Besançon

Administrative centre of the département of Doubs and of the Franche-Comté region of France, situated on the River Doubs 75 km/47 mi east of Dijon; population (1999) 117,700. It is an agricultural trading centre and industries include the manufacture of textiles, processed foods, cars, and paper. It is the principal French centre for the manufacture of watches and clocks, and has a school of watch-making. It also has a university. The first factory to produce artificial fibres was established here in 1890.

The French writer Victor Hugo (1802-1885) and the Lumière brothers Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas (1862-1954) and Louis Jean (1864-1948), inventors of cinematography, were born here.

Features Besançon has many historic features including remains of a Roman amphitheatre and triumphal arch, a Gothic cathedral (part of which was built in the 12th century), several Spanish Renaissance-style buildings, and fortifications by the 17th-century military engineer Vauban. The town sits in a loop of the river, and on the open side is a citadel commanding the gap between the Vosges and Jura mountains.

History The town was an important Gallic centre before it was settled by the Romans who named it Vesontio. It has been an archbishopric since the 4th century. During the Middle Ages, Besançon was a free imperial city. It replaced Dôle as the administrative centre of Franche-Comté when the province passed to France in 1678.