Pontarlier

Pontarlier lies high in the Jura on the route between Burgundy and Switzerland. Its position made the town a place of passage and an important military objective, while fire repeatedly changed its appearance. In 1475 Swiss troops took Pontarlier, and the fire that followed destroyed many records belonging to local families and parishes.

In January 1639, during the Ten Years' War, the army of Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar besieged the town for a week. Pontarlier was taken and burned, adding to the devastation of the county of Burgundy. Another great fire swept the main street in 1754 and destroyed the library of the Capuchin convent. After the county's annexation by France, new military barracks were built between 1748 and 1764, followed by the Saint-Pierre gate in 1771.