Centre Culturel d'Ornans

Ornans is a small town on the river Loue, in the Doubs department of the Franche-Comté, and it is known above all as the birthplace of the painter Gustave Courbet, the leading figure of the Realist movement in the nineteenth century. Reliable details about a Centre Culturel in the town are limited, and the town's main cultural attraction for visitors is the Musée Courbet, housed in the painter's family home and a neighbouring building near the river. The cultural centre itself appears to be a local venue for exhibitions, events and community activity, and the tourist office, which sells local products such as honey, jam, soap and books about the area, may be a useful first stop for information on what is on.

Courbet, born here in 1819, remained deeply attached to his native region throughout his life, and he painted the landscapes and people of the Loue valley again and again. His enormous canvas A Burial at Ornans, finished in 1850, shows the funeral of a villager in a scene of almost life-size figures, which shocked Paris at the time because it gave ordinary country people the monumental treatment normally reserved for history painting. That picture now hangs in the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, but the town still celebrates it, and visitors can recognise the setting in the cliffs and hills around. Courbet's later life was dramatic, with a political role in the Paris Commune of 1871 and exile in Switzerland, where he died in 1877, but he never lost his sense of belonging to Ornans.

The setting of the town is worth the visit in itself. Old houses with balconies and arcades line the banks of the Loue, and their reflections in the water have earned the town the nickname of the Venice of the Franche-Comté. The river is green and clear, and in summer, people canoe, fish and swim in it. The surrounding countryside, with steep limestone cliffs, wooded slopes and deep valleys, is typical of the Jura foothills, and the source of the Loue, which gushes from a cave at the foot of a cliff a few kilometres away, is one of the most dramatic natural sights in the region. The Vallon de la Loue offers walking trails and viewpoints.

Ornans also keeps the remains of an old château on a rock above the town, and the Parc de la Gare offers a green space. The area is famous for cheese, especially Comté, and for the smoked sausages of the Jura, which are available in local shops.

A visit to the town takes a few hours, more if you include the museum and a walk along the river. It suits art lovers, walkers and families. Check the programme of the cultural centre and the opening times of the museum before you go.