Note: Belfort is the capital of the department of Belfort, located on the Savoureuse River. History first records it in the 13th century as a possession of the counts of Montbéliard, who granted it a charter 1307. It passed to the archdukes of Austria; then was ceded to France in 1648.It was occupied by Germans in the 1870s and 1940s. The town features a huge outdoor sculpture, the "Lion of Belfort," created 1871-80, carved out of the red sandstone of a hill overlooking Belfort by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, the designer of the Statue of Liberty.
icon to view the hierarchy.
