Belfort

For other uses, see Belfort (disambiguation).

Belfort
Belfort
Location within Franche-Comté region  Belfort
Administration
Country	France
Region	Franche-Comté
Department	Territoire de Belfort
Arrondissement	Belfort
Canton	Cantons of Belfort-Centre, Belfort-Est, Belfort-Nord, Belfort-Ouest, and Belfort-Sud
Intercommunality	Belfortaine
Mayor	Étienne Butzbach (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	354–650 m (1,161–2,130 ft) (avg. 358 m or 1,175 ft)
Land area1	17.10 km2 (6.60 sq mi)
Population2	50,199  (2009)
- Density	2,936 /km2 (7,600 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	90010/ 90000
Dialling code	0384
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Belfort (French pronunciation: [bɛl.fɔʁ-]) is a city in north-east France in the Franche-Comté région, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg. It is the biggest town and the administrative town of the Territoire de Belfort département in the Franche-Comté region. Belfort is located at 400 km (249 mi) from Paris, 141 km (88 mi) from Strasbourg, 290 km (180 mi) from Lyon and 150 km (93 mi) from Zürich. The residents of the city are called ‘’Belfortains’’. It is located on the Savoureuse, on the strategically important natural route between the Rhine and the Rhône – the Belfort Gap (Trouée de Belfort) or Burgundian Gate (Porte de Bourgogne). The city of Belfort has 50,199 inhabitants. Together with its suburbs and satellite towns, Belfort forms the largest agglomeration (metropolitan area) in Franche-Comté region with an urban population of 308,601 inhabitants.

History

Belfort's strategic location, in a natural gap between the Vosges and the Jura, on a route linking the Rhine and the Rhône, has attracted human settlement and made it a target for armies.

The site of Belfort was inhabited in Gallo-Roman times and was subsequently recorded in the 13th century as a possession of the counts of Montbéliard, who granted it a charter in 1307.

Previously an Austrian possession, Belfort was transferred to France by the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), that ended the Thirty Years' War. The town's fortifications were extended and developed by the military architect Vauban for Louis XIV.

Until 1871, Belfort was part of the département of Haut-Rhin, in Alsace. The Siege of Belfort, between 3 November 1870 and 18 February 1871, was successfully resisted until the garrison was ordered to surrender 21 days after the armistice between France and Prussia. Because this part of Alsace was French speaking, while the rest of Alsace was German speaking, the area around Belfort was not annexed by the Prussians. It formed, as it still does, the Territoire de Belfort. The siege is commemorated by a huge statue, the Lion of Belfort, by Frédéric Bartholdi.

Alsatians who sought a new French home in Belfort made a significant contribution to its industry.

The town was bombarded by the German army during World War I and occupied by it during World War II. In November 1944 the retreating German army held the French First Army before the town until French Commandos made a successful night attack on the Salbert Fort. Belfort was liberated on 22 November 1944.

Economy

Belfort is a trading centre for wine and grain and its industries include chemicals, engineering, plastics and textiles. Belfort is also the hometown of Alstom where the first TGVs (Trains Grande Vitesse) were produced. As well as of the GE Energy European headquarter and centre of excellence for the manufacturing of gas turbines.

Transport and communication

Situation of Belfort in road and railroad of Franche-Comté.

Main highways

Like many other European cities, cars trafic in Belfort increases continually and dominates transports. Belfort is situated at only 25 miles from commercial port of Mulhouse-Rhin which allows international transit. Motorway nammed A36 from Beaune to Mulhouse, turn around south and east part of the city. It’s the main axe linking Belfort to other French and foreign cities. est l'axe principal la reliant aux autres villes françaises et étrangères. A national road, N19, is another main road which allows to join south of Belfort with Paris, Nancy and Swizerland.

Rail links

SNCF station of Belfort-Ville

SNCF station Belfort-Montbéliard TGV

A lot of trains arrive in Belfort. Since the 11th December 2011, national and international TGV serve Belfort-Montbéliard TGV station which is now a part of LGV Rhin-Rhône. They allow to join Paris, Dijon, Lyon, Strasbourg, Bâle and Mulhouse. Classic regional and national trains complete this offer to Montbéliard, Besançon, Mulhouse, Vesoul, Épinal and Nancy. After 2015, regional trains will desserve Belfort-Montbéliard TGV station within Belfort - Bienne link. This service will open Belfort and its area to Swizerland and towns like Delémont, Berne, Fribourg and Lausanne. Before 2020, the service Épinal-Belfort will be electrified and modernized. This will allow a link between LGV Est and LGV Rhin-Rhône in TGV Belfort-Montbéliard station, opening news destinations like Nancy, Metz and Luxembourg.

Other means of transport

A local bus network operates within the city.

Sights

Lion of Belfort

• Belfort is the home of the Lion of Belfort, a sculpture by Frédéric Bartholdi expressing people's resistance against the siege in the Franco-Prussian War (1870) – who shortly afterwards built the Statue of Liberty in New York.
• The Belfort Citadel - A unique example of Vauban pentagonal fortifications.
• The Belfort Cathedral, 18th century
• The old town
• The Belfort city museums are structured within three main poles:
  • History (from archeology to military) in the old barracks on the top of the citadel.
  • Art (mainly from 16th to 19th century) in the Tour 41.
  • Modern Art in the Donation Jardot.
• Since July 2007, a touristic sight of the citadel has been open to the public – with a sound-, video- and light-animated trail in the moats and the big underpass of the citadel. Its name: "La Citadelle de la Liberté" (Citadel of Liberty).

Culture

FIMU

Belfort is also well known for organizing a large-scale music festival in May each year. The Festival International de Musique Universitaire (FIMU) is home to nearly 2500 musicians, most of them students, from many different countries. The musicians give more than 250 concerts in the course of the 3-day festival in a wide variety of styles (classical, jazz, traditional, experimental, etc.). All of the concerts are free of charge and are performed at 14 different locations in the old city (the vieille ville) of Belfort. In 2004 more than 60,000 people attended the festival. In 2005 the festival was held on 14–16 May. This should not be confused with the Eurockeenes festival held there in July each year.

Events

• The Eurockéennes which is one of France's largest rock music festivals.
• The Belfort Tattoo Convention which remains after 14 years of existence is the oldest convention of France.

Personalities

Births

Belfort was the birthplace of:

• François Joseph Heim (1787–1865), painter
• Jules Brunet (1838–1911), a member of the first French Military Mission to Japan in order to help modernize the armies of the shogunate
• Louis-Gabriel-Charles Vicaire (1848–1900), poet
• Tahar Rahim (1981– ), actor
• Raymond Forni (1941–2008), politician
• Jean-Pierre Chevènement (9 mars 1939), politician
• Gérard Grisey (born 1946–1998), composer
• Alexander Toponce (1839–1923), American pioneer
• Frederic Duplus, footballer
• John Glele, footballer

Deaths

• Léon Delarbre, painter – known from his drawings for the Shoah camps

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in France

Twin towns – Sister cities

Belfort is twinned with:

• Delémont, Switzerland
• Leonberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
• Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine
• Stafford, United Kingdom
• Tanghin-Dassouri, Burkina Faso

See also

• Communes of the Territoire de Belfort department
• Fortified region of Belfort

References

• INSEE

External links

• City council website (French)
• La place forte de Belfort 1870 – 1914 (French)
• Tourist office website
• Belfort Tourism Information
• Visiting Belfort
• Webpage about the fortifications
• Léon Delarbre (French)