Monuments to visit Franche-Comté

The town hall of Besançon was completed in 1573 after almost two centuries of récurentes changes. Proud and royal, above its porch, you can admire the eagle of Besançon with both columns. On the right, the vast niche contained, until the Revolution, a bronze fountain representing Charles Quint overlapping a two-legged eagle; it is still surmounted by the motto «And to God». Finally, you can note that, on the embossed facade, the architect made the blue and beige veins of the besancon stone alterner to show graphic lines.

This building was built in the th century to host the Ursulines Convent, the nuns who devoted themselves to educating poor girls. Sold as a national property after the Revolution, he became a city hotel in 1802. From the convent, only the entrance of the chapel, dating from the th century, is located next to the current entrance of the city hall. Two stairs were erected in 1865. On the facade there is a crest bearing the coat of arms of the city. It represents a pelican mother opening the heart to feed her little ones. Gouttes blood drops from the bird's gosier. A currency accompanies the animal which is the emblem of the city: Sic my quos diligo that can be translated by «Thus do me for those whom I cherish». The municipality offers various exhibitions of artists or local crafts, as well as lectures, lectures and concerts.

This beautiful castle, which overlooks the village of Frontenay, is very far Away. It dates back to the th century. At that time, only the cellars remained. It was rebuilt in the th century and additions were made in the th and th centuries. Still inhabited by the descendants of Gauthier de Fallerans, equerry of the lords of Chalon-Arlay in the fifteenth, it is perfectly preserved. The castle, which has beautiful rooms (three lounges, a large hall and four rooms in the Donjon), welcomes groups in the hotel. A cave has been set up to worship Notre-Dame de Lourdes. Outsiders are open to pedestrians. At the foot of the castle you can see the Romanesque church Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, reworked in the th century. It is preceded by a boardwalk of trees, classified. Cultural events are organised in summer and throughout the year, including a jazz festival that will celebrate its 10 years in 2017. To find out more about the program, visit the castle website and visit August 24 - 26, 2017.

Poligny was once protected by twenty-five towers and five doors. It should be remembered that its location was strategic and coveted: between the Plaine plain and the Jura. The inhabitants therefore protected themselves by building rectangular walls that lost all utility when Franche-Comté became French after the Treaty of Nijmegen in 1678. Many remains of these ramparts are still visible: the towers of Paradise and Sergenterie for example. They date back to the th century. The latter, recently restored, is a beautiful example of medieval fortification. Small reminder: Machicolated (the stones around the top of the tower) made it possible to pour boiling oil into the enemy. Note that the square tower, the so-called "tower of the Library", which today belongs to Friant lyceum (the former convent of Des), was also part of the ramparts. It dates back to the th century.

7 km west of Gy, a th century castle with a lovely garden surrounding the building. The garden is open for visits every day from the beginning of July to mid-August from 15 am to 19 pm.

It was built from 1778 to 1784, at the instigation of intendant Ch.-A. de Lacoré, on the plans of Claude Nicolas Ledoux, the architect of the royal saltworks of Arc-et-Senans. Only the facade remained intact, with the precious Louis XVI interior missing in a fire in 1958.

A former door of the city built in the th century, it is located at the foot of the citadel, and opens naturally on the Faubourg Rivotte. This is the only city door still in place, and you will notice the sun engraved on the pediment in tribute to Louis XIV. Along the Pontarlier road, we see the Carved door, opened in the rock by the Romans to pass the aqueduct of Arcier feeding the city into water.

Located behind the city hall, which was formerly a body with him, the courthouse, built in 1585, is the work of the architect Mannerist Hugues Sambin. Above the porch, closed by a beautiful entrance grid of 1861, two statues represent Justice and the Force. Inside, the former parliament hall of Franche-Comté, adorned with beautiful 1909 th-century woodwork and a ceiling painted by P. Gervais in, became the formal courtroom.

A former building building, this building was built between 1770 and 1778 on the plans of Frignier and Victor Louis led by Comtois Nicolas Nicole at the request of the new administrator Ch.-A. Lacoré, friend of Voltaire and Aesthetic. The main façade retains some austerity, unlike the garden side organized around a small rotunda with a dome. Inside, very beautiful ensemble of lambris of the Louis XVI.

Originally, this building is a house of Canon, depending on the chapter of Saint John Cathedral. He became the residence of Antoine Pierre de Grammont, Archbishop of Besançon in the th century. From succession within the family to sale to an individual and to the municipality, the'is transformed into a school and then in boarding schools. Finally acquired by the Regional Council at the beginning of the 1980 s, the latter makes arrangements respecting the historical character of the different rooms and settled there in 1984.

Built in the 16th century, this tower is a superb vestige of Poligny's ramparts. At its summit, the lookout could see the attackers approaching and would immediately prepare boiling oil, which he poured through the stone machicolations. Remodeled in the 15th century, it has 4 storeys, with the covered walkway on the second floor. Finally, you should know that its name comes not from the military forces that once inhabited it, but from Sergentin, the former name of the Doye river that flows at its foot. Although not open to visitors, its architecture can be seen at the entrance gate.

In the heart of the city, under the arcades, the Mullet de Mullet's native apartment was returned and evokes, through explanatory panels, its major work, La Marseillaise, and its life, from birth in Lons-le-Saunier in 1760 until its death in 1836 in Choisy-le-Roi. You discover many original documents, personal objects: his sword, the violin bow of La Marseillaise… This place of memories is part of the Juramusées network. .

Unique in the Jura. These old royal prisons house the audience (courthouse) with two bodyguards on the ground floor and two courtrooms on the first floor. In the back, we see the prisons themselves: the cour courtyard and apartment, the pistole, the chapel, the court of the prisoners, two detention rooms, three underground cachots with door-to-desk doors. These buildings, which were those of the Justice des Gabelles, were built in 1741. They were mainly used to try smugglers because the smuggling of salt, tobacco and fabrics was particularly active in Saint-Amour, a village located on the border of several provinces. After the annexation of Franche-Comté in 1678, the province maintained an advantageous tax system relative to its neighbours in Bresse and Burgundy. After the Revolution, the audience was occupied by the employees of the Grant, while the rest of the settlement became a prison of passage for the inmates of Lons-le-Saunier in Bourg-en-Bresse and vice versa. Several hundred live there every year. A very interesting visit.