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Origin and history

The church of Notre-Dame de Besançon was originally built as an abbey church for Benedictine abbey Saint Vincent, founded in the 11th century (between 1080 and 1085) by Archbishop Hugues II of Montfaucon. Originally, the complex included a chapel, a cloister and dormitories for the monks of the order of Saint-Benoît. Hugues III of Burgundy, successor of Hugues II, appointed the first abbot of the monastery. In the 17th century, the abbey became a centre of historical scholarship for the city and the region, before being dissolved in 1790 during the French Revolution. Under the Empire, the church was transformed into a parish under the name of Notre-Dame, while its adjacent buildings were allocated to the University.

The building, first without vault in the Romanesque era, preserves walls and three 11th century capitals on the sides of the nave. Its present façade, designed in 1720 by architect Jean-Pierre Galezot, incorporates a flamboyant Gothic portal of 1525, commissioned by Abbé Antoine de Montécut, chaplain of Marguerite of Austria. This portal, carved by French-speaking artisans, is inspired by local artistic traditions after the closure of the Brou construction site. The bell tower, built in the 16th century, was the highest time of Besançon. A chapel dedicated to Notre-Dame des Pains was joined by Antoine de Montécut.

The nave was vaulted and an apse added to the choir in 1720. The convent buildings, rebuilt in the seventeenth century, now house offices, classrooms and the library of the University of Besançon. The gate and tower have been listed as historical monuments since 1926. The church houses notable works, such as two wooden worshippers (1768) close to the sculptures of Luc Breton, a statue of the Virgin by Raymond Gayrard (1858), and eight murals by Joseph Aubert (1892-1911), inspired by the frescoes of Hippolyte Flandrin in Paris. His 19th-century stained glass windows, made by Henri Fleur, illustrate biblical and historical scenes, including the defeat of the Huguenots in 1575.

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