Les Chaprais

The arrondissement of Besançon is an arrondissement of France in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. It has 254 communes. Its population is 249,211 (2016), and its area is 1,926.4 km2 (743.8 sq mi).

Radio BIP is a French local and associative FM broadcasting station, active in Besançon and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The acronym BIP stands for Bisontine, Indépendante et Populaire, meaning "Bisontine, independent and popular". After originally operating as a pirate radio station from 1977 to 1978, it was refounded in 1981 as a "free radio". In 2022 it was still characterized by a total independence, the refusal of advertisement, and an important spot for politics and associations. Since 2015, its staff developed video and text channels in association with Média 25. It become a reference of social movement and underground culture, at the beginning of many cases during El Khomri law or Yellow vests.

The Canton of Besançon-Planoise is a former administrative division in the departement of Doubs and in Franche-Comté region. It had 20,407 inhabitants (2012). It was disbanded following the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. It consisted of three areas of Besançon: Planoise, Tilleroyes and Châteaufarine.In 2008, Barbara Romagnan (PS) became representative of the canton with 70% of the votes, front of Martine Bultot (Far left) who obtained just 30% of the votes. ·

Besançon-Viotte is the main railway station located in Besançon, Doubs, eastern France. The station was opened in 1855 and is located on the Dole–Belfort railway, Besançon–Le Locle railway and Besançon-Viotte-Vesoul railway. The train services are operated by SNCF. Besançon Franche-Comté TGV is a high speed station located 10km north of Besançon.

The Free Imperial City of Besançon was a self-governing free imperial city that was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Its capital was Besançon. From 1184 until 1654 the city of Besançon was a free imperial city (German: Freie Reichsstadt) as shown by the coat of arms until today and called Bisanz. The city was first separated from the governance of the County of Burgundy in 1034 as a prince-bishopric, an ecclesiastical state in the Holy Roman Empire. The city was governed by the Prince-Archbishopric of Besançon, although later most of his power would devolve to a council within the town. The free imperial city enclosed only the city of Besançon in the Franche-Comté so for a large part of the time it was controlled those who controlled access across the surrounding land, first by the dukes of Burgundy, and then by the Habsburgs. Finally, it lost its imperial status but remained a free city.

The Battle of Besançon (21 June 1575) was a sectarian conflict between the Protestants and Catholics in the French city of Besançon in the region of Franche-Comté. Prior to the battle, the Huguenots, accused of heresy, had been expelled from the city and fled to the County of Montbéliard and Switzerland; the outcasts formed an army and planned an attempt to retake Besançon and turn the city into a stronghold of the Protestant Reformation. By the time the armed Protestants had reached the city of Besançon however, their army had dwindled because of several mishaps. Nonetheless, the battle began and raged for several hours; the outcome was an overwhelming Catholic victory. The majority of the Protestant army managed to escape, but those who were captured were hanged as traitors. For over two centuries after the battle, Protestantism in Besançon was repressed.

The siege of Besançon took place from 25 April to 22 May 1674 during the Franco-Dutch War, when French forces nominally led by Louis XIV of France invaded Franche-Comté, then part of the Spanish Empire. Siege works were supervised by the duc d'Enghien, eldest son of le Grand Condé, and French military engineer Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The defenders were commanded by Vaudémont but the town's isolated position meant they could only delay capture. The bulk of French casualties were caused by a botched assault, allegedly launched to impress Louis, before the garrison surrendered and were allowed free passage to the Spanish Netherlands. Under the 1678 Treaties of Nijmegen, the province was annexed by France and Besançon replaced Dole as the regional capital.

The musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie (Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology) in the French city of Besançon is the oldest public museum in France. It was set up in 1694, nearly a century before the Louvre became a public museum. Reorganized from 1967 to 1970 by Louis Miquel, a pupil of Le Corbusier, the museum is again the subject of a total renovation and an enlargement from October 2015. Three years later, the completely renovated museum was inaugurated on November 16, 2018 in the presence of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, the Minister of Culture Franck Riester and the Mayor Jean-Louis Fousseret. Attendance is then on the rise with 105,459 visitors recorded at the end of 2019.

The University of Franche-Comté (UFC) is a pluridisciplinary public French university located in Besançon, Franche-Comté, with decentralized campuses in Belfort, Montbéliard, Vesoul and Lons-le-Saunier. It is a founding member of the community of universities and institutions University of Burgundy - Franche-Comté (COMUE UBFC), headquartered in Besançon and which federates universities and other higher learning institutes in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. With 28 research labs, 667 PhD students and 788 research professors in 2016–2017, the University of Franche-Comté is well represented in the research community. It collaborates with many organizations (University Hospital of Besançon, CNRS, INSERM, CEA, etc.). It has about 29,000 students, including nearly a third of scholarship students and 12% of foreign students. Its Centre for Applied Linguistics (CLA) is one of the world's leading schools for teaching French as a foreign language and French linguistics.

Vaites or The Vaites is a district of Besançon, located to the northeast of the city.

The Synagogue of Besançon is the principal Jewish place of worship in the city of Besançon, France. The building is located in the area of Battant, near the old center of the town. It was built in 1869 and was inaugurated on 18 November. Since 1984 the building has been listed as a historical monument. A Jewish community formed in Free Imperial City of Besançon in the 14th century, after the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of France, but was forced to leave shortly thereafter. It did not reform until shortly after the French Revolution. An Imperial Decree dated 22 May 1867 authorized the community to acquire land on the Quai Napoléon. The community then entrusted the local architect Pierre Marnotte with the commission to design a building "in the Moroccan style".

The Fort of Beauregard is a fortification located in the French city of Besançon. It is now a historic monument and is open to the public during Heritage Days.