Delémont (French pronunciation: [dəlemɔ̃]; Franc-Comtois: D'lémont; German: Delsberg, [ˈdeːlsˌbɛʁk] ⓘ) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Jura.

There were late Bronze Age settlements south and west of the modern city.

There is also evidence of a Roman settlement, including a Gallo-Roman mausoleum and a small cache of coins.

The name is a combination of the Germanic Tello or Dagili with the Latin word mons for mountain.

At this time it consisted of a fortified village and two castles, which were probably the homes of the Telsberg family.

The city was declared to have municipal rights by Bishop Peter Reich von Reichenstein on 6 January 1289.

From this income, as well as the money from a brick factory, two mills and eight farms, which were in use between the 15th and 17th centuries the city was able to meet all of its financial obligations.

The Bishop's Castle, which served as a summer residence, was rebuilt in 1716-21 by Pierre Racine from Tramelan.

The Châtelain's building was rebuilt in 1717, followed in 1742-45 the town hall by Johann Caspar Bagnato and in 1753 the private residence of the family of Rinck Baldenstein, the county's administrator.

The church of Saint-Marcel was built 1762-67 from plans by Pierre-Francois Paris, and replaced a Gothic style building which stood on the same location.

The rector of the Church of Saint-Marcel was also the dean of the rural diaconate of Salignon in the diocese of Basel.

During the Counter-Reformation a monastery of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin and an Ursuline convent were established, which remained until 1793.

During the increase in popularity of the Marian cult in the 17th century, the chapel was expanded and rebuilt several times.

After the coronation of the statue of Notre-Dame in 1869 the chapel became the most popular pilgrimage place in the Catholic Jura.

In 1793, Delémont was conquered by French Revolutionary troops and became the seat of one of the districts of the Département du Mont Terrible.

The Bürgergemeinde (an association of all full citizens) no longer had authority over most of the city lands and the town council became an advisory only organization.

This unequal power structure remained in place until the liberal revolution in 1831, known as the Regeneration, granted full citizenship rights to all residents of the town.

The distribution of the Bürgergemeinde lands dragged on until 1866, when the Canton of Bern finally pushed through an agreement.

It stretches along both sides of the Sorne river, shortly before it flows into the Birs on the northern edge of the Delémont valley, a wide depression in the Jura Mountains.

On the north, the valley is bounded by the Les Rangiers range, with la Chaive (930 m (3,050 ft)) as the highest point in the municipality.

The surrounding municipalities are Develier, Courtételle, Rossemaison, Courrendlin, Courroux, Soyhières, Mettembert, and Bourrignon.

In the 19th century, industrialization began, led by steel mills, watchmaking, and machine, cigar, and cement manufacturing.

Although, it is plagued by a large unemployment rate, forcing its inhabitants to seek for jobs in the larger neighboring cities such as Basel or Biel.

In the tertiary sector; 1,165 or 21.7% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 396 or 7.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 315 or 5.9% were in a hotel or restaurant, 117 or 2.2% were in the information industry, 374 or 7.0% were the insurance or financial industry, 432 or 8.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 497 or 9.3% were in education and 1,125 or 21.0% were in health care.

The Vorbourg Chapel, the Prince-Bishops' Castle, St-Marcel's Church, the Museum jurassien d’art et d’histoire and the Tour Rouge, the historic turntable for locomotives and the railway roundhouse are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance.

There are also still parts of the city wall, with the Tour des Archives, which was originally built in the 13th century.

The city squares are marked by monumental fountains dating from the 16th century, in Renaissance style.

The Catholic church of Saint-Marcel was built from 1762 to 1767 with a mixture of architectural styles from the baroque to the classical.

Other important buildings from the time of the Bishops of Basel are the Hôtel de Ville (built from 1742 to 1745), the Châtellenie (now used as the Cantonal Parliament, remodeled in 1717), and the Episcopal Palace (1716–21).

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.