Place de l'Hôtel de Ville

Arbois is a small town in the Jura, at the foot of the first plateau of the mountains, and it is the wine capital of the region. The Place de l'Hôtel de Ville is the square in the middle of the old town, and it is dominated by the town hall, a handsome building that dates from the nineteenth century, with a classical façade, and that also houses the local tribunal. The building is protected as a historic monument, with its façade, roof, staircases and some of the interior decoration listed, and it is a good example of the civic architecture of the second half of the nineteenth century, built in a period when French towns put up large public buildings to show their prosperity. The square is a gathering place for the town, and it is easy to reach on foot from every part of the old quarter.

Arbois has a history that is bound up with wine. The vineyards of the Jura have been cultivated since Roman times, and the wines produced here are among the most distinctive in France. The region is known for the vin jaune, the yellow wine, which is made from the Savagnin grape and aged under a film of yeast in barrels for at least six years and three months, a process that gives it a nutty, spicy flavour and makes it a perfect companion for the local cheese, Comté, and for chicken cooked with morels and cream. The vin de paille, the straw wine, is a rare sweet wine made from grapes that are dried on straw mats, and the local red grapes, Poulsard and Trousseau, give light, delicate red wines. Arbois was the first French town to be awarded an appellation, in 1936. Many wine cellars in the town welcome visitors for tastings, and the Musée du Vin et du Pays Arboisien, in the Château Pécauld, tells the story of the wine and the region.

The town is also the home of Louis Pasteur. The scientist, who changed medicine and the food industry with his work on microbes, vaccines and pasteurisation, grew up in Arbois and returned every summer, and his family house and tannery on the banks of the river Cuisance, now a museum, preserves his laboratory and his study, where he carried out some of his experiments on wine and fermentation. He also kept a small vineyard in the hills, and a statue of him stands in the town.

From the square it is a short walk to the church of Saint-Just, with its distinctive bell tower topped with an onion-shaped dome, typical of the Franche-Comté, and to the Pont des Capucins, the old bridge over the Cuisance, from which you see the old mills and houses along the water. The Parc de la Combe and the Château des ducs de Bourgogne are other places to visit, and the Pont de la Cuisance leads toward the lower town. The wine festival, the Fête du Biou, takes place in the first weekend of September, with a procession and a giant bunch of grapes carried to the church.

The square can be seen at any time. It suits wine lovers, walkers and those interested in Pasteur.