page_title: Citadel of Besançon
section_title: Military architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Citadel of Besançon / Military architecture
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Citadelle de Besançon, vue sur les murailles de la citadelle. A l'extrémité, on peut discerner la tour de la Reine. Besançon, Franche-Comté, FRANCE
context_page_description: The Citadel of 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 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 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.
context_section_description: The Citadel is built on top of a large syncline on a rectangular field crossed across its width by three successive bastions (enclosures, or fronts) behind which extend three plazas. The whole is surrounded by walls covered by circular paths and punctuated by watchtowers and sentry posts. The walls are up to 15 to 20 metres (49 to 66 ft) high with a thickness between 5 and 6 metres (16 and 20 ft).
  As mentioned above, Vauban built the first line of defense, Saint Stephen's Front, on the site of the eponymous cathedral that he destroyed in order to establish the defences.
  In front of the curtain is ready a half-moon, surrounded by ditches, equipped to the canon - the flag of entry is extended to both sides of the curtain and completed by half bastions at the ends. The curtain, which was the section of wall between the 2 half bastions, was the weak point of the wall.
  A rift in the rock, which could be dry or flooded. It was bounded by the escarpment (lower slope of a ditch) and Contrescarpe (masonry wall at the end of ditch). This divide was crossed by the bridge frame, which was completed by the drawbridge. Then the 2 half bastions laterally protected access to the door. They included: - one side exposed to the enemy army and cannons - which joined the side curtain to the bastions. He could be right (as in front royal) or orillons, i.e. sheltered behind a corner covering artillery stationed on the flank. The same system on the front orillons Saint-Etienne. Finally, two ties were arranged on each side of buildings to protect views and firing from the side hills and Chaudanne Bregille.
  So this system was constructed so that for all positions, we could monitor the enemy wherever he is and he was so identified. Even if there were an enemy to the aplomb of a wall, rather than risking to look to achieve, you could touch from another post. In fact, all the shots and angles of view were studied to better defend the defensive system.
  Then, to get to Royal Front, there was a large sloping grassy area, which forms the glacis. This allowed glacis, where the Front St. Etienne is crossed, to see the enemy coming and to anticipate any attack. Formerly, he was on naked and without trees. At the extreme left along the cliff, an underpass allowing front of the first defenders to retreat to the front royal. The Front Royal is flanked by two boxes of surveillance: the tower of the king and the tower of the queen. The front and the Front Royal Relief (at the other end of the Citadel) was built by the Spanish and edited by Vauban.
  These fronts are linked by two huge walls, who married almost perfect topography and rock. The walls are made of limestone, and are 5 to 6 m thick and 15 to 20 m high. Vauban intended the walls to screen the Citadel's precincts from the view of any enemy occupying the surrounding hills.
  The upper part of the parapet was built in brick because their chips were much less deadly than the limestone. These walls define the inner courtyard, and were surmounted by a walkway.  Over ten sentry posts lined the walls, of which only one or two survive. These sentry posts were of limited use in combat as they were fragile.
caption: Ramparts
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