Citadel of Besançon
| Citadel of Besançon | |
|---|---|
The Citadel, aerial view
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Besançon |
| Country | France |
| Coordinates | 47°13′46″N 6°02′05″E / 47.2294°N 6.0346°ECoordinates: 47°13′46″N 6°02′05″E / 47.2294°N 6.0346°E |
| Construction started | 1668 |
| Client | City of Besançon |
| Owner | City of Besançon |
| Technical details | |
| Size | 11 hectares (27 acres) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Vauban |
The Citadel of Besançon (French: Citadelle de Besançon) is a 17th-century fortress in Franche-Comté, France. It is one of the finest masterpieces of military architecture designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The Citadel occupies 11 hectares (27 acres) on Mount Saint-Etienne, one of the seven hills that protect Besançon, the capital of Franche-Comté. Mount Saint-Etienne occupies the neck of an oxbow formed by the river Doubs, giving the site a strategic importance that Julius Caesar recognised as early as 58 BC. The Citadel overlooks the old quarter of the city, which is located within the oxbow, and offers a magnificent view of the entire city and its surroundings.
The fortification is well preserved. Today it is an important tourist site (over a quarter of a million visitors per year) due both to its own characteristics and because it is the site of several museums. These museums include a museum of the Resistance and deportation, a museum focusing on traditional life in Franche-Comté and the region's archeological history, and a museum of natural history that includes a zoo, an insectarium, an aquarium, vivariums, a noctarium, a climatorium, a pedagogical exhibit on evolution, botanical gardens, and a children's farm. There is also a restaurant and shops.
On July 7, 2008, UNESCO listed the Citadel, together with nearby Fort Griffon, as a World Heritage Site. Since 1942, the French Ministry of Culture has listed the Citadel as a Monument historique.
In Gallo-Roman times the promontory on which the citadel sits was already used as an acropolis. A wall enclosed a temple, probably dedicated to Jupiter Capitolinus. (Reference to the Roman history of the town is preserved in the town's arms, which show an eagle clasping two Roman columns in its claws.) The fortifications were renovated during the Middle Ages and again in the 16th century.
Some columns of the Roman temple survive to the present in the area between the Saint Stephen's Front and the Royal Front. Where Saint Stephen's Front, which Vauban built, now stands, there was once a cathedral dedicated to Saint Stephen. The cathedral and its cloister dated back to the 5th century, and received further work in the 11th, 13th, and 14th centuries.
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