic climate and a continental climate with hard winters (snow, frost) and warm and dry summers.
Economy
The city is known for its microtechnology and watch industries. It is host of the biannual Micronora trade fair, one of Europe’s major events in the field of microtechnologies. The city has a little-known specialty, automatic ticketing machines for car parking, airports, date stamping etc.
Education
Besançon is the seat of the Université de Franche-Comté. The Institut Supérieur d’Ingénieurs de Franche-Comté (ISIFC), part of the Université de Franche-Comté, is the first school created in the country specifically for the Biomedical engineering field. The city is also home of the École Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et des Microtechniques (ENSMM), a technological school with a strong reputation in the fields of microtechnology and mechanics and the Centre for Applied Linguistics which teaches ten languages to non-native speakers (French, Arabic, Chinese, English, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish).
Landmarks
The most historic center of the town is characterised by the broad horse-shoe of the river Doubs, “la Boucle”, which encircles the old town. Vauban’s imposing Citadelle blocks off the neck. The historic center presents an ensemble of classic stone buildings, some dating back to the Middle Ages and others to the Spanish Renaissance.
- Gallo-Roman remains
- The Porte Noire, Roman triumphal arch
- Square Castan.
- Promenade Micaud.
- Fortifications and military buildings
- St. John’s Cathedral.
- St. John’s Cathedral..
- Sainte-Madeleine Church.
- Saint-Ferjeux Basilica.
- Notre-Dame-du-Foyer Chapel.
Parks and gardens
Culture
Museums and galleries
There are five museums in Besançon that all bear the designation “Museum of France”. Besançon has one of the finest city art galleries in France outside Paris. The Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology..
Among the museum’s treasures are a fine collection of classical antiquities and ancient Egyptian artifacts, as well as a very rich collection of paintings
The Musée du Temps (Museum of Time). Located in the Granvelle Palace, its concept is unique in Europe, grouping watch collections (watches, sundials, hourglasses, all means of measuring time).
The Museum of Resistance and Deportation. It consists of twenty rooms, retracing the themes related to the Second World War (Nazism, the Occupation, the Vichy regime, the Resistance, Liberation, Deportation) through photographs, texts, documents and original collectibles.
Performing arts centers
- The city is home to a National Center for Dramatic Art, the Centre dramatique national Besançon Franche-Comté created in 1972.
- The Scénacle located in the Saint-Jean district is a small theater with a capacity of about 100 seats that offers plays and concerts by the troupe or regional artists.
- On campus, the 150-seat Petit Théâtre de la Bouloie welcomes student projects to promote artistic and cultural practice
Cinema
There are two multiplex cinemas, the Mégarama Beaux-Arts in the historic district and Mégarama École-Valentin in the suburban area.
Annual cultural events and fairs
The city of Besançon hosts many festive and cultural events.
Several music festivals punctuate the year:
- the most emblematic and the oldest of which is the Besançon Franche-Comté International Music Festival, held every year in September. This festival honors the symphonic repertoire, chamber music and recitals.
- The Festival Détonation is another highlight of September: created in 2012 and organized by La Rodia, its programming mixes pop music, electronic music and interactive mapping installations.
- The Circasismic Festival, held in May since 2015, presents a program of electro, dub and rock music as well as circus and street theater shows.
Sports
The practice of sport in the agglomeration of Besançon is quite diverse, on the one hand because the municipality does not want to bet everything on one or two professional disciplines that would carry the colors of the city high, but rather to encourage its population to practice all disciplines, and on the other hand because the particular setting of the city (hills, cliffs, rivers) makes it possible to practice a wide range of outdoor sports such as hiking, mountain biking, climbing, rowing.
Sport events
Grand Besançon Métropole is organizing from 2019 a festival called Grandes Heures Nature devoted to outdoor sports such as hiking, trail running, canoeing, climbing, mountain biking and road cycling. It takes place over four days during the month of June. The city of Besançon is a regular stage city in the Tour de France bicycle race.
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