Belfort, France: The Lion City You’ve Never Heard Of!

🦁 Join us on a journey to Belfort, France — a hidden gem nestled between the Vosges and Jura mountains!

In this video, we explore the historic city of Belfort, famous for its incredible Vauban citadel, the powerful Lion of Belfort sculpted by Bartholdi (the creator of the Statue of Liberty), and its key role in French military history.

Discover why this small city is one of France’s most underrated destinations. From stunning views at the citadel to charming old streets and modern culture, Belfort offers history, beauty, and surprise at every corner.

✅ What you’ll see in this video:

Belfort Citadel walkthrough 🏰

The Lion of Belfort 🦁

Historical significance of the 1870 siege ⚔️

If you love exploring hidden gems in France, historical cities, or planning your next European travel destination, this video is for you!

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#Belfort France #Visit Belfort #Belfort Citadel #Lion of Belfort #Hidden gems in France #Underrated cities in Europe #France travel guide #French history travel

[Music] in the heart of eastern France lies a city most tourists overlook. But it guards secrets older than the Eiffel Tower, a lion carved from stone and stories that echo through fortress walls. Welcome to Belffort, the city of resistance, resilience, and roaring pride. Belffort sits in what’s called the Belffort Gap, a natural corridor that has made it one of the most strategically important locations in French history. So why visit Belffort? Because it’s a city with a soul. Where history doesn’t just sit in museums, it roars from the stone. Because it’s walkable, welcoming, and way off the usual tourist path. And because sometimes the places you never heard of are the ones you never forget. [Music] In the shadow of the Vojes Mountains, where France narrows into a fragile pass, a fortress rises from the rock. Not just any fortress. This is the Citadel of Belffor, where stone strategy and sheer stubbornness carved out a legend. It all begins in the late 1600s. France is flexing its imperial muscles under King Louis the 14th, the Sun King. His wars stretch across Europe, and he knows something crucial. France’s eastern border is vulnerable. Enter Belffort, a narrow passage between mountain ranges known as the Belffort Gap or the Trueway debel. Strategically vital, militarily irresistible. To defend it, Louie calls on his military genius, Vaban, the fortress whisperer of France. Between 1687 and 1703, Bobon reshapes Belffort into a jewel of military engineering. Ramparts, bastions, deep modes, and cannon platforms carved directly into the sandstone. This isn’t just architecture. It’s artillery proof geometry. Fast forward nearly two centuries. The year is 1870. France and Prussia clash in a brutal war. The French army crumbles, but Belffort Belffort resists. [Music] Colonel Pierre Denfair Rashiro with just 17,000 troops and a fortress defies the 40,000 strong Prussian army. For 103 days, the citadel holds out under bombardment, disease, and starvation. Civilians join the effort, baking bread, carrying messages, hiding from shellfire and underground casemates. In the end, Denver doesn’t surrender. He negotiates a peaceful exit. His troops march out, heads high, weapons intact. Because of that bravery, when the Treaty of Frankfurt carves up Alsaz Lorraine, Belffort stays French. [Music] To immortalize the city’s courage, France commissions a sculpture. And who better than Frederick Augustus Barthodi, the man who would later geif the world the Statue of Liberty. Over eight years, Bartholi chisels a lion, wounded but proud, crouching beneath the citadel. It doesn’t roar in fury, it roars in defiance. Lion of Belffort was completed in 1880. It is 22 m long and 11 m tall. [Music] Today, the Citadel is more than stone and story. It’s a living museum. You can explore Voban’s defenses, climb the towers, visit the siege museum, and of course, meet the lion face to face. Belffort’s citadel may never have ruled empires, but in the moments that mattered most, it stood unshaken. And that is what makes it legendary. [Music]