Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Saint Paul Abbey of Besançon is founded around 630 by Saint Donat, disciple of Saint Colomban, on the ruins of a Roman Palatium. Originally Benedictine, she also adopted the rule of St.Columban. In the 11th century, Archbishop Hugues I of Salins transformed her into a collegiate dedicated to St Mary, St Paul and St Antide, with a charter promulgated in 1044. The regular canons then replace the seculars.

The buildings were restored in the twelfth (clocher, choir) and fourteenth centuries (Gothic nave). During the Revolution, the church became a national one, serving as a stable and then a military store. Today, its nave, the only remaining vestige with elements of the bell tower, houses a lapidary reserve. The adjacent mill, attested as early as the 11th century, was converted into a stationery (1473) and then a seat mill by Vauban.

Ranked as a historical monument in 1942 (nef) and partially listed (1972 for the capitular chapel, 1995 for the building of basin), the abbey illustrates the religious and architectural evolution bisontine. Its remains, like the bell tower displayed in the courtyard of municipal archives, bear witness to its medieval prestige. The site remains linked to urban history, between religious heritage and civil reuse.

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