ClasséChapel · protected 1913Chapelle des Annonciades (ancienne)Part of the building is protectedPhoto: Ludovic Péron · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Construction projetée au 18e siècle en avant de l'église Saint-Bénigne · Photo: photography taken by Christophe.Finot · CC BY-SA 3.010historic monuments
History of Pontarlier · Monuments historiques
10 historic monuments, 1 classé
Pontarlier has 5.5 monuments for every 10,000 residents, more per resident than 72% of compared French towns; the median compared French town has 2.5. Pontarlier’s oldest monuments date from the 15th century. 9 of Pontarlier’s monuments are in our photos.
Monuments historiques
10
5.5 per 10,000 residents
median compared town 2.5
median compared town 2.5
Classé
1
the highest protection
Inscrit
9
the second level
Oldest part
15th c.
of any listed monument
Homes before 1919
6.2%
median compared town 7.4%
In pictures
Pontarlier in 9 photos
Tap a photo to step through them full screen.
Chapelle des Annonciades (ancienne)Classé
Église Saint-BénigneInscrit
Demeure de SandonInscrit
Porte Saint-PierreInscrit
ImmeubleInscrit+4See all photosPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, copied to our own server, each credited to its photographer with its license; names open the monument’s page.
Map
Where Pontarlier’s monuments stand
Every monument with a point on the ministry’s list; the larger, darker dots are classé.
ClasséInscrit
Tap a dot to open the monument’s page: its record, photo and the monuments around it.
10 monuments by protection
1 Classé9 Inscrit
Classé is the higher protection: any work on the building needs the State’s permission. Work on an inscrit building must be declared to the State in advance. Around both, building work in sight of the monument (usually within 500 m) needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
Points as the ministry gives them: a monument spread over several plots has one point.
Classé
One classé monument in Pontarlier
Classé is France’s highest protection for a building, held by about a third of the monuments on the list. 1 of the 1 is protected in part only (a façade, a roof, a room). Each card opens the monument’s page.
Inscrit
9 inscrit monuments in Pontarlier
Inscrit is the second level of protection: the building is worth keeping, and any work on it must be declared.
InscritChurch · protected 1970Église Saint-BénignePhoto: photography taken by Christophe.Finot · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
InscritResidence · protected 2003Demeure de SandonPart of the building is protectedPhoto: Agnès Louvrier · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
InscritBuilding · protected 1961Construction projetée au 18e siècle en avant de l'église Saint-BénignePart of the building is protectedPhoto: photography taken by Christophe.Finot · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Inscrit
InscritBuilding · protected 1971Immeuble, 21 rue GambettaPart of the building is protectedPhoto: Alouvrier · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
InscritBuilding · protected 1984Immeuble, 79 rue de la RépubliquePart of the building is protectedPhoto: Fanny Schertzer · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
InscritBuilding · protected 1971Immeuble, 87 rue de la RépubliquePart of the building is protectedPhoto: Alouvrier · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
InscritBuilding · protected 1971Immeuble, 2 rue MontrieuxPart of the building is protectedPhoto: Ludovic Péron · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Monument · protected 2022monument aux morts
What’s protected
Most of Pontarlier’s monuments are houses and homes
Each monument under the main domain Mérimée gives it.
Houses & homes6
Religious buildings2
Military & fortified1
Tombs & cemeteries1
Houses & homes: 6 of 10 monuments (60%). 2 are religious buildings, 1 of them classé.
Mérimée files each monument under one main domain: a château with its chapel counts once.
How old
How old Pontarlier’s monuments are
Each monument once, by the oldest part the list dates.
Prehistory & Antiquity to the 4th c.0
Middle Ages 5th–15th c.1
16th to 18th century Renaissance to Revolution8
19th century 1801–19000
20th century and later since 19011
1 of 10 dated monuments has parts from before 1500. The oldest dated: Église Saint-Bénigne (15th–17th c.).
When protected
3 of Pontarlier’s monuments were protected in 1971
Monuments by the year they were first protected.
1900192019401960198020002020
First protected, in 1913: Chapelle des Annonciades (ancienne). 3 were protected in 1971 alone. 1 has been added since 2011.
Born before 1900
11 people born in Pontarlier before 1900
Their lives on one line.
Jean-Jacques Fauche de Domprel
Antide Marie Claudet
Jean-Baptiste Michaud
Charles Antoine Morand
Étienne François Philippe Demesmay
Urbain Loiseau
Auguste Demesmay
Gustave Colin
Philippe Grenier
César Pain
René Carré-Bonvalet
155016001650170017501800185019001950
CA
Charles Antoine Morand1771–1835 · general of the French army during the French Revolutionary Wars and N…
GC
Gustave Colin1814–1880 · French politician
PG
Philippe Grenier1865–1944 · French politician and doctor
JJ
Jean-Jacques Fauche de Domprel1597–1662 · French catholic priest
AM
Antide Marie Claudet1753–1812 · French politician
JB
Jean-Baptiste Michaud1759–1819 · French politician
ÉF
Étienne François Philippe Demesmay1772–1853 · French politician
UL
Urbain Loiseau1801–1838 · French jurist-consultant
Everyone born in Pontarlier Birthplaces from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia.
Towns its size
Pontarlier has the 9th most monuments of 41 towns its size
Compared French towns of 17,400 to 18,700 residents, by historic monuments.
Pontarlier10
#10 of 41for monuments per resident (5.5 per 10,000). Most per resident: Le Puy-en-Velay, Segré-en-Anjou Bleu and Cognac.
The median town of these has 3. 6 of the 41 have none.
Neighbors
Historic monuments in the towns around Pontarlier
In brief
Pontarlier in brief
The official list counts 10 historic monuments in Pontarlier, 1 of them classé, including Chapelle des Annonciades (ancienne). Only 8 of the 41 towns nearest its size have more historic monuments. Most entries on the list, 60%, are houses and homes. Of the 10 with a date, 8 come from the 16th to 18th centuries. The oldest is Église Saint-Bénigne, from the 15th century.
Charles Antoine Morand (1771), Gustave Colin (1814) and Philippe Grenier (1865) are among the 11 people born here before 1900. The rest is about typical: per resident it sits near the middle of compared French towns; and 6.2% of its homes were built before 1919, close to the 7.4% in the median compared French town.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Monuments historiques. France protects buildings at two levels. Classé, the higher (about a third of the list), means any work needs the State’s permission; inscrit means work must be declared to the State in advance. The Culture ministry’s Mérimée base lists every protected building, and this page counts them.
- Partly protected. Many entries protect part of a building only (its façades and roofs, a staircase, a painted room). Each counts as one monument, like a fully protected one.
- Where a monument is counted. In the commune named on its protection, moved to today’s commune where communes have since merged. A monument listed for several communes counts in each.
- Sites patrimoniaux remarquables. Since 2016 France’s protected historic areas (the former secteurs sauvegardés, ZPPAUP and AVAP) share one name. Inside one, building work follows the area’s plan and needs the agreement of the architecte des Bâtiments de France.
- What isn’t here. Protected objects (furniture, organs, paintings), old buildings with no protection, UNESCO World Heritage listings and labels such as “Plus Beaux Villages de France” aren’t on this list, so this page doesn’t count them.
- No History Grade yet. Everything on this page is described, not graded: France’s History Grade isn’t built yet.
Questions about the history of Pontarlier
How many historic monuments are there in Pontarlier?
The Culture ministry lists 10 historic monuments in Pontarlier: 1 classé and 9 inscrit.
Which monuments in Pontarlier are classé?
One: Chapelle des Annonciades (ancienne).
How old are the monuments of Pontarlier?
The oldest parts of its listed monuments date from the 15th century.
When were monuments in Pontarlier first protected?
The first in 1913, the latest in 2022.
How old are the homes in Pontarlier?
6.2% of its main homes were built before 1919 (median compared French town: 7.4%).
France has no History Grade yet: this page describes, it doesn’t grade.
Sources: Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée base on POP (immeubles protégés au titre des monuments historiques), October 2026 · Ministère de la Culture, sites patrimoniaux remarquables, October 2026 · INSEE, census 2023 (main homes by build period) · Wikidata and Wikipedia (people born here) · Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata (photos of the monuments, each with its own credit and license) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.