Briançon

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Administration
Commune of Briançon
Location
Longitude	06° 38' 08" E
Latitude	44°53'47" N
Country	France
Region	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Department	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 mi² or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel).

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. At 1,350 meters it is the second highest city in Europe after Davos.

1 Sights
2 Miscellaneous
- 2.1 Natives of Briançon
- 2.2 Twin Towns
3 Sport
4 External links

[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