On a plateau between the Jura Mountains and the Vosges is a city that has been hotly debated for millennia.
Belfort was the only feasible route into France for hundreds of kilometers to the north or south, and many French Kings and leaders did their best to fortify it. Louis XIV ordered the Iron Belt and the elaborate citadel that was planned by Vauban, the great military architect of the day. The surrounding satellite walls and fortresses need to be seen, and few have an inner museum for this city's art or turbulent history. The city’s indomitable spirit is encapsulated by the monumental Lion of Belfort statue, commanding the scene from the face of a cliff.
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1. Belfort Citadel
The Belfort Gap was seen as a chink in eastern France’s armor for almost 1,000 years and has been heavily fortified since the 13th century. But in the 17th century, these defenses were modernized for artillery, first by the Comte de Suze and then the famed military mastermind, Vauban.
He built a second wall for the city, with an elaborate horn and ditch system, so advanced that it succeeded against a siege in 1815, more than a century after it was built. There are soaring lookouts and subterranean passages and a program of re-enactments in summer to bring different stages of the citadel’s past back to life.
2. Lion of Belfort
In an epic location on a ledge beneath the bluff and part of the city walls is a formidable statue of a lion.
This was made in 1880 by Frédéric Bartholdi and commemorates the siege of Belfort during the Franco-Prussian War when the city held out for 103 days despite a big disadvantage in manpower.
Bartholdi, of course, was the man who designed the Statue of Liberty in New York, and his lion is made from sandstone blocks, sculpted down the slope and brought up to this ledge piece by piece to be assembled.
3. Ring of Fortifications
Amid rising tensions with neighboring Prussia in the 1800s, a succession of French kings and then the Third Republic tried to shore up the Belfort Gap. They did this with a gigantic network of fortifications that expanded on Vauban’s citadel and the Iron Belt so that the city wasn’t vulnerable to long-distance artillery.
So the scenery around the town is just strewn with 19th-century military buildings in different states of repair. Many of them, like Fort de la Miotte, Forte des Basses-Perches, Fort Dorsner, and Fort de Meroux can be freely explored, and this is really just the tip of the iceberg.
4. Musée d’Histoire et d’Archéologie
In the citadel’s old barracks is a museum covering thousands of years of history in the Belfort area. It began in 1872 after work at a local fort unearthed Neolithic artifacts.
Now there are three distinct spaces: A museum of archaeology with prehistoric, Gallo-Roman and Carolingian objects, an exhibition about Bartholdi containing sculptures, models and sketches of the lion, and a gallery about the stormy military history of Belfort.
Each section has its merits, whether it’s Roman mosaics, Prussian weaponry or an inside look at the process of one of history’s most famous sculptors.
5. Porte de Brisach
A solemn way to enter the city from the east, the Porte de Brisach was also fashioned by Vauban and passes through the fortifications from Rue des Mobiles.
There’s a bridge across the ditch before you’re faced with a portal that leaves you in no doubt about the King’s authority: In the pediment at the top is the famous Sun King emblem and Louis XIV’s motto “Nec Pluribus impar”, which means literally, “not unequal to many”.
The lower one has the flag and booty around the fleurs de Lys and the royal French crown.
6. Musée d’Art Moderne
In this elegant Belle Époque mansion is a neat little summary of modern art in the first decades of the 20th century. The cubist and surrealist movements are well-represented, with work by Picasso, Juan Gris, Georges Braque, Fernand Léger and André Masson.
These 150 paintings, sculptures and drawings were all awarded to the Bell Tower in 1997 by the curator Maurice Jardot. This man had a long-standing partnership with Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, who was a big patron of cubism and became one of the leading French art dealers in the 20th century.
7. Musée des Beaux-Arts
One of the ancient fortresses, Tour 41, is an atmospheric setting for this city's art museum. A mix of government deposits and donations down the years have endowed the museum with 150 works from the Renaissance up to the end of the 19th century.
And there are many artists creating the era found, like Albrecht Dürer and Auguste Rodin in particular. It’s especially rich in French art from the 1800s, by the likes of Eugène Carrière, Gustave Courbet and Paul Signac.
Tour 46, a few steps away, is for temporary exhibitions of history and art organized by each of Belfort’s museum.
8. Belfort Cathedral
With the pride of location in front of the Place Dimes, the neoclassical church of the bellortort tower is almost identical to the ancient ruins in Petra when you see it from the west.
It was intended as an abbey church in the first half of the 1700s and didn’t become a cathedral until 1979 when the diocese of Belfort-Montbéliard was created. The striking pink sandstone used in the construction was quarried close by in the village of Offemont.
At the back, feast your eyes on the very decorative Great Organ in the gallery, which was installed in 1752 and is a French historic monument in its own right.
9. Lac du Malsaucy
You could drive, cycle or hike out to this serene 55-hectare lake bordered by woodland and low hills. In what had previously been marshes, the lake was dammed as long ago as the 1400s to supply water to Belfort and create a body of water for fishing.
People still come fishing today, but now it is more valued for its natural splendor and the sandy beach on the east shore. The beach is supervised in the summer as part of a whole activity center that rents out paddleboards, canoes, and rowboats. There’s even an outdoor cinema with the water on summer evenings.
10. Tracking down the Lions
Bartholdi has about 150 children around the city, appearing as statues, sculpting architectural features, murals, fountains, and knockers.
In the summer, the bell tower tourist office arranges guided walking tours, explains a little bit about the buildings they appear on, and provides historical anecdotes about the city as you go.
If you're not on a guided tour, the office can provide you with a trail map with all the information you need for your own city trip.
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