Salins-les-Bains

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Coordinates: 46°56′31″N 5°52′45″E / 46.94194, 5.87917

Commune of Salins-les-Bains

View of Salins-les-Bains

Location

Coordinates

46°56′31″N 5°52′45″E / 46.94194, 5.87917

Administration

Salins-les-Bains
(chief town)

Statistics

Elevation

284 m–737 m
(avg. 350 m)

Land area^¹

24.68 km²

Population^²
(1999)

3,333

- Density

135/km² (1999)

Miscellaneous

INSEE/Postal code

39500/ 39110

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: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.

Salins-les-Bains is a town of eastern France, in the Jura département, part of the Franche-Comté on a branch line of the Paris-Lyon railway.

Salins owes its name to its saline waters, used for bathing and drinking. There are also salt works and gypsum deposits. Salins is situated in the narrow valley of the Furieuse, between two fortified hills, Fort Belin and Fort Saint-André, while to the north rises Mont Poupet (2798 ft.). The town possesses an interesting Romanesque church, St-Anatole, which has been well restored, and an hôtel de ville of the 18th century. A 17th century Jesuit chapel contains a library, established in 1593, and a museum.

1 History
2 Demographics
3 See also
4 References

[edit] History

The territory of Salins, which was enfeoffed in the 10th century by the Abbey of Saint Maurice-en-Valais to the counts of Mâcon, remained in possession of their descendants till 1175. Maurette de Salins, heiress of this dynasty, brought the lordship to the house of Vienne, and her granddaughter sold it in 1225 to Hugh IV of Burgundy, who ceded it in 1237 to John of Chalon (d.1267) in exchange for the county of Chalon. John's descendants, counts and dukes of Burgundy, emperors and kings of the house of Austria all bore the title of sire de Salins.

In 1477 Salins was taken by the French and temporarily made the seat of the parliament of Franche-Comté by Louis XI. In 1668 and 1674 it was retaken by the French and thenceforward remained in their power. In 1825 the town was almost destroyed by fire. In 1871 it successfully resisted the German troops in the Franco-Prussian War.