Things to See in Dijon

Dijon lies between the Paris and Rhône basins and was the historic capital of the Duchy of Burgundy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Its centre brings ducal architecture, Gothic churches, museums and formal public spaces into a compact historical setting. Under the Ancien Régime it was known as the ‘city of a hundred bell towers’; mustard remains the most familiar emblem of its culinary heritage.

The ducal centre

Place de la Libération forms the ceremonial foreground to the Palais des Ducs et des États de Bourgogne. Jules Hardouin-Mansart designed the semicircular square at the end of the seventeenth century as an expression of Louis XIV’s authority. It acquired several names under successive political regimes. A redesign led by Jean-Michel Wilmotte in 2005 made it pedestrian, added three fountains and laid pale Comblanchien stone across the surface.

The palace developed over several centuries rather than from a single plan. Its oldest surviving elements date from the fourteenth century and are mainly Gothic; they include the Tour de Bar, Tour Philippe le Bon and Cour de Bar. Much of the exterior visible today is classical work from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The complex accommodates Dijon’s town hall and the Musée des Beaux-Arts.

At 52 metres, the Tour Philippe le Bon rises above the palace. Jean Poncelet built it in the fifteenth century. It began as a watchtower and later became a symbol of ducal power. Its upper level provides a broad view across Dijon.

Churches in the historic centre

Cathédrale Sainte-Bénigne is a Gothic church whose construction extended through the fourteenth century. It became a cathedral after the Diocese of Dijon was created in the first half of the eighteenth century. The 93-metre building is the city’s tallest. Archaeological work in the nave uncovered numerous burials, and the cathedral’s large organ combines French and German traditions.

Église Notre-Dame dates from the first half of the thirteenth century. The owl and the Jacquemart, a carved figure that strikes a bell, are two symbols attached to the church and to Dijon itself. Its western façade has 51 gargoyles. Inside is the Black Virgin once known as Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir.

Église Saint-Michel has a Gothic and Renaissance façade arranged with details from the three Greek architectural orders; its nave and wider interior are Gothic. Its foundation is associated with Garnier de Mailly, abbot of Saint-Étienne, and a consecration by the Bishop of Langres in 1020.

Art and Burgundian life

The Musée des Beaux-Arts occupies part of the ducal palace and is one of France’s older fine-arts museums. Egyptian antiquities from donations by the Dijon archaeologist Albert Gayet sit alongside early Swiss and Flemish painting. The collections also cover the Romantic and Realist periods, with work by artists including Delacroix, Courbet, Monet, Manet and Sisley.

The Musée de la Vie Bourguignonne Perrin de Puycousin has occupied the former Bernardine monastery since 1963. Built in the seventeenth century with classical and Renaissance features, the monastery housed a Cistercian community until the French Revolution. The buildings subsequently had several uses, including barracks, hospice and orphanage, before their conversion into a museum.

Squares and the botanical garden

Place Darcy dates from the eighteenth century and takes its name from a Dijon engineer known for his work in hydraulics. Haussmann-style buildings edge the square, which lies close to the railway station. Place François Rude is commonly called Place du Bareuzai. The local nickname refers to the grape-treader represented by its central statue; a fountain and buildings drawing on medieval and Renaissance forms define the triangular space.

Jardin de l’Arquebuse is a five-hectare municipal botanical garden founded in the first half of the nineteenth century. Its collection comprises nearly 3,500 plant species from the region and further afield. The grounds also contain a rose garden, a natural-history and ethnology museum, and a planetarium. The name recalls the company that occupied the site before the botanical garden moved there.