Centre des monuments nationaux

Come and visit Besançon Cathedral, a town of Art and History nestling in a bend of the River Doubs, and discover its outstanding astronomical clock built in the 19th century.

Visiting Besançon Cathedral and its astronomical clock

• The cathedral (11th to 13th century and 18th century). The layout of the cathedral is typical of Rhine Romanesque architecture, with two choirs facing each other. There are Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque parts. Inside there is a fine Blessed Virgin with the Saints by Fra Bartolomeo (1518), a Pietà by Conrad Meyt (1532), Louis XVI wood panelling and 16th-century sacerdotal ornaments which are one-of-a-kind in France.

• The astronomical clock. Built by Auguste Lucien Vérité between 1858 and 1860, the clock has 122 indications, ranging from calendars to the movement of the planets. During the visit you can inspect much of the inner mechanism which has over 30,000 pieces and 11 movements, some of which control chimes and automata, as well as its four outer dials, one on each of the bell tower's sides, and a fifth dial inside the cathedral.

Understanding Besançon Cathedral and its unique astronomical clock

• The culmination of a long tradition. Besançon's astronomical clock was made after the one in Strasbourg (1842) and before the one in Beauvais (1868), which was also designed by uguste-Lucien Vérité. The oldest extant astronomical clock in France is to be found in Bourges Cathedral.