Once the site of a Neolithic settlement, LONS-LE-SAUNIER was all but destroyed by a fire in the early seventeenth century. Most buildings today date from this era, and a wander around some of the older examples is an agreeable way to fill half a day.The central place de la Liberté, a ten-minute walk north of the train station, is a good place to start. Should you happen to be in the square on the hour, the theatre clock at the eastern end will chime a familiar half-dozen notes from La Marseillaise to honour Lons' most famous son, Rouget de Lisle, the anthem's composer. Just north of the square is the attractive, colonnaded thoroughfare of rue du Commerce, where some of Lons' oldest buildings line the street in which de Lisle was born. Continuing north through the place de la Comédie and past the ancient salt well, Le Puits Salé, you arrive at the Musée Municipal d'Archéologie, 25 rue Richebourg (Mon & Wed–Fri 10am–noon & 2–6pm, Sat & Sun 2–5pm; €1.50). It presents some absorbing prehistoric displays, including a touching Neolithic family scene circa 4000 BC, a dug-out canoe found locally and a life-size replica of a 210-million-year-old plateosaurus, France's oldest-known dinosaur. The museum, which also mounts various temporary exhibitions, is housed in the old Bel cheese factory, whose enduringly popular La Vache Qui Rit ("Laughing cow") cheese spread is now produced in larger premises near the station. Returning south along rue Richebourg to avenue Jean-Moulin, you come to the inevitable statue of Rouget de Lisle, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi, the sculptor who went on to refine de Lisle's stirring pose on a much grander scale in the Statue of Liberty. A left turn here leads to the pleasant Parc Edouard Guenon, where you'll find the Salines, or mineral baths (tel 03.84.24.20.34 for admission details), with their ornate fin-de-siècle exterior, lavishly equipped with a sauna, Turkish bath and jacuzzi: the saline immersions not only soothe the usual aches and pains, but are also renowned for their ability to cure juvenile bed-wetting.
Pages in section ‘Lons-le-Saunier’: Practicalities.
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