Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: Dijon

Dijon, today a city with a population of about 150.000, was a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Saint Benignus, the city's patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries, and Dijon was a place of wealth and power. In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon. The siege was extremely violent, but after long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the armies to withdraw. During the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the years following the siege the inhabitants began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir (Our Lady of Good Hope). Before the second half of the 12th century, the site of today's Notre-Dame was occupied by a simple chapel, which was outside the city walls. Beginning around 1220 the erection of the Gothic church of today started. Sunset in Dijon. Note Notre Dame´s clock with its jacquemart. It has four automatons. Two of them, called Jacquemart and Jacqueline, sound the hours by striking a large bell with a hammer. The other two, their "children", Jacquelinet and Jacquelinette, strike the quarter hours, each on a small bell. The Jacquemart was brought from Kortrijk in Belgium, after the looting of the town by the armies of Philip the Bold in 1382. At that time, only the male figure existed. A second automaton, depicting a woman, was added in 1651 to alternate with Jacquemart in sounding the hours. In 1714 the couple got the first kid (a boy) and in 1884 the second kid (a girl) joined the family.

Dijon, today a city with a population of about 150.000, was a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Saint Benignus, the city's patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries, and Dijon was a place of wealth and power. In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon. The siege was extremely violent, but after long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the armies to withdraw. During the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the years following the siege the inhabitants began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir (Our Lady of Good Hope). Before the second half of the 12th century, the site of today's Notre-Dame was occupied by a simple chapel, which was outside the city walls. Beginning around 1220 the erection of the Gothic church of today started. Only five of the original stained-glass windows from around 1240/50 survived the times. End of the 19th century the artist Édouard Didron made 58 new windows, inspired by the originals. The biggest are the rose windows, each 6 metres in diameter. One of the details depicted here is the "Creation of Eve".

Dijon, today a city with a population of about 150.000, was a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Saint Benignus, the city's patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries, and Dijon was a place of wealth and power. In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon. The siege was extremely violent, but after long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the armies to withdraw. During the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the years following the siege the inhabitants began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir (Our Lady of Good Hope). Before the second half of the 12th century, the site of today's Notre-Dame was occupied by a simple chapel, which was outside the city walls. Beginning around 1220 the erection of the Gothic church of today started. Only five of the original stained-glass windows from around 1240/50 survived the times. End of the 19th century the artist Édouard Didron made 58 new windows, inspired by the originals. The biggest are the rose windows, each 6 metres in diameter.

Dijon, today a city with a population of about 150.000, was a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Saint Benignus, the city's patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries, and Dijon was a place of wealth and power. In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon. The siege was extremely violent, but after long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the armies to withdraw. During the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the years following the siege the inhabitants began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir (Our Lady of Good Hope). Before the second half of the 12th century, the site of today's Notre-Dame was occupied by a simple chapel, which was outside the city walls. Beginning around 1220 the erection of the Gothic church of today started. The wooden statue called Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir is dated 11th/12th century. The Virgin originally was seated on a throne, holding the baby Jesus. Later the throne was removed and the back of the statue was sawn off and replaced by a piece of wood. The baby Jesus disappeared during the French Revolution, in 1794. By the 18th century, the Virgin's hands had been lost.

Dijon, today a city with a population of about 150.000, was a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Saint Benignus, the city's patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries, and Dijon was a place of wealth and power. In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon. The siege was extremely violent, but after long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the armies to withdraw. During the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the years following the siege the inhabitants began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir (Our Lady of Good Hope).

Notre-Dame, erected 1230 - 1251, is considered a jewel of 13th-century Gothic architecture in France. The planar western façade is quite unique - as it opens like a large screen to the spectator. The "screen" is 28,6 m high by 19,5 m wide. There are three levels. The lowest (here only party seen) has three arcades forming the entry into a porch. Above are two arcaded galleries, one above the other. On each of these two upper levels the arches rest on 17 columns. Emphasising the top and bottom of these galleries are three string courses consisting of 51 (not water-transporting) gargoyles. The original gargoyles were in place for only a short time. They were removed already around 1240, following a fatal accident. An usurer was killed on the church forecourt, when a stone figure representing an usurer became detached and hit him. His colleagues organised the destruction of all gargoyles on the façade. A kind of vandalism, that got "repaired". The 51 gargoyles which today decorate the façade were made in 1880-1882, during the restoration of the church. What the vandals of the French Revolution did in 1794 could not be repaired. They chiselled off the complete works over the central portal.

Notre-Dame, erected 1230 - 1251, is considered a jewel of 13th-century Gothic architecture in France. The planar western façade is quite unique - as it opens like a large screen to the spectator. The "screen" is 28,6 m high by 19,5 m wide. There are three levels. The lowest (here only party seen) has three arcades forming the entry into a porch. Above are two arcaded galleries, one above the other. On each of these two upper levels the arches rest on 17 columns. Emphasising the top and bottom of these galleries are three string courses consisting of 51 (not water-transporting) gargoyles. The original gargoyles were in place for only a short time. They were removed already around 1240, following a fatal accident. A usurer was killed on the church forecourt as he was about to get married: a stone figure representing a usurer became detached and fell on him. His colleagues organised the destruction of all gargoyles on the façade, except for one at the upper right corner that survived until the 1960s, when it was replaced. The gargoyles which today decorate the façade were made in 1880-1882, during the restoration of the church.

Notre-Dame, erected 1230 - 1251, is considered a jewel of 13th-century Gothic architecture in France. The planar western façade is quite unique - as it opens like a large screen to the spectator. The "screen" is 28,6 m high by 19,5 m wide. There are three levels. The lowest (here only party seen) has three arcades forming the entry into a porch. Above are two arcaded galleries, one above the other. On each of these two upper levels the arches rest on 17 columns. Emphasising the top and bottom of these galleries are three string courses consisting of 51 (not water-transporting) gargoyles. The original gargoyles were in place for only a short time. They were removed already around 1240, following a fatal accident. A usurer was killed on the church forecourt as he was about to get married: a stone figure representing a usurer became detached and fell on him. His colleagues organised the destruction of all gargoyles on the façade, except for one at the upper right corner that survived until the 1960s, when it was replaced. The gargoyles which today decorate the façade were made in 1880-1882, during the restoration of the church. Here are three of them.

Notre-Dame, erected 1230 - 1251, is considered a jewel of 13th-century Gothic architecture in France. The planar western façade is quite unique - as it opens like a large screen to the spectator. The "screen" is 28,6 m high by 19,5 m wide. There are three levels. The lowest (here only party seen) has three arcades forming the entry into a porch. Above are two arcaded galleries, one above the other. On each of these two upper levels the arches rest on 17 columns. Emphasising the top and bottom of these galleries are three string courses consisting of 51 (not water-transporting) gargoyles. The original gargoyles were in place for only a short time. They were removed already around 1240, following a fatal accident. A usurer was killed on the church forecourt as he was about to get married: a stone figure representing a usurer became detached and fell on him. His colleagues organised the destruction of all gargoyles on the façade, except for one at the upper right corner that survived until the 1960s, when it was replaced. The gargoyles which today decorate the façade were made in 1880-1882, during the restoration of the church.

Notre-Dame, erected 1230 - 1251, is considered a jewel of 13th-century Gothic architecture in France. The planar western façade is quite unique - as it opens like a large screen to the spectator. Seen over that "screen" is a jacquemart. It was brought to Dijon from Kortrijk (Belgium), after the looting of Kortrijk by the armies of Philip the Bold (Duke Philippe II of Burgundy) in 1382.

A late afternoon stroll... Placed in the center of the Place de la République is the monument remembering on Sadi Carnot, who served as the President of France from 1887 until his assassination in 1894. He was stabbed by an Italian anarchist named Sante Geronimo Caserio.

A late afternoon stroll along the "Porte Guillaume".

A late afternoon stroll.

A museum, displaying plaster casts of the works of the French sculptor François Rude, is housed in the transept of the former abbay-church Saint-Etienne. Here in the backdrop is the gigantic "Le Départ des volontaires de 1792" (aka "La Marseillaise"), created 1836. The original is part of the "Arc de Triomphe" in Paris.

The Romans had a "castrum" here, of which some remains can still be found. Near this castrum a (probably wooden) church, dedicated to "Saint-Michel", was mentioned in 889. This church got replaced by a larger one that got consecrated in 1020 by the Bishop of Langres. Whith the growth of Dijon´s populationm this church became to small some centuries later and so it got finally replaced by the church seen today, consecrated in 1529. Work on the impressive portal was stopped in 1570 and restarted 80 years later. The two towers were completed 1659 (south, right) and 1667 (north). Seen to the very right is the entrance to the "RUDE-museum", that is hosted in the former abbay-church St. Etienne.

Located next to the Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne, that in medieval times was the church of the Abbey of St. Benignus, is Saint-Philibert, that served the parish since the early times. A church, dedicated to Saint Philibert, is proven here in the center of an older graveyard already in 1103, but the church of today was erected after the great fire, that destroyed most of Dijon, in 1137. After the Revolution in 1795 the building was converted into a stable, later it was used as a depot by the armee. Returned to the city in the 1920s it got renovated from then on and used for exhibitions. The long awaited renovation failed end of the 1970s, when the pillars started to crumble. The church was closed for visitors, but meanwhile the doors are open again. The arches along the nave are stabilized by massive wooden frames.

Located next to the Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne, that in medieval times was the church of the Abbey of St. Benignus, is Saint-Philibert, that served the parish since the early times. A church, dedicated to Saint Philibert, is proven here in the center of an older graveyard already in 1103, but the church of today was erected after the great fire, that destroyed most of Dijon, in 1137. The western porch was added to the Romanesque structure in the early 16th century. The bell tower was completed in 1510. After the Revolution in 1795 the building was converted into a stable, later it was used as a depot by the armee. Returned to the city in the 1920s it got renovated from then on and used for exhibitions. The long awaited renovation failed end of the 1970s, when the pillars started to crumble. The church was closed for visitors, but meanwhile the doors are open again.

The Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne was the church of the Abbey of St. Benignus. The church, erected in Gothic style 1280-1325, became the seat of the Bishopric of Dijon after the French Revolution. The first church here was a basilica built over the grave of Saint Benignus, who in the third century had come to Gaul from Smyrna as a missionary. He worked successfully in Burgundy - and got martyred. His sarcophagus was placed in a crypt, built by Saint Gregory of Langres in 511, a basilica over that crypt was completed in 535. In 990 Saint Mayeul, Abbot of Cluny, appointed William of Volpiano the new abbot here. William immidiatly started withe the construction of a new Romanesque church, that - instead of an apse - had a rotunda, 17 metres in diameter. In 1137 a fire destroyed most of the town and damaged the monastery and its church. The repaired building was consecrated by Pope Eugene III in 1147. In 1272 the crossing tower collapsed, destroying the whole of the upper church and severely damaging the subterranean one, and smashing some of the supporting columns of the rotunda. In 1280 the construction of a new Gothic abbey church started. This is the church seen today. What was left of the rotunda was destroyed after the Revolution. What remains is the lowest storey, which was excavated in the 19th century and has since been reworked as a crypt. There are some nicely carved capitals, created by at least two different workshops at different times. Here is a capital carved by the "older" studio. The style is very rough. It looks a bit like Alexander the Great going up to heaven in a basket, but there are no engins/griffins.