Dijon Things to Do

As other famous French churches this one also has mixed architecture styles. Especially the front which was built when the new architecture style arrived: Renaissance. Nevertheless the church belongs to the Flamboyant Gothic period. The Last Judgment above the main doorway deserves special attention.

This museum opened its doors at 1787. It is located in the Palace of the Dukes in the center of the town. The collection is famous for its Flemish and Burgundian parts and for the tombs of the Dukes of Burgundy. To me the most impressive part of the tombs was the monks at the base of the one of the tombs. So many with so different faces…
Original installation through the museum made our visit even more interesting and exciting: beds, pillows, little animals and even more beds throughout the halls… We could sleep, lay down or sing along with the strange songs we heard looking at the paintings and sculptures.
I spent there about 3 hours and had more fun than in any other museum ever.

4 more images

The museum is proud of the local artists it has nurtured or outsiders it has encouraged when Burgundy was powerful. Philippe de Champaigne (17C) was born in Flanders but became French and a prominent location is reserved for his large religious canvas of the "Presentation at the Temple". On the ceiling of the Statue Gallery is a Pierre-Paul Prud'hon "copy" of a Cortone ceiling in the Barberini Palace in Rome "Triumph of Religion" (1787). He was the first Roman scholarship winner of the Beaux Arts and did this as a demonstration of what he had learned. Among a select number of 17-19C French canvases are displayed two busts, one of Jean-Philippe Rameau who was born in Dijon, by Caffieri, the other sittting before an emblematic Aubisson Tapestry is of Louis XIV by Coysevox. The entry to the museum is via the remains of the Sainte Chapelle which holds many ancient statues and in a protected niche displays a golden crown and an 11C crozier, both covered by an old wooden door bearing the seal of the Golden Fleece. With displays like this one wanders through the entire museum continually encountering its treasures in room after room.

3 more images

On the support below the statue of St. Michel (the trumeau)are more examples of how far sculpture has progressed. These figures are like those on the facets of medieval cloister capitals, Here a mixture of Biblical and Mythological characters compete for recognition: identify Leda the Swan, Solomon judging, Hercules, John the Baptist and more.

4 more images

Besides the work of the tympanum, considerable sculptural work adorns the Church St.-Michel, especially the facade where above the porch there are 6 medallion busts of the 4 Prophets:Daniel. Baruch, Isaiah and Ezekiel plus David and Moses. Careful sculptural treatments adorn the portal door jambs and recessed arches, which are rich with herald angels playing instruments, etc. Even the wood doors are carved with religious figures.

4 more images

St. Michel is a 15C late Flamboyant cathedral-like church. However its west front (built last is Renaissance. The lower level with three portals demarcates the interior as usual, but the strong horizontal decoration of the projecting porch before them and the many busts of the Prophets plus Moses and David emphasize the horizontal. The 4 story lateral towers have windows surrounded by the classical orders and have height limiting decorated dome caps. (In fact all of the towers and other upward projections on the church have varied treatments of their tops to limit their upward thrust. The central portal has a Florentine-style (not Gothic) vivid treatment of the Last Judgement (by Nicolas de Cour, mid-16C). The statue in front, appropriately 16C, replaces an earlier one destroyed during the Revolution. The console of this statue is carved with four fanciful panels (illustrated in anotherTip)

3 more images

Notre Dame is a mid-13C Gothic church. Its West front is most unusual. It has a 3-bayed porch topped by two galleries and three horizontal rows of "gargoyles". (They are not really gargoyles because they have no water diverting function). The original figures were removed in earlier centuries for fear of falling accidents. These were designed by V.-le-Duc in the 19C. (He had a "thing" about gargoyles). The sculpture of the portals was completely defaced during the Revolution. Above all this at the South end of the facade on its proper platform is Jacquemart (See Tip Under Customs).

4 more images

The Rue de la Chouette (the Owl) runs along the North edge of the Church of Notre Dame, one street north of the palace. Just beyond the apse of the church on the north side of the street is the finest Hotel pariculier in Dijon, the Hotel Vogue. This 17C mansion and grounds can be visited as far as the inner courtyard, It has a roof of the “typical” Burgundy tiles. The multiple entrance archways are elaborately carved. Up the street to the West is the Maison Milliere (#10) which is half-timbered above with carved posts and stone below. Abother unrestoredd half-timbered house sits a little further down the street.. This street alsoaccomodates the apse of the church upon the buttress of which is carved a plump owl (This will be treated in a separate Tip under Customs); it is from this that the street derives its name. Just to the East of the Hotel Vogue, the rue Verrerie leads North. On the right side of that street are two more half-timbered houses with carved posts.