Briançon

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Briançon
Briançon coat of arms
Briançon (France)
Briançon
region Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur
Department Hautes-Alpes
Arrondissement Briançon
Canton Briançon-1 (main town)
Briançon-2 (main town)
Community association Briançonnais
Coordinates 44 ° 54 '  N , 6 ° 38'  E Coordinates: 44 ° 54 '  N , 6 ° 38'  E
height 1,167–2,540 m
surface 28.07 km 2
Residents 11,625 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 414 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 05100
INSEE code 05023
Website www.ville-briancon.fr

Briançon, the fortified old town

Briançon is a French commune with 11,625 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) in the Hautes-Alpes department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region .

geography

Briançon is at an altitude of 1200 to 1326  m below the 1854  m high Col de Montgenèvre on the western edge of the Cottian Alps , near the Italian border. Here the Guisane joins the Durance .

history

The Col de Montgenèvre was an important link between the central Rhone Valley and the Po Valley since Roman times .

In 1692 a major fire destroyed what is now the upper town. Due to its strategically important location on the way to Italy, however, it was rebuilt during this time on behalf of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban and integrated into a strongly developed fortress system, which included the upper town and a citadel as well as several smaller fortresses. This system withstood an attack by the Austrians in 1815 and Italian attacks in 1940. Since July 7th, 2008, the Citadel, Fort Salettes, Fort des Têtes, Fort du Randouillet and Pont d'Asfeld, along with other works throughout France, have been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site " Fortifications of Vauban ".

Population development

year 1962 1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2006 2016
Residents 7,570 8,215 9,489 9,710 11,041 10,737 11,542 11,950
Sources: Cassini and INSEE

traffic

The roads from Gap and Grenoble meet in Briançon and continue to Turin via Montgenèvre . The city is also the end of an SNCF train line from Gap, on which trains run to Valence and Lyon . There is a daily night train connection to Paris- Austerlitz.

Attractions

  • Briançon, old town

  • Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Nicolas Collegiate Church

  • Briançon fortress

Sports

The ice hockey team Diables Rouges de Briançon comes from Briançon and became French ice hockey champions for the first time in 2014 . Several ice hockey competitions took place in the city as part of the European and World Championships as well as the 2006 Winter Olympics . In addition, the city was the start and finish of the Tour de France in 2005 and 2007 .

Town twinning

The city of Briançon has a partnership with Rosenheim in Bavaria (since 1979) and with Susa in Italy.

Personalities

Web links

Commons : Briançon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Destinations et réseaux. Retrieved November 3, 2019 (French).
  2. ^ Website Briançon - Relations Internationales , accessed on October 10, 2017