Vesoul

Vesoul is a commune in the predominantly rural Haute-Saône department, of which it is the prefecture, or capital, in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
It is the most populous municipality of the department, with inhabitants in 2014. The same year, the Communauté d'agglomération de Vesoul, which covers 20 municipalities, together had inhabitants, while its urban area, comprising 78 municipalities, had inhabitants. Its inhabitants are known in French as Vésuliens.
Built on top of the hill of La Motte in the first millennium under the name of Castrum Vesulium, the city gradually evolved into a European commercial and economic center. At the end of the Middle Ages, the city experienced a challenging period beset with plagues, epidemics, and localized conflict.
The main urban center of the department, Vesoul is also home to a major PSA parts manufacturing plant and to the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema. It was immortalized by Jacques Brel in his 1968 song "Vesoul".

History

Vesoul is first mentioned in a document dated 899. That document describes an elevation with a fortified watchtower and speaks of "Castrum Vesulium". Castrum is a fortification, and "Vesulium" has the syllable ves which meant hill or mountain in a language that was spoken before the Celts. Today, there is a castle that forms the centre of the city. The first houses were built inside the walls of the castle. Newcomers who found no place settled outside the city walls, on the flanks of the hill. Wine growing was popular.
The town was severely affected by the plague in 1586. It became part of France in 1678.
In 1814, after the fall of the First French Empire, a buffer state was created, with Vesoul as its capital. The principality was that of Franche-Comté, of the Vosges and of Porrentruy.
Today, one of the main factories of Stellantis, formerly an installation of PSA Peugeot Citroën, is near Vesoul.

Geography

Vesoul is located in eastern France, about 100 kilometers from the German and Swiss borders and between the Jura and Vosges mountain ranges. Vesoul is also situated in the center of the Haute-Saône department, which is in the north of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. In this region, Vesoul is included in the Pays de Vesoul et du Val de Saône, a geographic region composed the Vesoul area and the northern part of the Saône valley.
By road, Vesoul is from the towns of Luxeuil-les-Bains, from Lure and from Gray. Relative to the bigger cities in the French East region, Vesoul is located from Besançon, from Belfort, from Dijon, and from Nancy. Equidistant from Dijon and Mulhouse, Vesoul is from Paris, at the intersection of national roads N19 and N57. Vesoul station is on the SNCF Paris–Mulhouse railway line, and has connections with Paris, Belfort, Mulhouse and Chaumont.
The Vesoul area is also included in the Pôle métropolitain Centre Franche-Comté which is a government structure unifying the biggest areas of central Franche-Comté. Nine communes border the town of Vesoul.
Vesoul is crossed by four watercourses: two rivers and two streams. All four are tributaries and sub-tributaries of the Saône, the fourth longest river in France at 473 km, and a tributary of the Rhone, which flows at about ten kilometers to the west of Vesoul.

Governance and politics

Mayors

Twin towns

Gerlingen, Germany, since 1964
Administrative division
Arrondissement of Vesoul
Canton of Vesoul-1
Canton of Vesoul-2
Population and society
Jean-Michel Nicolier, French volunteer in the Croatian War of Independence who was killed in the Vukovar massacre
Sophie Bouillon, independent journalist, winner of the 2009 Albert Londres Prize.
Demography

Media

Vesoul is also the name of a song by Jacques Brel from 1968, a fast-paced waltz during the recording of which Brel famously yelled "Chauffe, Marcel, chauffe!" at his accordionist, Marcel Azzola.
The town is also mentioned facetiously in the satirical rap Fous ta cagoule by Michael Youn.

Sport

FC Vesoul, football club
Stade René Hologne
Cercle de Judo de Vesoul, Judo club with a competitors section
Education

Vesoul has schools of higher education. The city has 1,200 students divided between an IUT, an IUFM, an Institute of Nursing Training, a School of Management and Commerce and BTS.
A Council of Student Life, led by the Officer in charge of Higher Education, was established in 2011. It offers activities to stimulate student life. In all, Vesoul has 10,000 students.
''' All schools and studies in Vesoul '''

Culture and heritage

Monuments and tourist attractions

Vieux Vesoul
Site of Vesoul's Motte
Site of the Sabot de Frotey
Lake of Vesoul - Vaivre
Vesoul-Vaivre Vélo-rail
Convent of the Ursulines
St. George's Church, Vesoul
Gare de Vesoul
PSA Vesoul Plant
Synagogue of Vesoul
Musée Georges-Garret
Notre-Dame-de-la-Motte
Paul Morel Hospital
Lac de Vesoul - Vaivre

Image:2013-03-20 14-01-02-lac-vesoul-vaivre.jpg|thumb|center|upright=2.3|Lake of Vesoul

Festival

Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
Library

The first public library of Vesoul opened in 1771. The abbé Bardenet, superior of the Saint-Esprit hospital in Besançon, gave his book collection to the town. There were 1772 books. The collections became a lot larger with the Revolution. At that time, the revolutionaries took the books from the monasteries of the town and even of the region. Around 20,000 books were added to the library this way, including some 11th century manuscripts. The Mayor's office was responsible for keeping the books.
In 1981, the municipality decided to build a new building to encourage the public to read. The library was recently equipped with computers. There are around 200 manuscripts and 150 incunables.