Battant (Besançon)
Encyclopedia
Battant is one of the oldest parts of Besançon
, Doubs
, France
, and has been under architectural protection since 1964. It is situated on the right bank of the river Doubs, north of the ox-bow that encircles the center of the city. A bridge across the Doubs joins the two quarters, Battant and the La Boucle (The Oxbow), via the Vauban quay and Jouffroy d'Abbans Place.
Today, Battant has become a popular district with a diverse population, numbering about 4,200 people. It is one of the more lively quarters of the city because of its numerous small shops, its nightlife, and its market.
The quarter's name appears to have come from the Mouillère, a small brook also known as the fons batenti (river of the beater) because the water from the brook drove a cloth-beating device. The name came to be applied to a nearby street, and then by extension to the entire quarter. The inhabitants of Battant are known as Bousbots, which recalls the resistance that the grape growers of the district gave to the attempted seizure of the city by the Hugenots of Montbéliard
on the night of 20–21 June 1575.
developed around the Battant end of the bridge. By the twelfth century the quarter came to have its own wall. The population of the quarter consisted of grape growers, workers, and washerwomen, though grape growing remained the principal economic activity in the quarter until the end of the nineteenth century.
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
, Doubs
Doubs
Doubs is a department the Franche-Comté region of eastern France named after the Doubs River.-History:As early as the 13th century, inhabitants of the northern two-thirds of Doubs spoke the Franc-Comtois language, a dialect of Langue d'Oïl. Residents of the southern third of Doubs spoke a dialect...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and has been under architectural protection since 1964. It is situated on the right bank of the river Doubs, north of the ox-bow that encircles the center of the city. A bridge across the Doubs joins the two quarters, Battant and the La Boucle (The Oxbow), via the Vauban quay and Jouffroy d'Abbans Place.
Today, Battant has become a popular district with a diverse population, numbering about 4,200 people. It is one of the more lively quarters of the city because of its numerous small shops, its nightlife, and its market.
The quarter's name appears to have come from the Mouillère, a small brook also known as the fons batenti (river of the beater) because the water from the brook drove a cloth-beating device. The name came to be applied to a nearby street, and then by extension to the entire quarter. The inhabitants of Battant are known as Bousbots, which recalls the resistance that the grape growers of the district gave to the attempted seizure of the city by the Hugenots of Montbéliard
Montbéliard
Montbéliard is a city in the Doubs department in the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It is one of the two subprefectures of the department.-History:...
on the night of 20–21 June 1575.
History
For centuries, a Roman bridge between Battant and Besançon provided the only access to the city proper. Consequently, since Gallo-Roman times a faubourgFaubourg
Faubourg is an ancient French term approximating "suburb" . The earliest form is Forsbourg, derived from Latin foris, 'out of', and Vulgar Latin burgum, 'town' or 'fortress'...
developed around the Battant end of the bridge. By the twelfth century the quarter came to have its own wall. The population of the quarter consisted of grape growers, workers, and washerwomen, though grape growing remained the principal economic activity in the quarter until the end of the nineteenth century.
Monuments
The quarter has a rich architectural history. Since 1964 some 31 hectares have been under an architectural protection order.- Pont Battant: Originally this was an ancient Roman stone bridge with three arches, which unfortunately was destroyed during World War II. The replacement bridge, built in 1953 in concrete, has only a single arch, the design being intended to reduce the risk of flooding. The bridge is often the site of an informal market where one may buy things from Sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa as a geographical term refers to the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara. A political definition of Sub-Saharan Africa, instead, covers all African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
. - Remains of a Roman arena: The Romans constructed the arena in the first century (CE) for the town of Vesontio (now Besançon), just as they constructed comparable arenas in ArlesArlesArles is a city and commune in the south of France, in the Bouches-du-Rhône department, of which it is a subprefecture, in the former province of Provence....
and NîmesNîmesNîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
. The arena could seat 24,000 people, and measured 130 by 106 meters, with a height of 21 meters. Little remains of the arena as during the Middle Ages and after it served as a virtual quarry for the growing town. The Church of the Madeleine, the twelfth century Hôpital Saint-Jacques, as well as Besançon's Vauban fortifications all were built in part of stone from the arena.
- Pelote (Pelotte) Tower: This stone tower dates to 1475 and was part of the city of Besançon's fortifications. It sits on the Strasbourg Quay at the point where the Mouillère meets the Doubs. The tower owes its name to Pierre Pillot, Seigneur de Chenecey, who bought the land on which the tower sits. When Vauban received the commission to improve the city's defenses, he decided to incorporate the tower, after extensive modification, into his design, rather than destroy it. In 1942 the tower was declared a historical monument. It now houses a restaurant.
- Montmart Tower: The tower is also known as the Battant Tower and the Square Tower. It was built in 1526. As in the case of the Pelote Tower, Vauban decided to incorporate the Montmart Tower into the city's fortifications.
- RampartsCitadel of BesançonThe Citadel of Besançon in Franche-Comté, France, is one of the military architect Vauban's masterpieces. The Citadel occupies eleven hectares on Mount Saint-Etienne, one of the seven hills that protect Besançon, the capital of Franche-Comté...
constructed by VaubanVaubanSébastien Le Prestre, Seigneur de Vauban and later Marquis de Vauban , commonly referred to as Vauban, was a Marshal of France and the foremost military engineer of his age, famed for his skill in both designing fortifications and breaking through them... - The House of the Wood Beams dates to the 15th century and is reputed to be the oldest house in Besançon.
- Fort Griffon
- Hôtel de Champagney and its interior court
- Église Sainte-MadeleineÉglise de la Madeleine (Besançon)The église Sainte-Madeleine is a neoclassical 18th century hall church in the Battant district of Besançon, France, dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene. Antoine-Pierre II de Grammont, the archbishop of Besançon, had it built from 1746 to 1766 to plans by the architect Nicolas Nicole....
- The Bacchus Fountain, which the municipality erected in 1457. The statue of BacchusDionysusDionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
dates to 1579 and is the work of the sculptor Lullier. - Hôtel de Jouffroy. From the sixteenth century, this was the home of the ancestors of Jouffroy d'Abbans, inventor of steam navigation.
- Besancon's synagogue: This dates to 1860 and is constructed in a Moorish style.
- Former public baths in the Art DecoArt DecoArt deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style, dating to 1911 - A wine grower's house, dating from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century.
Transport
- Bus, number 3, 5, 31, 32.