Housed in the former corn exchange (1835), this museum was extended in 1971 by Louis Miquel, a pupil of Le Corbusier. It houses a fine collection of Egyptian and Gallo-Roman antiquities , and statues and items from the Middle Ages and Renaissance. T..

Begin your walk at the Pont Battant and admire the lovely façades of the 17C houses on the banks of the Doubs. Savour the market atmosphere on Place de la Révolution and then continue on down Grande-Rue, the main street of the town since Roman times...

During the Romain period, this included a Pagan temple, which was followed by a church. After the French conquest of 1674, Vauban added the fortress which stands 118 metres above the Doubs and which, after several changes of of hand (barracks, State ..

Opposite the town hall, this church has a curious façade created by local architect Bertrand (18th C).

This superb Renaissance building, built between 1534 and 1542 for Chancellor Nicolas Perrenot de Granvelle, demonstrates the Italian influence on the region's architecture and the city's prosperity in the 16C. There is a pretty interior courtyard sur..

This museum showcases all manner of objects used for measuring time and space. Besançon's watch-making business began in 1793 and was the town's main industry until the 1920s. Make the most of the museum's interactive approach which takes you back to..

The Library contains illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, drawings and bindings.

The Préfecture sits in the former Palais des Intendants (18th C) whose entrance has been widened with a semicircular space.

In the lower room of the spire, the astronomical clock is a masterpiece, made up of 30,000 parts and designed by Louis-Auguste Vérité . To the left of the gallery stands the famous painting by Fra Bartolomeo, la Vierge aux Saints . Until the Fren..

The Resistance and Deportation Museum contains photos, objects, posters and documents illustrating the history of the Nazi régime, the 1940 defeat, the Vichy government, the Resistance, Deportation (drawings and paintings made in the camps) and Liber..

Discovering Besançon while learning more about the evolution of vertebrates is not a contradictory ambition, as this Museum of Natural History shows. Visit the insectarium (ants, cockroaches, scorpions, etc.), and the Georges-Besse aquarium (aquatic ..

Furniture, popular objets d'art, puppets, crèches, mechanical theatre, documents - the traditional life of the area is shown here in great detail. The left wing is devoted to ironwork and is particularly interesting.

This tower is what remains of the 15th C fortifications, and today houses a restaurant. It was saved from destruction because it housed a defence system designed by Vauban.

The church of this former hospital has been a Protestant place of worship since 1842. The courtyard has preserved a sculpted wood gallery from the early 16C.

This busy crossroads is surrounded by the Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie and old buildings looking out onto Rue des Boucheries.

The 16th C house has four gargoyles above the path. Pretty galleries.

Near to this bridge, a statue honours Claude-François Jouffroy d'Abans (1751-1832), who experimented with steamboats on the Doubs.

With its beautiful bossage façade of blue and ochre stones, the town hall dates back to the 16th C.