The church at Fresnes was the seat of a parish administered by the abbot of Saint-Vincent de Besançon, to whom it had been donated since the 11th century. Saint-Julien church is a neo-classical building rebuilt between 1770 and 1773. It replaces a building believed to have been built in 1068, which was burnt down several times, notably in 1749. On 25 March 1769, the inhabitants asked the Intendant of Franche-Comté to appoint an architect to rebuild their church. On 26 August 1769, the architect Claude Etienne Chognard from Vesoul visited the site and found that the nave and the two side chapels on either side of the bell tower were in a poor state of repair. He recommended that the whole church be rebuilt, making it wider and longer. The bell tower was good up to the ridge of the nave, but above that it had to be dismantled, reassembled in ashlar and topped with a dome. Although the choir and the base of the bell tower were in good condition, he nevertheless recommended that the entire church be rebuilt perpendicular to the old one, so that the portal would be on the road. The new building was blessed in 1773.
The church has an elongated sandstone and western plan. The four-bay, three-vessel nave is preceded by a tower-porch crowned with a pavilion roof. The latter is covered in leaded and flaked tiles and has two chapels at its base. The nave vessels have individual roofs. The half-timbered spiral staircase is attached to the south side of the bell tower. The choir consists of a straight bay followed by a three-sided apse. The sacristy is attached to the south wall of the choir. It contains interesting furnishings and a copy of "Melancholy" (Musée du Louvre) by Domenico Fetin, a disciple of Caravaggio.
Eglise Saint-Julien de Fresnes-sur-Apance
