Page 184 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

182  FR ANCE AND THE L OW C OUNTRIES

Burgundy and the French Alps P Hôtel-Dieu
Rue de l’Hôtel-Dieu. Tel 03-80 24 45
Burgundy is France’s richest province, historically, culturally, 00. Open daily. Closed Dec–Mar:
and gastronomically. The region’s fine wines have inspired 11:30am–2pm daily. & 8 7
awe for centuries, and every year the historic town of Beaune
hosts one of the most famous wine auctions in the world. a Lyon
Dijon is a splendid city, filled with the great palaces of the
old Burgundian nobility. The majestic French Alps attract Rhône. * 453,000. k 25 km
(16 miles) E. £ @ n Place Belle-
visitors for winter sports, and, in summer, walking and a cour (04-72 77 69 69). ( daily.
host of watersports on the glittering mountain lakes. ∑ lyon-france.com
Dramatically situated on the
after the banks of the Rhône and Saône
Hundred Years’ rivers, Lyon has been a vital
War. Today, it is gateway between the north
considered a and south since ancient times.
medieval jewel, Vieux Lyon, the oldest part of
with its superb the city, is the site of the Roman
multicolored settlement of Lugdunum, the
Burgundian roof commercial and military capital
tiles. It houses of Gau, l founded by Julius
many treasures, Caesar in 44 BC. Vestiges of this
Tympanum sculpture showing Christ and the apostles at including the prosperous city can be seen in
Basilique Ste-Madeleine, Vézelay religious master- the superb Musée de la
piece the Last Civilisation Gallo-Romaine.
i Vézelay Judgement polyptych, by There are also two excavated
Yonne. * 400. @ Basilique Ste- Rogier van der Weyden. Roman amphitheaters: the
Madeleine: Tel 03-86 33 39 50. £ The Hôtel des Ducs de Grand Théâtre, built in 15 BC
Sermizelles, then bus. Open daily. 8 Bourgogne, built in the 14th– to seat 30,000 spectators, and
16th centuries, houses the the smaller Odéon.
Tourists come to Vézelay to visit Musée du Vin de Bourgogne, Other major sights are the
the picturesque Basilique Ste- with displays of traditional 19th-century mock-Byzantine
Madeleine. In the 12th century, winemaking equipment. Basilique Notre-Dame de
at the height of its glory, the Further to the north is the Fourvière, and the Cathédrale
abbey claimed to house the 12th-century Romanesque St-Jean, begun in the 12th
relics of Mary Magdalene, and church the Collégiale Notre- century. Vieux Lyon’s fine
it was a starting point for the Dame, which has a collection Renaissance mansions are the
pilgrimage to Santiago de of fine 15th- century former homes of bankers and
Compostela in Spain (see p292). tapestries. silk merchants.
The star attractions of the
Romanesque church are the The Dukes of Burgundy
tympanum sculpture (1120–35)
above the central doorway, the In the 14th and 15th centuries, the dukes of Burgundy built up one
exquisitely carved capitals in of the most powerful states in Europe, which included Flanders and
the nave and narthex, and the parts of Holland. From the time of Philip the Bold
immense Gothic choir. (1342–1404), the ducal court became a center of art,
chivalry, and immense wealth. The duchy’s demise
o Dijon came with the death of Charles the Bold in 1477.
See pp184–5.

p Beaune
Côte D’Or. * 23,000. £ @ n
Boulevard Pepreuil (03-80 26 21 30).
_ Baroque Music (Jul).
The indisputable highlight of
the old center of Beaune is the
Hôtel-Dieu. The hospice was
founded in 1443 for the town’s
inhabitants, many of whom Tomb of Philip the Bold in Dijon’s Musée des Beaux Arts (see p184)
were left poverty-stricken
For hotels and restaurants see pp206–8 and pp209–11

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