Porte taillée

The Departmental archives of Doubs (French: Archives départementales du Doubs) is a French administrative building dependent of the general council of Doubs, charged with collecting records and archives, keeping them and making them available for the public. The Departmental archives of Doubs is located in the area of Planoise, in Besançon (Doubs, Franche-Comté).

The Citadel of Besançon (French: Citadelle de Besançon) is a 17th-century fortress in Franche-Comté, France. It is one of the finest masterpieces of military architecture designed by Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The Citadel occupies 11 hectares (27 acres) on Mount Saint-Etienne, one of the seven hills that protect Besançon, the capital of Franche-Comté. Mount Saint-Etienne occupies the neck of an oxbow formed by the river Doubs, giving the site a strategic importance that Julius Caesar recognised 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 surroundings. 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 exhibit on evolution, botanical gardens, and a children's farm. There is also a restaurant and shops. On 7 July 2008, UNESCO listed the Citadel, together with nearby Fort Griffon, as a World Heritage Site for its testimony to Vauban's work and its influence in the design of military fortifications and strategy from the 17th through 20th centuries. Since 1942, the French Ministry of Culture has listed the Citadel as a Monument historique.The citadel of Besançon is today the symbol of the city and a high place of tourism in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, the third paying monument in the region in terms of attendance with 200,000 to 300,000 visitors each year.

St. Stephen's Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Besançon) was a Roman Catholic church located in Besançon on the site of the current Citadel of Besançon in Franche-Comté, eastern France. The cathedral was thought to be constructed between 326 CE and the fifth century. Between the 12th and 13th centuries there was continuing friction between St. Stephen's Cathedral and St. John's Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Jean, the present Besançon Cathedral),which was believed to be a more recent foundation. Hugues de Salins, who redesigned St. John's, also led the reconstruction plans for St. Stephen's between 1033 and 1050. The two were intended to coexist, despite St. John's having more power in the elections of archbishops.In 1092 St. Stephen's complained that it had been stripped of its precedence, despite the archdiocese believing that it was the principal one of Besançon. In 1238 it was excommunicated due to its attacks against St. John's. Between 1253 and 1254, Archbishop Guillaume de la Tour unified the two chapters, a decision which was ratified by Pope Innocent IV on 1 August 1254.After the Battle of Besançon in 1575, masses were held at both cathedrals to celebrate the Catholic victory against the Protestants.From 1668 to 1675, St. Stephen's Cathedral was abandoned and it was later decided that it should be destroyed, along with some surrounding houses, to allow for the construction of the Citadel of Besançon, after Franche-Comté was given to Louis XIV of France in the Treaties of Nijmegen. However, it was then decided that the cathedral should remain, but it was stripped of its contents, and then destroyed in any case after an accidental fire, when construction of the citadel began. The present Besançon Cathedral currently contains 8 paintings that were copied from 15th-century frescos in the destroyed cathedral, and an eight-lobed marble altar now known as the Rose of Saint John.

The lunettes of Trois-Châtels and Tousey are two lunettes located in the French city of Besançon. Their foundations were constructed in 1792 to support the citadel of Vauban but the structure was badly built and they were rebuilt during the Bourbon Restoration. In World War II, American forces liberated the city after a few battles in the two fortifications to reach the citadel. In the 1990s, they were bought by a man who now lives in the lunette of Tousey. Trois-Châtels has been an official historical monument of France since 1995.

The Besançon astronomical clock is housed in Besançon Cathedral. Auguste-Lucien Vérité fr:Auguste-Lucien Vérité of Beauvais designed and built Besançon's present astronomical clock, between 1858 and 1863. It replaced an earlier clock that Bernardin had constructed in the 1850s that proved unsatisfactory. Besançon's clock differs from those in Strasbourg, Lyon, and Beauvais. The clock is meant to express the theological concept that each second of the day the Resurrection of Christ transforms the existence of man and of the world.

Besançon Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Jean de Besançon) is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint John located in the city of Besançon, France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Besançon. The cathedral consists of a large nave between two aisles, and dates from the 11th to the 13th century. It has two facing apses, each with an altar. The lack of a transept and the facing apses parallel the designs of contemporary German cathedrals. The Romanesque arches date from the 13th century. It does not have a main doorway. The choir dates to the 18th century. The cathedral is situated near the base of Mont Saint-Étienne, below the citadel. To the east of the cathedral is the 16th-century Porte Rivotte, with two round towers, and pedestrian walkways dating to the 19th century. To the west is the Porte Noire, a Roman triumphal arch of the 2nd century with extensive sculptural decoration.

The Archdiocese of Besançon (Latin: Archidiœcesis Bisuntina; French: Archidiocèse de Besançon) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It comprises the département of Doubs (except for Montbéliard) and the département of Haute-Saône (except for the canton of Héricourt). The see is currently sede vacante. From 1034 to 1184, the archbishop had civil authority within the Holy Roman Empire as the prince-archbishop of Besançon. He gradually lost his civil power to the town council; the city became the Imperial city of Besançon in 1184. The city was annexed by France in stages, eventually being fully subsumed by France in 1792 during the French Revolution. The Archdiocese of Besançon is a metropolitan see with five suffragan dioceses in its ecclesiastical province: the Dioceses of Belfort-Montbéliard, Nancy, Saint–Claude, Saint-Dié, and Verdun.

Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc is a church located in the French city of Besançon, in the departement of Doubs.

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.

The fort of Bregille is a fortification located in the French city of Besançon.

Chapelle des Buis is a hamlet south of the city of Besançon, in eastern France. It straddles the area of three communes: Besançon, Fontain and Morre. The church of Our Lady of Liberation is nearby.

Bibliothèque municipale de Besançon or Besançon municipal library is located in Eastern France. It is the first public library that was built in Besançon.