Besancon tourism

Besancon, the Vauban walled city, registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site (2008)

Besancon, the capital of Franche-Comté, has just been listed as a World Heritage Site in France by UNESCO. Besancon, fortified by Vauban, saw its "outstanding universal value" acknowledged today by the World Heritage Committee, meeting in Quebec City for its 32^nd session.

In Besancon, Vauban's work includes the citadel and two urban fortresses, which occupy a total surface area of 195 hectares. The main elements of this heritage are currently undergoing major restoration work and are thus participating in the cultural dynamics of Besancon.

The citade of Besancon, which occupies a hugely strategic position, is the centrepiece of this heritage. The Municipality became the owner of the Citadel in 1959, ensuring a cultural and tourist vocation which preserves and enhances it. Visitors are able to discover the monument itself and three important museums. Besancon has now become the most popular site in the whole of Franche-Comté.

On the right bank of the Doubs, the Battant compound is divided into two bastion fronts which are dominated by Fort Griffon, the second citadel which stands opposite the first. The fort is owned by the Doubs Departmental Council and was given a second life in 1991 when it became home to the "Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres" teacher training school.

To defend the heart of the city of Besancon, Vauban built six bastioned gun towers along the left bank of the Doubs: it was a major innovation in the field of bastion architecture. Five towers still stand, one of which has become a venue for musical creation and two others of which have just been restored in order to host exhibitions and cultural events. Meanwhile, the development of a policy of cultural mediation (guided tours, publications and tourist trails) makes it possible to understand the fortified site as a whole, thus ensuring its coherence.

The Museum illustrates the diversity of life (Zoo, noctarium, mini-farm, insectarium, aquarium, climatorium...), and the wealth of the human history in the region: The Vauban Centre, to learn everything about Vauban and his military genius; the tour of the ramparts for the unique view over the city of Besancon and its fortifications.

The Musée Comtois which retraces the history of popular art in Franche-Comté, thanks to its rich and vast; and the Museum of the Resistance and Deportation, a poignant testimony to a painful period of history in France. These various museums are housed in former barracks and trenches are all remarkable and moving in the manner in which they recount the past in France.
More information : www.citadelle.com