Porte Noire

The Porte Noire is one of the city’s most impressive links to its Roman past. After the Romans conquered what we now call Franche-Comté in the 1st century, they expanded and beautified the city of Vesontio, which eventually became Besançon. This magnificent arch was built during this transformation, around 175 AD. Although it looks like a triumphal arch, it wasn’t built to celebrate a victory. Instead, it was meant to honour the loyalty and devotion of the Sequanian people to their emperor, Marcus Aurelius. The detailed carvings of gods and goddesses from Greco-Roman mythology and intense battle scenes are connected to the emperor’s military campaigns.The monument has undergone many changes. Fires, weather, and the softness of the stone gradually darkened its surface, earning it the name ‘Black Gate.’Today, more than a metre of the arch has sunk below ground level. The Porte Noire underwent a major restoration in 2011, and now stands tall as one of Besançon’s most iconic monuments, made even more striking by the colourful bell tower of Saint-Jean Cathedral rising behind it.