Ornans

Ornans is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. On 1 January 2016 the former commune Bonnevaux-le-Prieuré was merged into Ornans.

Ornans is a cultural and tourist centre located in the heart of the first plateau of the Jura Mountains in the Loue valley. The town offers tourists a wide range of outdoor activities thanks to the presence of the river and the surrounding cliffs, making it ideal for white-water sports, fishing, hiking, climbing and cycling. The birthplace of the painter Gustave Courbet, to whom it inspired many paintings including the famous A Burial at Ornans, it is home to a museum dedicated to the man and his works, which welcomes tens of thousands of visitors every year. The town also boasts a rich heritage, with twelve listed or classified historic monuments, numerous private mansions and houses whose facades bathed by the river have earned it the nickname of "Little Venice of Franche-Comté".

Ornans is also an economic centre of regional importance, thanks in particular to the presence of an industrial site belonging to the Alstom Transport group, which specialises in the construction of engines for rail transport (including the TGV) and city buses, and the Guillin Emballages company.

Personalities
Ornans is the birthplace of the French realist painter, Gustave Courbet (1819 - 1877). One of Courbet's most famous paintings is Burial at Ornans, which depicts actual people from the area attending a funeral.

The mathematician and instrument maker Pierre Vernier, for whom the eponymous scale is named, was also a native of this small town (19 August 1580 -14 September 1637). The main avenue of Ornans bears his name, Rue Pierre Vernier. The historical building, l'Hôtel de Granvelle, now designated 67 and 77 Rue Pierre Vernier, was the birthplace of Cardinal Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle (20 August 1517 - 21 September 1586) who was instrumental in the repression of the Protestant Reformation in the Netherlands, under Charles V (called "Charles Quint" in French), Holy Roman Emperor from 1516 to 1556. His father Nicholas Perrenot de Granvelle (1484–1550), had been a chancellor of the empire before him and trusted advisor to Charles V from the time he was elected emperor at 19 years of age. Nicholas (father of 15 children) purchased a building located in the center of the town, and made significant expansions; this became known as L'Hôtel de Granvelle. He groomed his son to assume his advisory position to the Emperor, and to the Pope. In his unique role, and powerful position, it is believed that Antoine was one of the architects of the Counter-Reformation. (i.e. He was charged with addressing the Council of Trent in the name of the emperor (9 January 1543)). "His vast correspondence is an inexhaustible source of information concerning the history of the sixteenth century. It might also be said, writes the celebrated archivist, Gachard, that no minister ever wrote as much as the Cardinal de Granvelle. His correspondence has been edited partly in France by Weiss, "Les papiers d'état de Granvelle" (9 vols., 4to, 1841–52), partly in Belgium, "La correspondence du cardinal Granvelle" (12 vols., 4to, 1878–96), the first three volumes by E. Poullet, the remainder by Ch. Piat."

Population
The population data in the table and graph below refer to the commune of Ornans proper, in its geography at the given years. The commune of Ornans absorbed the former commune of Bonnevaux-le-Prieuré in 2016.