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In front of you, this discreet white building pays no price for mines. And yet, this is where a real revolution in the way we see the world began.
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A major Attraction of Besançon on your right, the Palais Granvelle is considered the first large building in Franche-Comté. Its construction, distributed between 1534 and 1547, was requested by Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle, incidentally Keeper of the Seals and close advisor to Emperor Charles V.
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Besancon
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Knowing everything about a city is a major challenge. There are always stories, anecdotes or unusual information that escape our radar wherever we set foot.
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To understand the soul and history of Besançon, it is impossible to miss the Loop. And that’s not just a way of saying it: until the 1950s, the city was almost down to this area and the Battant district, a little further north.
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The Temple of the Holy Spirit is a building that has undergone many transformations over the centuries. In the Middle Ages and part of modern times, the building was a hospital run by religious.
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Musee des Beaux-Arts et d'Archeologie de Besancon
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The Museum of Fine Arts & Archaeology is a must-see for the Bisontine heritage and has a long and remarkable history. Born in 1694, almost a century before the Louvre, the site holds the status of the oldest museum in France, but also the most important.
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Quai Vauban
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To approach the banks of the Doubs, there is no better meeting point than the Quai Vauban. While its name refers to the military architect who trained the French defense system like no one else, the site is not included in the list of his masterpieces.
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Visibly Catholic, thanks to its few churches established since Roman times, Besançon also keeps in it a face tinged with Judaism as evidenced by its beautiful and large synagogue. The Jewish presence in the Franco-Comtoise city is in fact a long-standing affair dating back to the 1st century.
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A kind of small village at the gates of the city center, the Battant is one of the oldest districts of Besançon. To give you a little idea of its age, its beginnings would date back to the Gallo-Roman era.
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Eglise Sainte-Madeleine de Besancon
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The guardian of Battant is undoubtedly the tall building on your right. The church of Sainte-Madeleine, the masterpiece of a Franco-Comté architect, was built in 1746 and finished in 1830, with the elevation of its two towers.
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Welcome to the one called La Grande Rue! In addition to being the busiest artery in Besancon, it is also one of its oldest. You should know that long before you today, it was the Roman chariots, coming from Italy, that once paraded here, one after the other.
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Palais de Justice de Besancon
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If on your right you are served the seat of the municipal authority of Besançon, on your left, it is its courthouse that reigns in style. Built in 1585 by a Frankish architect, the courthouse stands out in a Renaissance architectural style that is both proud and delightful.
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Chapelle Notre-Dame du Refuge
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While its façade is lost in a string of buildings, the Notre-Dame-du-Refuge chapel still manages to attract us to it.
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Besancon
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Large as the career of the man it commemorates, this statue represents a well-known French writer. Thus, frozen in bronze by a Senegalese artist in 2003, Victor Hugo would almost come back to life.
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Eglise Notre-Dame de Besancon
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A compromise of an old religious site and premises belonging to the University of the city, Notre-Dame de Besançon Church lives with the times. On the leftmost part are the remains of the former Abbey of Saint Vincent, founded in the 11th century.
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Whether it’s Les Misérables, Les Contemplations or The Last Day of a Convicted Man, all these works of literature should normally remind you of one and the same man of letters. Before it boils too much in your head, we are obviously talking about the unique and timeless Victor Hugo.
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Square Castan
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From the youngest to the oldest, in Besancon, the square Castan is a place that speaks to everyone. On the other hand, for those for whom the visit of the prefecture of Doubs is a first, this stop is an encounter with the unknown.
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Porte Noire
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An emblematic monument of the Franco-Comtoise city, the Black Door is undoubtedly the most prestigious illustration of Besancon’s Roman past. After conquering the entire territory of Franche-Comté in the 1st century, formerly called Sequania, Roman civilization expanded
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Cathedrale Saint-Jean de Besancon
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Dominated by the citadel and engulfed by the buildings of the old canon quarter, Saint John Cathedral has not inherited the best location of the city. But, despite an unfavourable environment, the religious building was still born in the 3rd century, from the remains of ancient churches.
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La Citadelle de Besancon
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High place of culture and tourism, the citadel of Besançon contributes greatly to the reputation of the city. But, more than having heard of it, do you know a little about its history? While Besancon was under the possession of the Kingdom of Spain in the 17th century, Louis XIV embarked on the conquest of the city and the Franche-Comté region.
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La Citadelle de Besancon
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What is good about almost all the defense sites, whether tower, fort, castle or citadel, is the height and perspective it gives us on a city. Perched more than 100 meters away, and surrounded by the meanders of the Doubs, here you are spoiled by a breathtaking viewpoint.
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Porte Rivotte
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The remains of the old city walls, the Rivotte gate looks like a house straight out of the Middle Ages. However, it was built in the 16th century, during the reign of the powerful Emperor Charles V, who then ruled vast territories in Europe...
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Not without charm in crossing the historic district of the Loop, Place Granvelle is the kind of good excuse to get out of the city center and its craze for a moment. Originally private, the plot was the pleasure garden of the Palace Granvelle, located nearby.
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Theatre Ledoux
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If you listen hard enough, you may hear sweet notes of music coming from the Théâtre Ledoux, known for being a performance hall featuring operas, concerts, and other kinds of artistic performances.
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Besancon
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As for gastronomy, Besançon really has nothing to envy anyone. Here in eastern France, the pleasure of the taste buds is as important as the discovery of heritage, and it would be a shame to miss out on its specialties.
