Citadel of Besancon

The Citadel of Besancon is a 17th-century fortress in Franche-Comte, France. It is one of the greatest masterpieces of military structure designed by Sebastien Le Prestre de Vauban. The Citadel occupies 11 hectares on Mount Saint-Etienne, one of the seven hills that guard Besancon, the capital of Franche-Comte. Mount Saint-Etienne occupies the neck of an oxbow shaped by way of the river Doubs, giving the website online a strategic importance that Julius Caesar recognised as early as 58 BC.

The Citadel overlooks the antique area of the town, that's located inside the oxbow, and has views of the metropolis and its surroundings. The fortification is properly preserved. Today it's miles an critical visitor web site over a quarter of 1,000,000 site visitors per year due each to its own traits and because it is the web page of several museums.

These museums encompass a museum of the Resistance and deportation, a museum that specialize in conventional life in Franche-Comte and the area's archeological history, and a museum of natural records that consists of a zoo, an insectarium, an aquarium, vivariums, a noctarium, a climatorium, a pedagogical showcase on evolution, botanical gardens, and a kid's farm. There is likewise a eating place and shops.