Every design for Belfort

Belfort is famous for refusing to fall. Its fortress held out through the Siege of Belfort in the Franco-Prussian War, and while the rest of Alsace was annexed, this corner stayed French and became the Territoire de Belfort. Frédéric Bartholdi marked that stubbornness with Le Lion de Belfort, a huge lion crouching beneath the Citadelle de Belfort.

The city sits on the river Savoureuse in the Belfort Gap, the natural corridor between the Vosges and the Jura that links the Rhine to the Rhône. That position has drawn settlers since Roman times and armies just as often. The Swiss border is close, Basel is within easy reach, and the Ballon d'Alsace rises to the north. Vauban's ramparts, the Tour de la Miotte on its hill and the Monument des Trois Sièges all speak of a garrison town; Alstom's factories and the Eurockéennes festival speak of the city it became.

The lion is the reason people wear Belfort: crouched, unbowed and impossible to mistake for anywhere else.