Saint-Ursanne

Saint-Ursanne sits in a bend of the Doubs, at 440 metres, where the river, after cutting north-eastwards into the Jura range, changes direction abruptly. The old town is entered through three stone gates — Saint-Paul to the west, Saint-Pierre to the east, Saint-Jean to the south — and over a four-arched bridge built in 1728, whose parapet carries a sandstone statue of Saint John of Nepomuk, patron of bridges. Inside, the built fabric has changed very little over the last centuries: most of the burgher houses date from the 14th to the 16th century.

The core of the town is monastic. An abbey founded by Benedictines left a Romanesque collegiate church of the 12th century and its cloister. The south portal, in Burgundian Romanesque style, is dated to around the year 1200; the encyclopaedic sources consulted rank it among the most remarkable of its kind in Switzerland. Above the roofs, a hermitage set in a cave is reached by a steep stair of 180 steps: legend has it that it sheltered Ursanne, a hermit from Ireland who died in the 7th century, and whose name stayed with the town.

Saint-Ursanne long lived apart. It came out of that in 1877, when the railway linking France to Switzerland opened between Delémont and Porrentruy, at the cost of several tunnels and a viaduct; the A16 motorway, the Transjurane, would later complete the opening up. On 1 January 2009 the locality ceased to be a commune of its own: it merged with Épauvillers, Épiquerez, Montenol, Montmelon, Ocourt and Seleute to form Clos du Doubs. It joined the association of the Most Beautiful Villages of Switzerland in 2017 and received the Best Tourism Villages label of the World Tourism Organization in 2023.

Why this place is remarkable

Everything happens within a few hundred metres: three gates, a cloister, a Romanesque collegiate church, a bridge of 1728 and the wooded cliff that closes the bend of the river. The centre has changed very little over the last centuries, which is rare for a small town that has stayed inhabited and long stood apart — the railway reached it only in 1877.

History and origin

The Doubs cut its way deep into the Jura range along a north-eastern axis before turning aside at Saint-Ursanne: that elbow gave the town its ground. Human history here was less peaceful. A castle of the 12th century commanded the site; a gate, a tower and a few stretches of wall are all that remain. Passed from the prince-bishop of Basel to various owners after the lords of Saint-Ursanne died out, it housed a French and Scottish garrison during the Thirty Years' War, which the population massacred in 1634. The town also owes part of its monuments to the Asuel family, a junior branch of the lords of Montfaucon, which gave one bishop to Basel and another to Strasbourg at the end of the 12th century.