Last modified: 2003-05-17 by ivan sache
Keywords: doubs | arc-sous-cicon |
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Source: Jérémy Dhote
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The municipality of Arc-sous-Cicon stretches over 2,560 hectares,
with an average elevation of 810 m a.s.l. and a highest point at
Crêt Monniot (1,142 m a.s.l.) The municipality has 532
inhabitants.
Arc-sous-Cicon is located in a closed basin, described in geological
terms as a Cretaceous synclinal, in the Jura mountains.
Arc-sous-Cicon was known as Widdo de Castello qui vocatur Sicco (1097), Cicons (1162), Arc-dessous-Cicon (1278), and Arcus supra cicon (1280). A very detailed history of the place and of the lords of Cicon can be found online.
There is in Arc-sous-Cicon a small winter resort called Arc-sous-Cicon-Crêt Monniot, with 35 kms of cross-country ski tracks.
Arc-sous-Cicon is located within the AOC zone (zone
d'appellation contrôlée - area of controlled label
of origin) of the Mont d'Or - Vacherin du Haut Doubs
cheese.
To be eligible to a given AOC, a cheese must be produced in a
specific geographical area and using tabulated and controlled
production specifications. In most cases, a AOC cheese must be
produced with non-pasteurized milk. The Mont d'Or is produced
from early autumn to late winter, using only milk from cows of Pie
Rouge cattle which pastured on areas located higher than 700 m a.s.l.
The cheese is sold in a circular box made of fir shaving, in which it
is laterally surrounding by a strap made of spruce bark. A strap is
called in French sangle and the skilled specialists who cut
off the straps from bark are called sangliers, which also
means in French wildboars. The association of fir and spruce woods
contribute to the specific flavour of the cheese. When the three-week
maturation period is achieved, the cheese has a red-yellowish rind,
soft and undulating. The best way to eat the cheese is to break the
rind with a spoon and to pick up the cheese, which is in a
semi-liquid state.
Arc-sous-Cicon was the birth city of General Ravier (1766-1828), made general and Baron of Empire in 1809, who took part to the Napoleonic campaign of Russia.
On 17 July 1967, children from Arc-sous-Cicon came across three or four 'black Chinese' of about 1 m high, wearing a kind of helmet. Next day, inhabitants of the village found a field in which grass had been burned in a circular pattern. On that night, unexplained light phenomena were observed by the Besançon astronomical observatory. The story can be found (with variants!) on several ufology websites.
Ivan Sache, 9 February 2002
The flag of Arc-sous-Cicon is horizontally divided yellow-black-yellow.
Ivan Sache, 9 February 2002