Citadel of Besançon

About

The Citadel of Besançon is a 17th-century fortress in Franche-Comté, France. It is one of the finest masters of military architecture designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The Citadel occupied 11 hectares (27 acres) on Mount Saint-Etienne, one of the seven hills that protect Besançon, the capital of Franche-Comté.

Mount Saint-Etienne occupied the neck of an oxbow formed by the river Doubs, giving the site a strategic importance that Julius Caesar recognized as early as 58 BC. The Citadel overlooks the old quarter of the city, which is located within the oxbow, and has views of the city and its surrounds. 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 exhibition...