Briançon

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Commune of Briançon
Location
Longitude 06° 38' 08" E
Latitude 44°53'47" N
Administration
Country France
Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Département Hautes-Alpes
(sous-préfecture)
Arrondissement Briançon
Canton Chief town of 2 cantons
Intercommunality Communauté
de communes
du Briançonnais
Mayor Alain Bayrou
(2005-2008)
Statistics
Altitude 1,167 m–2,540 m
(avg. n. c.)
Land area¹ 28.07 km²
Population²
(1999)
10,737
 - Density (1999) 382.5/km²
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 05023/ 05100
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).
France
Briançon.
Enlarge
Briançon.

Briançon (Occitan: Briançon) is a town and commune in the French département of Hautes-Alpes (Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur), of which it is the sous-préfecture. It is the highest city in Europe at 1,350 meters.

Contents

[edit] Sights

The historical center is a fortress town, built by Vauban to defend the region from Austrians in the 17th century. The town was defended by many other fortresses constructed in the mountains that surround the city.

Briançon is located close to the Parc National des Ecrins.

[edit] Miscellaneous

[edit] Natives of Briançon

  • Oronce Fine (1494-1555), mathematician and cartographer
  • Luc Alphand (born 1965), professional alpine skier, won world cup (overall title) in 1997; won French Paris-Dakar as race driver in 2006

[edit] Twin town

Briançon is twinned with Rosenheim (southeast of Munich), since 1974.

[edit] Sport

[edit] External links

Wikisource has an original article from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica about: