Besançon

Besançon, a French city, the capital now of the département of Doubs, and formerly of Franche-Comté, is picturesque situated on both sides of the winding river Doubs, 57 miles E. of Dijon. It was strongly but irregularly fortified by Vauban, the citadel being perched on an inaccessible rock, 390 feet above the town. Since then, the fortifications have been extended and strengthened, and Besançon is now considered one of the strongest places in France. It was the ancient Vesontio or Besontium; in 58 B.C. Cæsar expelled the Sequani hence, and in the neighbourhood gained a victory over Ariovistus. It finally came into the possession of France in 1674. Several streets in Besançon still bear old Roman names; and in the neighbourhood are found ruins of a triumphal arch of Aurelian, an aqueduct, an amphitheatre, and a large theatre. Among later structures the 12th-century cathedral, the Madeleine church, the Prefecture, the Palais de Justice (1749), and the half-Gothic, half-Renaissance palace (1534) of Cardinal Granvella, are most remarkable. Besançon makes a very large percentage of the watches made in France, and some 15,000 of its inhabitants are engaged in this industry, which was introduced from Switzerland about 1818. In 1875-85 Besançon produced between 400,000 and 450,000 watches annually, worth from twenty to thirty millions of francs. Other manufactures are porcelain, carpets, iron-wire, Seltzer-water, and beer. Abel Rémusat and Victor Hugo were natives. Pop. (1840) 36,461; (1886) 45,218; (1891) 44,793.