Dijon (pronounced [di.ʒɔ̃]) is a French commune, located between the Paris Basin and the Rhone basin, 310 kilometres southeast of Paris and 190 kilometres north of Lyon. It is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Department and the capital of the region Burgundy-Franche-Comté. it is also the former capital of the Dukes of Burgundy. Its inhabitants are called the Dijon.

Dijon is currently the most populous commune in the Department of the Côte-d'Or and Burgundy-Franche-Comté. In 2012, the population of Dijon intramural is 152 071 inhabitants. In 2012, the city is the 17th most populous town of France. The Dijon agglomeration, founded in 2000 and community today has become a metropolis known as Dijon metropolis since April 28, 2017, the law of MAPTAM, has 256 113 inhabitants in 2014. The urban unit of Dijon, 239 955 inhabitants in 2013, the Dijon urban area had 375 841 inhabitants in 2011.

Capital of the Duchy of Burgundy in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, city with a hundred steeples under the Ancien Regime, heir to a rich historical and architectural heritage, Dijon is a tourist city whose attraction was reinforced by the gastronomic reputation of the region. The city was defined as International Tourist Zone (ZTI) since the summer of 2016. It was also a green city to the important tertiary sector, capital of the region in the school areas, university, judicial, hospital and administrative, which ensure an intellectual tradition. Dijon was also a diversified regional economic center with a traditional agro-food cluster (Dijon mustard, Dijon creme de cassis and kir, gingerbread, Lanvin chocolate ...) and a renowned pharmaceutical sector.

City of Congress, the capital of Burgundy-Franche-Comté is located on the Paris-Lyon-Mediterranean axis and on the Rhine-Rhone high-speed rail line.

The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period. Dijon later became a Roman settlement named Divio, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. The province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th centuries and Dijon was a place of tremendous wealth and power, one of the great European centres of art, learning and science. Population (2008): 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 (2007) for the greater Dijon area.

The city has retained varied architectural styles from many of the main periods of the past millennium, including Capetian, Gothic and Renaissance. Many still-inhabited town houses in the city's central district date from the 18th century and earlier. Dijon architecture is distinguished by, among other things, toits bourguignons (Burgundian polychrome roofs) made of tiles glazed in terracotta, green, yellow and black and arranged in geometric patterns.

Dijon holds an International and Gastronomic Fair every year in autumn. With over 500 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors every year, it is one of the ten most important fairs in France. Dijon is also home, every three years, to the international flower show Florissimo. Dijon is famous for Dijon mustard which originated in 1856, when Jean Naigeon of Dijon substituted verjuice, the acidic "green" juice of not-quite-ripe grapes, for vinegar in the traditional mustard recipe.

 

The historical center of the city is the second component of the vineyards climates of Burgundy, registered since the 4^th of July 2015 in the UNESCO World Heritage.

Geography

Location

Dijon is the prefecture of the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté and the department of Côte-d'Or. The town is located at the northern end of the Côte des Vins of Burgundy also called "Route des Grands Crus" and extends from Dijon to Beaune for its coast-d'orienne.

The Burgundy capital is located in the heart of a countryside composed of two convergent rivers: the Suzon, which crosses it from north to south, and the Ouche, south of the city; in the west lies the vineyard "coast" which gave its name to the department. It is located 310 kilometers south-east of Paris, 190 north-west of Geneva and 190 norths of Lyon.

Located on a railway junction in the east of France (line Paris-Lyon-Marseille, bifurcations to Besançon, Belfort, Nancy, Switzerland, Italy (by the railway tunnel Frejus and Simplon)), the city is served by one of the main French motorway nodes at the junctions of the A6, A31, A36 and A39 motorways.

 

"Dijon was born in the alluvial plain of Suzon, dug in the tertiary clays of the" Plain "which extends largely to the east," following the course of the Saone. The plain is indeed a tectonic ditch located at about twenty kilometers from Dijon, backfilled by marls and Oligocene clays reaching a geological height of 100 meters in Dijon.

Neighboring towns

Topography

Dijon and its periphery, forming Dijon Métropole, owes its originality to a typical dissymmetry, between the diversified valleys of the west on the one hand (the "coast" of vineyards) and the flatlands of the east (plains of Saône) . To the north, the Langres plateau, the last edge of the Paris basin, dominates the plain from 100 to 150 meters above sea level. Dijon is therefore at the center of a geographical line oriented north-north-east / south-southwest. The altitude varies from 250 to 500 meters NGF. Dijon is characterized by many valleys and often narrow valleys (the "combes" often developed into municipal parks like Combe aux Fées and Combe à la Serpent), the main one being the valley of Ouche in the north-east of tray. Remaining mounds, or "tasselots" in the Dijon dialect, form the site of the towns of Talant and Fontaine-lès-Dijon which overhang the city.

Dijon is therefore at the conjunction of three main reliefs:

• • In the south, the "coast" stretching from Dijon to Beaune is about 80 km, covered with vineyards whose leaves turn a golden color in autumn, which inspired the poetic name of the department of Côte-d'Or in 1790. It is along this coast, from Dijon to the south of Beaune, that passes the famous route of Grands Crus;
• • In the west lies the plateau, the first buttress of the Burgundy limestone plateau. The altitude varies from 350 to 500 m. The plateau is dotted with many narrow and deep valleys called combes; the most important is the valley of Ouche in the northeast of the plateau. Remaining mounds stand out: the towns of Talant and Fontaine-lès-Dijon was built there;
• • In the east, the primer of the Saone plain is emerging. The altitude varies from 170 to 240 m. The topography is gentle, despite some hills that alter the landscape including an advance from the plateaux langrois that highlights the outlet of Suzon in the plain to the north, and the hills of Saint-Apollinaire and Montmuzard.

Hydrography

Dijon is crossed mainly by the Burgundy canal and two natural rivers: Ouche and Suzon. The first runs in the open air while the second takes a series of underground canals during its crossing of Dijon. The stream of Raines that passes through the garden of the Arquebuse flows into the Ouche. The Dijon agglomeration receives about 732 mm of rain per year, and this for 164 days on average.​

• • Ouche coming from the north has an average flow of 10 to 20 m3 / s which can exceed 100 m3 / s during the flood period. Floods can occur, but they are rare and localized. An artificial lake, Kir Lake, was built in 1964 on its course at the entrance of the city. Two other bodies of water, much less important, exist in the agglomeration: the royal pond, located in the commune of Longvic, and the pond of the Leue, in Neuilly-les-Dijon, both in the immediate proximity of the course of the Ouche.
• • Suzon, the second major river, flows from the northwest to the southeast of the agglomeration. Its course is totally channeled in its urban part. Its flow at the entrance of Dijon reaches a maximum of 20 to 30 m3 / s.

The only waterway in Dijon is the Burgundy canal that connects the Saone and Yonne and is now used only for pleasure.

The general hydrography flows towards the alluvial plain of the Saone to the east. It includes 527 kilometers of pipelines. The water tables are three in number: the alluvial layer of the Ouche, the alluvial layer of the Tille and the southern Dijon layer. These are the main water supply reserves of Dijon Métropole. They are relayed by four main reservoirs with a total capacity of nearly 95,000 m3.

Floods are the only major natural hazard (with earthquakes, very rare). Eight of the twenty-two communes of Dijon Métropole (notably the city center of Plombières-lès-Dijon as well as Ahuy, Chenôve, Marsannay-la-Côte and Longvic) are concerned by the overflows of the Ouche basin. Natural hazard prediction plans have been developed to control these hazards. A water quality improvement policy was also deployed. It was based on two wastewater treatment plants, one of which is located in Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur, and the other, older, in Longvic, and aims to bring it into line with the ecological standards in force. A program called "Eauvitale" was launched in 2005. In addition to the removal of lead pipes, it aims to reduce leakage and moderate water prices for consumers. The aggregate consumption of the agglomeration amounts annually to 24 million m3.

Geology

The Dijon agglomeration is part of the Morvan-Vosges Threshold, between the Paris Basin and the Rhone Basin; in the secondary era (from 265 to 65 million years ago), the entire region was submerged, while in the tertiary era (from -65 to -1.8 million years) the uplift of the Alps and Jura folded the relief and formed a push towards the northwest. The sedimentary masses then compartmentalized, faulted, forming valleys and local hillocks. A fracture line was also formed, extending in a north-east / south-west direction, accompanied by adjacent limestone plateaus typical of the Burgundy landscape, contiguous to the collapse hosting the Saone plain. In the Quaternary era (about -1.8 million years ago), erosion consisted of sands and gravels forming the alluvial plains crossed by the rivers Suzon, Ouche and Raine.

 

Pedology

Dijon and its agglomeration are home to three major classes of soils:

• calcimagnetic and clay-gravelly soils formed of marl, clay limestone and calcareous gravel forming the foot of the coast, the pedological basis of viticultural production;
• stony clayey-loamy brown soils on limestones or silts forming plateaus in the north;
• poorly evolved soils characterized by silty alluvium and which are typical of the flood zones of the major riverbed of local rivers (Suzon and Ouche).

Climate

The Dijon climate is an oceanic type with a semi-continental tendency. The oceanic influence is reflected in frequent rains in all seasons (with a maximum in autumn and a minimum in summer) and changing weather. The semi-continental influence is reflected in one of the highest monthly thermal ranges in France (18 ° C compared to 15 ° C in Paris), cold winters, with relatively frequent snowfall, and warmer summers than on the coasts, with occasional violent storms. It is this semi-continental influence that makes it possible to grow vines in Côte-d'Or. The west facade of Dijon, overlooking the coast, is the area most exposed to sunshine. Finally, the fog is particularly present in Dijon, the moisture coming from the Kir lake accentuating the formation.

The Météo-France station is about 7 km by road southeast of the center of Dijon, at Longvic airport.

The average lowest temperature as of January, the highest in July. January 1985 was as well below normal with an average temperature of -4.2 ° C and a minimum average temperature of -7.7 ° C. On January 9, 1985, the temperature dropped to -21.3 ° C.

The average low of winter is −1 °C (30 °F), with an average high of 4.2 °C (39.6 °F). The average high of summer is 25.3 °C (77.5 °F) with an average low of 14.7 °C (58.5 °F). Average normal temperatures are between 2.3 °C (36.1 °F) and 5.3 °C (41.5 °F) from November to March, and 17.2 to 19.7 °C (63.0 to 67.5 °F) from June to August. The climate is oceanic but with a greater temperature range than closer to the Atlantic coastline.

 

August 12, 2003 was a high record of 39.3 ° C.

The Dijon wind rose shows a predominance of fairly strong north to north-east winds characteristic of the winter breeze and also the south. Average maximum wind speeds of more than 80 km / h are on average 4 days per year.

 

Communication and transport Routes

In the seventeenth century, at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV, Dijon was connected to Paris by a weekly check, which took between seven and eight days, depending on the season, to connect to the two cities. Later, more than the canal of Burgundy, the modest size, it is the railway which caused the industrial development of Dijon. "The second half of the nineteenth century will impose Dijon as a railway crossing of the first order," according to André Gamblin. During the first half of the twentieth century, the role of the road grew, especially that of the RN 6 which asserts itself as an international route from the 1930s, but gives more importance to the city of Chalon-sur-Seine. Saône. After the war, the motorway (the A6) then the TGV Paris-Lyon short circuit Dijon and, in the words of André Gamblin, "Dijon became the city of braces". Since the 1990s, Dijon has once again established itself as a communications hub. The A31 now goes through Dijon and the A39 connects the city since 1994 to Dole. Finally, the stretch of the TGV Rhine-Rhône, connecting Dijon to Europe, has been in service since 11 December 2011.

Three TGV lines: the TGV South-East and the TGV Mediterranean put Dijon within reach of Paris (1 h 30), Roissy (1 h 51), Marseille (3:22), Lille (2:45), Montpellier (3:33) and Mulhouse (1:02).

Three motorway exits allow access to the town: the exit of the A31 (Beaune - Dijon - Nancy - Luxembourg), the exit of the A38 (Dijon - A6 to Pouilly-en-Auxois) and the exit of the A39 (Dijon - Dole - Bourg-en-Bresse).

 

infrastructures

• Railway star: The density of the Dijon motorway and rail networks gives easy and fast access to the main European cities. In addition to the current main station in Dijon-Ville, the future Porte-Neuve TGV station allows around 2025 to serve the city without clogging up the city center, the current station of Dijon-ville being located near the city center. Place Darcy, west door of downtown.

This project would allow the city to become a railway star and a gateway to Eastern Europe in France.

• Ring road: The city and its agglomeration have the ring road of Dijon, or east bypass, 12 km in 2x2 lanes, which was extended by 6.5 km (LINO) opened in February 2014. Thus the ring road bypasses three quarters of Dijon. It connects the area of ​​the Golden Fleece to the north, to Chenôve to the south, to connect to the A31. To the west, the A38 leads to Plombières-lès-Dijon, at Lake Kir.

The construction of the "Lino" (Liaison Intercommunal Nord-Ouest) ensures faster traffic from Paris and the west, to link the A38 motorway to the area of ​​the Golden Fleece. The Lino is expected to decongest the inner boulevards of the city and also ensure the continuity of the national network connecting the A38 and A31 motorways. 6.5 km long, it will be in its first phase in 2x1 lane, then in a second time in 2x2 lanes. The total length of the Dijon ring road should be 18.5 km.

 

• Airport: Dijon has the Dijon Bourgogne - Longvic airport, a civil infrastructure that accommodates around thirty thousand passengers. The city suffers, in terms of civil aviation infrastructure, a geographical position too close to the major cities of Paris, Lyon, Basel-Mulhouse. In addition, the TGV Paris-Méditerranée line does not allow Dijon to have an airport of sufficient size.

Public transport

History

• • From 1888, the city of Dijon was served by a single line of omnibus drawn by horses. Dijon is, in 1895, one of the first municipalities to equip electric trams. Their management was entrusted to the Compagnie des Tramways Électriques of Dijon. The network counts in 1911 five lines including an interurban connection between Dijon and Gevrey-Chambertin.
• • In 1950, the tramway gradually disappears, replaced by a network of trolleybuses. There are three lines of trams and three trolleybuses. The trams service ended on the 1^st of December 1961, with the arrival of buses. The trolleybus service also ended shortly after, on the 30^th of March 1966. Dijon is on this date fully served by buses.
• • In 1965, the Dijon Region Transport Company (STRD) was created. Its network was renamed "Divia" in 2004, then the company disappeared in 2008 to become Keolis Dijon Mobilités.
• • In 2012 Dijon Métropole acquired a tramway network in its own right. The first line has been in service since September 1, 2012 and the second since December 8, 2012.

 

Tramway

The network includes two tram lines with a common trunk between the station and the Place de la République (20 km route), which is the terminus:

   T 1: DIJON Station - QUETIGNY Center

   T 2: DIJON Valmy - CHENOVE Center

Bus

The "Divia" bus network comprises 30 regular service lines from 5.30 am to 8.30 pm, a "Full Moon" night line from 1 am to 5.30 am from Thursday to Saturday and 15 "Bus Class" school lines. ".

In addition, there is a free city center shuttle service, "City", with over 100,000 trips per month; or DiviAccess which works on the same principle as a taxi with a reservation and a payment for people with reduced mobility.

Finally, the city of Dijon signed with Heuliez Bus and Barclays in 2012 the purchase of 102 hybrid buses. The order to the public private partnership corresponds to 61 articulated buses and 41 single buses, for 88 million euros. Two top seeds were delivered in October 2012 and the remaining one hundred will be commissioned in the first half of 2013. Thus, almost half of the Dijon bus network were renewed.

Self-service bicycles

The Divia network also includes an open access bicycle service called "DiviaVélodi". It has 400 bikes in 40 stations.

 

 

Transport development

The two tram lines may be extended in the future: the T1 line could eventually be extended to the Fontaine-d'Ouche or Talant and to the future business park of East-Dijonnais Quetigny and Saint -Apollinaire or Chevigny.

The CCI Dijon is responsible for the deployment of the project "Renaissance" which consists of permanently establishing a civilian airport worthy of a city of importance on the current site Dijon-Longvic. Financed by Dijon Métropole for a third, this project includes the opening of several "low cost" lines for the Dijon-Southampton route, the development of the charters business, the development of business and private aviation, the opening of lines under public service obligation to Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes.

This project, however, faces opposition from local residents, particularly because of the lack of citizen consultation on the subject and noise pollution. The defense association and protection of nature and environment "Quétigny Environnement", has been fighting since the 1990s against these nuisances.

Dijon is located approximately 300 km (190 mi) southeast of Paris, about three hours by car along the A38 and A6 motorways. The A31 provides connections to Nancy, Lille and Lyon. The A39 connects Dijon with Bourg-en-Bresse and Geneva, the A36 with Mulhouse and Basel.

 

Dijon is an important railway junction for lines from Paris to Lyon and Marseille, and the east-west lines to Besançon, Belfort, Nancy, Switzerland, and Italy. The Gare de Dijon-Ville is the main railway station, providing service to Paris-Gare de Lyon by TGV high-speed train (LGV Sud-Est), covering the 300 km (190 mi) in one hour and 40 minutes. For comparison, Lyon is 180 km (110 mi) away and two hours distant by standard train. The city of Nice takes about six hours by TGV and Strasbourg only 1 hour and 56 minutes via the TGV Rhin-Rhône. Lausanne in Switzerland is less than 150 km (93 mi) away or two hours by train. Numerous regional TER Bourgogne trains depart from the same station.

 

A new tram system opened in September 2012. Line T1 is an 8.5 kilometres (5.3 miles) line with 16 stations running west-east from the Dijon railway station to Quetigny. Line T2 opened in December 2012, an 11.5 km (7.1 miles) north-south line with 21 stations running between Valmy and Chenôve.

 

Town planning

Urban morphology

In Dijon there is an historical center (or "hyper Centre"), delimited by the "Haussmannian" boulevards linking the six main squares (Place Darcy, Place Saint-Bernard, Place de la République, Place du Trente-Octobre, Place Wilson and May Day Square), and other areas of the city. Only the center is a saved sector.

A second belt of boulevards surrounds the city by connecting the outlying districts, and the two belts of boulevards are connected by large avenues, including the paths of the Park or Victor Hugo Avenue.

The city of Dijon is one of the first in France to have made its downtown area a safeguard. The decided policy was reflected in the rehabilitation and enhancement of the city center, with the development of pedestrian routes, the protection of old buildings, the restoration of historical monuments and public buildings.

From the nineteenth century, the extension of the city was quite anarchic, being done by adding private subdivisions, without coordination. In 1884 the town hall was content to set the width of the new streets at 12 meters.

In short, well-defined neighborhoods were rare, except for the boulevards of La Fontaine des Suisses and La Défense, built in 1882-1883 and the Parc des Sports built in 1932-1933. A development plan was sketched out in 1890 but it was necessary to wait for the 1929 laws and 1924, relating to the cities of more than 10 000 inhabitants, so that this leads to the creation of a public HBM office which became HLM in 1926. The garden city of Bourroches built in 1935 was one of the achievements.

 

The Neighborhoods of the city

The city of Dijon is made up of old residential neighborhoods, located in the city center and near the center, more commercial districts and outlying neighborhoods made up of subdivisions of single-family homes and large multi-unit buildings (building blocks under renovation). ). The ZUPs of Les Grésilles and Fontaine-d'Ouche, as well as those of neighboring communes Chenôve, Quetigny and Longvic, are currently being redesigned. The Junot eco-district, a former military base, is now home to six hundred new homes after a long period of remodeling. A dozen other eco-districts, currently under construction, came out of the ground in 2016.

 

Areas to Urbanize in Priority

At the end of the Second World War, Dijon had to implement, according to the guidelines of the State, Urbanization Zones in Priority or ZUP, two in number. The first, the district of Les Grésilles, was started in 1949. This district confusingly meets buildings and "bars" of various types. Abandoned by public services, the district was rehabilitated and, from 2003, the old "bars" including the famous "Billardon" were destroyed and 660 new homes were built, including 105 home ownership, on a model of suburban houses. The ZUP of the Fountain of Ouche was built in 1967 on the slopes planted with the last Dijon vines, on a more rigorous plan, including the public services and of proximity (nursery schools, nurseries, neighborhood library, shopping center), near the artificial Kir Lake, dug in 1963-1964.

Locally, downtown, neighborhoods were redeveloped in the 1970s and 1980s, in different architectural styles. This is the case of the residences of the rise of Guise, at the end of the street Berbisey, and those of the boulevard Voltaire.

 

Development projects

In view of the Rhine-Rhone HSL project, the city plans to expand and modernize the Dijon-Porte-Neuve station located on the outskirts of the hypercentre and particularly close to the faculties. The downtown railway and bus station has undergone a redevelopment in 2008. The old zones must also be redeveloped, notably known as the East Dijon Business Park ("PAED").

The Tanneries district, located between the Ouche, the Tanneries Bridge and the railway, is to be the subject of a total redevelopment as part of the "Europan" European architectural competition.

Business district

The Clemenceau Business City, located on the edge of the city center of Dijon, was highlighted by the construction of the Auditorium of Dijon and the restoration of the Exhibition Center and the Congress Palace, and is exclusively dedicated to the tertiary sector. The Elithis tower, with positive energy, is the first totally ecological realization of the city. Other towers have also been built, such as the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI), the Hôtel Mercure Center Clemenceau, more recently the new rectorate of Dijon or the Marbotte Plaza tower and soon the Clemenceau tower. Plaza which is currently under construction.

 

Activity areas

Most of the economic zones date from the 1960s. In recent years, Dijon Métropole has decided to program the creation of new "activity zones" such as Parc Valmy, which will bring together 3 of the 5 clinics in Dijon Métropole by 2013, which new businesses, the expansion of the ZAE Cap Nord, the Cap Nord Business Park (which in 2005 welcomed the company Ikea, to revitalize the district), as well as the Mazen business park. Sully intended for a technological pole.

Eco-districts

Since 2005, the city has put in place a local housing program ("PLH"), reinforced by a charter, and planning the restructuring or urban extension of the city. New neighborhoods are currently being developed within the agglomeration, such as the Junot district, a former military enclave, rehabilitated into a residential and commercial area. The low-rental housing stock thus amounts to 23,200 in 2008, or 18.6% of the main residences. The city mobilized 17.8 million euros from its own funds for the PLH.

 

Finally, the city launched the destruction of the former military holdings, which was replaced by the eco-districts. The Hyacinthe Vincent district in the place of the former military hospital, Epirey on the site of the former college and the southern districts, Avenue Jean-Jaurès towards the Canal port are being developed and the first eco-district "Heudelet 26" was expected to come out of the ground in early 2013. The aim is to offer the inhabitants of Dijonnais economical, even energy-efficient and environmentally friendly homes. The "SEMAAD" (1st French mixed economy company certified EMAS, and whose operations are all ISO 14001 certified), can rely on a new Local Plan of Urbanism, called "Eco-PLU", to facilitate the creation of eco-neighborhoods (allowing an urban density offset by greener amenities, fewer cars, shared vehicles and car parks, fewer height restrictions on redeveloped wastelands, etc.).

Toponymy

The origin and meaning of the name

The origin and meaning of the name of Dijon have been much debated. The ancient castrum (castrum of Dijon) is, according to the specialists, "a sacred market" that named the name of * Divio. Indeed, this name was attested in the forms locus Divionensis in the sixth century and in Grégoire de Tours which mentions the Divionense castrum, then Divione, Digum in the thirteenth century. In medieval Latin, the city was generally called Divio (genitive: Divionis).

 

Pierre Gras, former chief curator of the Municipal Library of Dijon, proposes in a conjectural way a * Devomagus or * Diviomagus composed of Gallic magos (in old Irish: mag, "plain"), latinized in magus meaning "field" or "market" And divio, meaning "sacred." The ending "-on" is sometimes the result of an evolution of -magus (for example: Noyon came from Noviomagus, Chassenon de Cassinomagus). However, Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing, based on the old forms, saw the suffix -onem and quoted it as homonymous Divion (commune of Pas-de-Calais). The name Dijon is derived from a Latinization of the suffix native -o.

This Celtic name dates only from the Roman period, in the same way that Autum took during the time of the Roman conquest, the name of Augustodunum. For Gérard Taverdet, professor of linguistics at the University of Burgundy, the name Divio (or Dibio sometimes) would first be applied to Suzon, the local river, that is to say, "the clear river" or "the sacred river "and would then become that of the city according to a frequent process in toponymy.

In the end, only the Gaulish root divo- ("divine") is assured. This word is a close relative of the Latin word deus ("god"), and divinus ("divine"). The Gaulish word was to be devos (to read dēuos), well attested in the indigenous anthroponymy: Devorix, Devonia, Deviatis, etc., as well as in characteristic hydronyms Deva, Diva (the Dives); Devona, Divona (the Divonne, the Dionne). The Gaulish word divona was also explained by Ausone: "Divona Celtarum lingua fons addite divis". The variant divo- de devo- is undoubtedly due to the Latin influence without it being possible to exclude an indigenous theme * diuo-. * Dao-perpetuates in old Irish (dia), old Welsh (duiu), old Cornish (duy), and Breton (doue: "god").

circumlocutions designating the city

• • "The Capital of the Dukes of Burgundy" (referring to the capital of the State of Burgundy led by the dukes);
• • "The City of the Dukes" (in reference to the Dukes of Burgundy);
• • "The City of One Hundred Spiers" (in reference to the large number of religious buildings in the city);
• • "The Sleeping Beauty" (expression used at the end of the 20th century).

History

Early History

There was no real archaeological excavation work in the city of Dijon. No document relating to the Neolithic period exists whereas the protohistoric period was mainly investigated on the outskirts of the city. A silo in the current district of Les Grésilles, Bronze Age furniture near the district of Bourroches have however been found. A few small household items, a fragment of plate decorated with incised geometric ornaments of the Hallstatic period and tweezers from the time of La Tène III, were unearthed in the city center (rue du Tillot and rue du Château). Two books compile the discoveries of the early twentieth century: the collection of Esperandieu (1911) and the ancient inscriptions of the Côte-d'Or Pierre Lejay (1889).

The first traces of habitat date back to the Neolithic (Lentillières site). The valley was indeed invested well before the Gallo-Roman era. The confluence of roads in a fertile valley, irrigated by Suzon and Ouche, allowed the development of a small village.

The earliest archaeological finds within the city limits of Dijon date to the Neolithic period. Dijon later became a Roman settlement called Divio, which may mean sacred fountain, located on the road from Lyon to Paris. Saint Benignus, the city's apocryphal patron saint, is said to have introduced Christianity to the area before being martyred.

This province was home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century, and Dijon was a place of tremendous wealth and power and one of the great European centres of art, learning, and science. The Duchy of Burgundy was a key in the transformation of medieval times toward early modern Europe. The Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy now houses city hall and a museum of art.

In 1513, Swiss and Imperial armies invaded Burgundy and besieged Dijon, which was defended by the governor of the province, Louis II de la Trémoille. The siege was extremely violent, but the town succeeded in resisting the invaders. After long negotiations, Louis II de la Trémoille managed to persuade the Swiss and the Imperial armies to withdraw their troops and also to return three hostages who were being held in Switzerland. During the siege, the population called on the Virgin Mary for help and saw the town's successful resistance and the subsequent withdrawal of the invaders as a miracle. For those reasons, in the years following the siege the inhabitants of Dijon began to venerate Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir (Our Lady of Good Hope). Although a few areas of the town were destroyed, there are nearly no signs of the siege of 1513 visible today. However, Dijon's museum of fine arts has a large tapestry depicting this episode in the town's history: it shows the town before all subsequent destruction (particularly that which occurred during the French Revolution) and is an example of 16th-century art.

Dijon was also occupied by anti-Napoleonic coalitions in 1814, by the Prussian army in 1870–71, and by Nazi Germany beginning in June 1940, during WWII, when it was bombed by US Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses, before the liberation of Dijon by the French Army and the French Resistance, 11 September 1944.

Geography

 

Antiquity

The Celtic Dijon Divio, is the southern metropolis of the Lingons. A Roman road passes from the south-west axis to the north-east, coming from Bibracte then from Autun towards Gray and Alsace, while another goes from south-east to north-west, from Italy to Paris Basin. Dijon is fortified in the Lower Empire, by an enclosure protecting a small area of ​​10 hectares.

The only remaining Roman buildings are a tower of the castrum, called "tower of the little Saint-Bénigne", and some parts of the walls of the Lower Empire. The Roman road Chalon-sur-Saone-Langres was found in places (in the park of Colombière where it is visible). She passes away from the castrum. This way is often considered by the public and some popularizers (like the abbot Claude Courtépée, author of General and particular description of the duchy of Burgundy), wrongly, as being one of the four great Roman roads (the Way Agrippa) quoted by the Roman historian Strabo.

Two other roads, the one coming from the plain of Saone and that leading towards Alsace were found. The foundations of the castrum, a wall ten meters high, are partly made of stelae, statues and other stones from a necropolis. Some obelisk-shaped steles give valuable information on the surnames and professions of the inhabitants of the time.

The Roman Dijon has two necropolises, one extending along the Chalon-Langres road, on the current neighborhoods of the Cours du Parc to the rue de Gray, the second to the west on the positions of the buildings of Saint-Bénigne, Saint-Philibert and Saint-Jean. This last necropolis, in use since the second century, continues to be used as a cemetery until Louis XVI. Native cults were mingled with those of the Romans: votive stelae dedicated to Epona and Sucellos were found alongside the official figures: Mercury, Juno, Hercules and Apollo. The discovery in 1598 of a Greek inscription that has disappeared since then seems to attest that worship was given to Mithra.

The Roman wall became useless during the construction of a new enclosure in the 12th century, but its layout has always been preserved and known.

Gregory of Tours gave the first written description of Divio and the castrum:

"It is a stronghold with very powerful walls, in the middle of a very pleasant plain; the land is fertile and fertile so that once the plow has been plowed into the fields only once, the seeds are thrown away and a large and opulent crop comes next. At noon, there is the river Ouche, which is very rich in fish; on the side of the aquilon penetrates another little river [the Suzon] which, entering through a door and flowing under a bridge, comes out of another door; After having watered the tower and the enclosure with its placid wave, turned mills with prodigious velocity in front of the door. Four doors were placed in the four corners of the world, and thirty-three towers adorn the whole enclosure; the wall of it has been built with cut stones to a height of twenty feet and above in pebbles; it is thirty feet high and fifteen feet wide. I do not know why this town has not been called a city. it has precious sources around her. On the west side, there are very fertile hills full of vines, which furnish such a noble falcon to the inhabitants that they scorn the ascalon. The Ancients tell that the locality was built by the emperor Aurelian »

Gregory of Tours indicates that the enclosure has thirty-three towers of which one, partly preserved, remains visible at 15 rue Charrue, in a small courtyard. The four gates are: the Porte aux lions, the Porte on the side of Saint-Médard, the Porte du vieux château and the Porte sur le Bourg. The thickness of the wall, far from reaching 15 feet (4.50 m) as Grégoire de Tours asserts, does not seem to have exceeded 2 meters

 

This enclosure was reproduced in the plans of the seventeenth century, but only two doors were found: Porte Vacange rue Chabot-Charny and Porte-aux-Lions Street. The tower of the little Saint-Bénigne, located between the street Amiral-Roussin and the rue Charrue, became in the 15th century a place of worship dedicated to the saint, who is supposed to have been imprisoned there. We found traces of a mill at the rue des Bons-Enfants. A temple (the only one of the city) was discovered during the destruction, at the beginning of the XIXth century, of the Sainte-Chapelle which adjoined the palace of the dukes of Burgundy (current place of Sainte-Chapelle).

The medieval Dijon

Lingons and Lingon in the "Gaul of the Late Antiquity" The bishops of Langres temporarily establish their residence in Dijon after the sack of Langres by the Vandals between 407 and 411. Their influence allows the construction of religious buildings and particularly of a cathedral group composed of three buildings: Saint-Étienne, Sainte-Marie and Saint-Vincent. According to the tradition, two basilicas are then raised by Saint Urbain (present church Saint-Jean).

Dijon was then occupied by the Burgundians, who were defeated by Clovis in 500 or 501. The Arabs invaded in 725 when the Normans do not succeed in 887. It was at this time that the first counts of Dijon , Aimar, Eliran, Raoul from the robertienne house. In 1002, the abbot Guillaume de Volpiano undertook to rebuild the Saint-Bénigne abbey and its abbey (current Archaeological Museum of Dijon). He has raised in the abbey a rotunda sheltering the tomb of the Evangelist of Burgundy, Saint Bénigne. From this monument, destroyed in 1793, remains the lower floor, says the crypt.

In the early eleventh century, Dijon was composed of a strong city enclosed with Gallo-Roman walls, remains of the ancient castrum of Dijon, and a town extending to the St. Bénigne abbey. Around, small hamlets, Dompierre, Trimolois, Charencey, Bussy and Prouhaut, disappeared since, surround the city. The dukes of Dijon then reign over the region. In 1015, King Robert II trying to conquer the Dijon: first attacks the town of Mirebeau-sur-Bèze and its region then laid siege to the castrum of Dijon. But before the vigorous resistance of the Bishop of Langres Brunon Roucy, supported by the Abbot of Cluny and the count of the city, he gave up the assault. The following year, the death of the bishop allows him to negotiate with his successor, Lambert Vignory, the sale of Dijon County, King of France, in 1016. The city joined the Duchy of Burgundy and became the capital. On the death of the King of France in 1031, his son Henry I renounced Burgundy and yielded as an appanage Dijon and the Duchy of Burgundy to his brother Robert I. This marks the beginning of three centuries of Capetian rule in Dijon.

 

On the 28^th of June 1137, a great fire reduced Dijon to ashes. The dukes then rebuild an enclosure, much wider than the previous one, which shelters the city until the 18th century. At the end of the twelfth century and the thirteenth century, Dijon is adorned with valuable monuments: the Sainte-Chapelle, the General Hospital of Dijon, the Church of Notre-Dame, etc. Near each door are small towns, even if the city never grows bigger than the limits of its enclosure. The dukes own a castle, on the site of the present mayor of Dijon, and exercise there above all a power of justice. In 1183 the Duke Hugues III allows the drafting of a charter of commune, preserved in the Municipal Archives. Thanks to this charter, which was much copied in other cities of Burgundy, the dukes got richer.

The Sainte-Chapelle owes its edification to a wish made by Duke Hugues III. Caught in a storm on his way to the Holy Land, he promises to build a church near his palace dedicated to the Virgin and Saint John the Evangelist. Construction began in the year 1172. However, the dedication took place in the year 1500.

 

Dijon and the duchy of Burgundy

Dijon has a brilliant period under the four Valois Dukes of Burgundy, which reign from 1363 to 1477. It is the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy, set of states that extend to the Netherlands. Centered on this duchy, the Burgundy State then extends, for more than a century (1363-1477), by inheritances and marriages until Picardie, Champagne, Netherlands Burgundy, Belgium, Germany, Duchy of Luxembourg, Alsace, county of Flanders and Switzerland.

Duke Philip the Bold (1364-1404) was the first Duke of the Valois dynasty and took possession of Dijon, by order of the king, in 1363. He founded in Dijon his dynastic necropolis, the Charterhouse of Champmol, which he made an art fireplace. John the Fearless (1404-1419) succeeded him. Duke Philip III the Good (1419-1467) rebuilt the ducal hotel and instituted in 1432 the chapel of his palace as seat of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Yet Dijon was not a populous city; still rural and due to epidemics, it has only 13 000 inhabitants in 1474. The Duke Charles the Bold (1467-1477), who does not live in Dijon, failed in his fight against the King of France and died in the battle of Nancy against the Duke of Lorraine Rene II, allied with Louis XI. The powerful Burgundian state then collapses, allowing Louis XI to annex the duchy on January 19, 1477.

 

Dijon in the kingdom of France

Despite some revolts against the king, Dijon submitted to his authority. Louis XI ordered the transfer to Dijon of the Burgundy Parliament, which was at Beaune. He also built a castle in Dijon, on the site of the current Place Grangier, to monitor the inhabitants. During a visit to Dijon July 31, 1479, the King solemnly confirms the privileges of the city, in the Saint-Bénigne church of Dijon. The Duchess Marie de Bourgogne (1457-1482), then twenty years old and only daughter of Duke Charles the Bold, married Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire, to which she brought the county of Burgundy and the possessions of Flanders. The treaty of Senlis of 1493 divided the two Burgundies and Dijon became a border city. In 1513, Emperor Maximilian hoped to recover the Duchy of Burgundy by sending a troop of 14,000 Swiss francs corps, 5,000 Germans and 2,000 Francs-Comtois besieging Dijon. Governor Louis II of La Trémoille, who was sent to defend the city, can only send the besiegers by playing cunningly between Swiss and German dissidents and by promising 400,000 crowns of which only a part will be paid. The Swiss lift the siege on September 13th. The Dijonnais having prayed fervently for their deliverance, the departure of the besiegers was attributed by many to the intercession of the Virgin, whose statue, Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir, preserved at the Notre-Dame church, was worn in procession. These events proved the firmness of the feeling of Dijonnais to belong to France. After this event, the enclosure was reinforced by the construction of bastions Saint-Pierre (1515), Guise (1547) and Saint-Nicolas (1558). The bourgeoisie was also developing, as evidenced by the many hotels and houses still visible. In the sixteenth century, the city is embellished with the style of the Italian Renaissance imported by Hugues Sambin.

 

Dijon Under the Ancien Régime

The Parliament of Burgundy, transferred from the Hotel des Ducs de Bourgogne de Beaune to Dijon, makes the city a parliamentary city, where the nobility of dress builds mansions. Dijon suffered religious troubles, from 1530 to 1595. After the Counter-Reformation, new churches and chapels of monasteries were built. A king of France, Francis I or Henry IV, would have described Dijon as "a city with a hundred bell towers", because of the multiplication of religious institutions (Jesuits, Minimes, Carmelites, Jacobines, Ursulines mainly). After the joining of Franche-Comté to the kingdom in 1678, Dijon, losing its status as a frontier town, can again grow. Under the administration of the princes of Conde and governors of Burgundy, the city was then transformed. A Royale Place, today Place de la Libération( in English Liberation place), is located in front of the former Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy; it was conceived as a showcase for an equestrian statue of Louis XIV, cast in 1690, but which was not put in place until 1725, so transport was difficult. The palace of the dukes, became home of the King, is itself enlarged and transformed into palace of the dukes and states of Burgundy. Conde Street, today's Liberty Street, is a breakthrough. The princes of Condé create the vast park of Colombière and the castel of the Colombière connected to the city by an avenue planted with trees, the course of the Park. This prosperity continues in the eighteenth century.

Dijon welcomed in 1722 a law faculty, then the Academy in 1725, which awarded Jean-Jacques Rousseau the first prize in the competition for his Discourse on the origin and foundations of inequality among men in 1750. The Colleges of Medicine are particularly famous from 1755. With a population of 22-23 000 inhabitants, Dijon is a middle city in the kingdom. The municipal administration rests on Municipal elected and mandated by the decision of the Council of State of April 20, 1668 which fixes the constitution of the Chamber; For Pierre Gras, Dijon was the example of a provincial parliamentary municipality. In 1731, Pope Clement XII responded positively to the secular requests of Dijonnais who wished to have their own bishop. The city became the seat of a small bishopric between those of Langres, Autun and Besançon. The first botanical garden was created in 1760. In 1766 was instituted a School of Drawing; in 1787 founded the establishment which became the museum of the Beaux-Arts. The industry of that time (drapery, silk, various spinning mills) nevertheless implants with difficulty.

Dijon during the Revolution

Before the French Revolution, Dijon was a city where the governor of Burgundy, the prince of Conde, resides, and where the sessions of the states of Burgundy are regularly held. The parliament of Burgundy arouses the presence of an influential nobility of dress and wealthy. Institutions, such as the faculties, the academy, the drawing school, also contribute to intellectual activity.

Also, in 1789, Dijon passes from the rank of provincial capital to that of the chief town of the department. On July 15, 1789, rioters took the castle as well as the tower Saint-Nicolas, without direct link with the events of Paris.

Several remarkable monuments were destroyed: the chartreuse of Champmol, the rotunda of Saint-Bénigne, a part of the castle of Montmusard; others were damaged, like the churches of Saint-Bénigne and Notre-Dame, whose portals are hammered. Monasteries and convents were sold or demolished. The Sainte-Chapelle disappears in 1802. The bronze statue of Louis XIV that adorned the Place Royale was broken in 1792; its metal was used to make money or cannons. The guillotine works a moment place of Morimont, current Émile-Zola place.

Dijon in the nineteenth century

In 1804, the Lycée and the School of Law were created, then in 1808 the faculties of Letters, Sciences, Law and Medicine. In 1814, the Allies, who fought Napoleon, entered Dijon and occupied the city.

The exploitation of coal and iron at Le Creusot, the completion of the Burgundy Canal and the Port of the Dijon Canal in 1833 gave Dijon a certain economic importance. The Saint-Bernard district was created outside the ramparts. In 1840, the water supply network designed and implemented by engineer Henry Darcy was inaugurated under the administration of Préfet Chaper to fight against insalubrity; hygiene then allows Dijon to prosper further (see Jardin Darcy).

In the 1840s, Mayor Victor Dumay, his municipal council and the engineer Henry Darcy successfully supported the Dijon route of the Paris-Lyon-Marseille railway line. The Thunder section at Dijon was inaugurated on the 1^st of June 1851 by Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. From then on, Dijon developed rapidly: the district of the station became popular and the neighboring suburbs were built. Napoleon III paid a visit to Dijon, with the Empress Eugenie, on August 23 and 24, 1860.

In 1867, on competition, a project of urban planning, inspired by what Haussman realizes in Paris, was proposed by Degré and Jetot then adopted in spite of reticence. Dijon has 42,000 inhabitants in 1872, the average increase was estimated at 1.5% between 1801 and 1872. It then increased to 3.6% between 1872 and 1975.

 

 

During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, three battles took place in Dijon. On October 30, 1870, soldiers and mobilized tried to defend the city against the Prussians. Without artillery, they must go at the end of the day. On November 26, 1870, Garibaldi, at the head of "the army of the Vosges", can not resume Dijon and must retreat. But on January 23, 1871, the French won a victory against the Germans, and a Pomeranian flag was even won. Place du Trente-Octobre and Avenue du Drapeau recall these feats of arms. Nevertheless, Dijon was occupied by the German army, for about eight months. In 1899, the city receives the Legion of Honor for its resistance.

After the war, the place of Dijon found a strategic role: barracks and an arsenal are built. From 1850 to 1900, thanks to the rural exodus, Dijon went from 30,000 to 70,000 inhabitants. The city develops by shaving its ramparts, replaced by large boulevards. After many polemics, the castle built by Louis XI was destroyed from 1891 to 1897. Multiple public and private facilities are made: high school Carnot, Normal school, school group, cemetery, department stores as the "Housewife" street of Liberty, which opened in 1897, large hotels, places of worship. In the suburbs rise factories: Pernot, Lachèze ... The city was served by secondary railway lines, that of the departmental railways of the Côte-d'Or, since 1888, and a network of urban tram.

 

Dijon in the first half of the 20th century

The arrival in 1904 of a radical, socialist and anticlerical majority led by Henri Barabant was marked by a campaign of "secularization of the streets". For example, Place Saint-Pierre (now Place Wilson), Rue Sainte-Anne, Place Saint-Bernard, were named Place du Peuple, Rue du Chevalier de La Barre, Rue Etienne Dolet. These streets took over their old name a few decades later.

The First World War did not cause any architectural damage to Dijon, which was involved in the war effort with its food and metallurgical industry. Under Gaston Gérard, mayor from 1919 to 1935, the city resumed its growth. The inter-war period was marked by the urbanization of residential neighborhoods, such as the Val d'Or, or the Maladière, in which stands the vast church of the Sacred Heart. The municipality built a sports park in Montmuzard. Occupied on the 17^th of June 1940 by the German army of the Third Reich, Dijon was liberated by French troops on September 11, 1944 and came out of the test without destruction other than that of the station.

Since 1945

After the war, the population remained stable at around 100,000 inhabitants. Dijon was globally a tertiary city and the social milieu was dominated by middle managers and employees. The middle class growed rapidly, from 34.3% of the assets in 1954 to 40.2% in 1975. Canon Kir, mayor of Dijon from 1945 to 1968, provides the city with an artificial lake inaugurated in 1964. The municipality multiplies the buildings of public service as, in 1962, the hospital of the Bocage. From 1957, on the initiative of rector Marcel Bouchard, a vast campus was created in Montmuzard, on nearly one hundred hectares. With the economic boom of the Thirty Glorious, the built-up area of ​​the agglomeration doubles to meet the housing shortage. The district of Les Grésilles, the ZUP of La Fontaine-d'Ouche were developed and the satellite municipalities like Quetigny or Chevigny-Saint-Sauveur grow. After the death of Felix Kir in 1968, Dr. Veillet assured a few years his succession, until 1971. At that date was elected the Gaullist Robert Poujade, who carries out his mandate for thirty years, from 1971 to 2001.

In 1977, the newspaper Les Échos awarded Dijon the title of first ecological city with the development in 1975 including the Combe Park snake, the largest in the city.

On the 18^th of March 2001, left-wing candidate François Rebsamen was elected mayor of Dijon.

 

Population and society

Demography

Demographic evolution

In 2008, Greater Dijon has 244,577 inhabitants, including 151,576 inhabitants for Dijon alone, which covers 42 km2. The city exerts its influence on a vast rural area that extends over the Côte-d'Or, Haute-Marne, Haute-Saône and Saône-et-Loire. It is evolving and developing in the heart of an agglomeration of 238,056 inhabitants, an urban area of ​​371,798 inhabitants and an employment zone of 420,222 people.

The evolution of the number of inhabitants is known through the censuses of the population carried out in the commune since 1793. From the 1st of January 2009, the legal populations of the communes are published annually as part of a census which is now based on an annual collection of information, successively covering all municipal territories over a period of five years. For municipalities with more than 10,000 inhabitants, censuses are conducted each year following a sample survey of a sample of addresses representing 8% of their dwellings, unlike other municipalities that have a real census every five year.

In 2014, the municipality had 153 668 inhabitants, an increase of 1.02% compared to 2009 (Côte-d'Or: 1.36%, France excluding Mayotte: 2.49%)

The town's population was relatively young. The rate of people aged over 60 (21%) is indeed lower than the national rate (22.7%) and the departmental rate (23.3%). Like the national and departmental distribution, the female population of the municipality is higher than the male population. The rate (53%) is higher than the national rate (51.6%).

The distribution of the population of the municipality by age group is, in 2010, the following:

• 47% of men (0 to 14 years = 14.2%, 15 to 29 years = 31.1%, 30 to 44 years = 19.6%, 45 to 59 years = 17.4%, more than 60 years = 17.7%);

• 53% women (0 to 14 years old = 11.7%, 15 to 29 years old = 30.3%, 30 to 44 years old = 16.7%, 45 to 59 years old = 17.2%, over 60 years old) = 24%).

Sociology and employment basin

The Dijon employment pool is 350,000 people. Dijon is a mainly tertiary city, with nearly three quarters of the active population in this sector in 1994, significantly more than in the equivalent urban areas. Dijon was also an administrative city, where the public service alone occupies a quarter of assets in 1994. The largest employers are indeed hospitals, the SNCF and the city of Dijon, the university too. The tertiary sector was insufficient to compete with Paris or Lyon.

The agglomeration suffers from its eccentric position and competition from large nearby urban centers such as Lyon, the north of the Yonne and the south of the Saône-et-Loire. Nevertheless, Dijon Metropole was the first industrial center of Burgundy, gathering some thirty thousand jobs. The agglomeration has indeed benefited a lot in the years 1950 and 1960 from the decentralization of Parisian and foreign companies (Thomson, Philips, Hoover) which have practically all closed. Like all major provincial towns, Dijon is particularly concerned by social plans and economic closures.

In terms of quantitative data, Dijon has a participation rate of 68.5% (national average: 69.7%) for an unemployment rate of 7% (national average: 8%) in 2007. In addition, Dijon was ranked 19^th student city of France.

Education

Educational institutions

The city of Dijon has 12 high schools (8 public and 4 private), including an international high school (international high school Charles-de-Gaulle); 17 colleges (12 public and 5 private); 41 public kindergartens, 39 public elementary schools and 10 private schools under association contract. With those proposed by the agglomeration and the university, the city has all the teaching structures, of all levels, of a large municipality.

 

Institutions of higher education

15 institutions of all fields with the University of Burgundy form the higher education network as Sciences Po Dijon, Burgundy School of Business (former ESC Dijon-Burgundy), the school Agrosup Dijon, the National School of the Greffes, the Inter-regional School of Lawyers, the Institute of Training of Health Executives, the National School of Fine Arts, the ESIREM School of Engineering among others.

The University of Burgundy

The university has more than 27,000 students in 2011-2012. The vast majority of its buildings and personnel concern Dijon, alongside the antennas of Chalon-sur-Saone, Auxerre, Le Creusot, Mâcon and Nevers. In addition to traditional UFRs, certain components are unique in the region such as Agrosup Dijon or the Jules Guyot University Institute of Vine and Wine Oenology. The campus, inspired by North America, was created in 1957 and covers 150 hectares in the Montmuzard district.

It is also composed of several University Institutes of Technology (IUT). Since September 2012, the campus is not only served by bus lines but also by the T1 tramway. It continues to expand to Quetigny, with the latest developments the Regional House of Innovation.

 

Cultural events and festivities

Throughout the year, Dijon is the seat of many cultural, folkloric or economic events.

Health

Dijon hosts an EMS, a university hospital and several clinics: Clinic Sainte-Marthe, Clinic Drevon, and others in the near agglomeration. In the new districts, there is also a medical center like the Medical Point, while waiting for the future center of Valmy.

CHU Dijon, the first company in the department with 7,300 employees, is split into two poles: the François Mitterrand Hospital, located in recent buildings in the east of the city and the Geriatric Center in Champmaillot near the trough. Hell. The general hospital was created in 1204 by Eudes III, seventh Duke of Burgundy. It has buildings listed as an historical monuments.

 

In 2002, Dijon joined the WHO Healthy Cities Network, through the implementation of various programs, particularly in the prevention of addictions and STIs.

Dijon also has a medical research center made up of 15 researchers and 96 doctors, as well as a center for the fight against cancer, the Georges-François Leclerc center in collaboration with the University of Medicine.

Sports

Main clubs

Various

Athletes have many facilities, stadiums, gymnasiums, tennis courts, swimming pools, ice rink, bowling alleys, fitness trails in the peri-urban parks, horse riding centers, the Dijon-Burgundy golf course in Norges-la-Ville or the circuit Dijon-Prenois automobile (a Grand Prix of Burgundy having been organized locally since 1927).

The opening of the Olympic Swimming Pool in Dijon in 2010 allowed high level competitions to be held. A diving pit is used to train local scuba diving champions.

Since 2007, the city has begun renovating the Stade Gaston-Gérard. Finally, its capacity was 22,000 seats. Finally, the city of Dijon inaugurated its climbing room Cime Altitude 245 on April 1st, 2010.

On the model of Paris Beach, the town hall of Dijon has built a beach and seaside leisure facilities around Lake Kir. "Dijon Plage" welcomed 100,000 visitors in 2008. This device completes the 4 public swimming pools, those of the Carrousel, Les Grésilles, Fontaine-d'Ouche and the Olympic swimming pool.

 

Media

Written and television media

The city of Dijon hosts the seats of two main media departmental writings that are The Public Good the Dispatch and Dijon the Hebdo. The public property Les Dépêches, the daily historic departmental of the Côte-d'Or, has been in existence since 1868. It printed 50,000 copies in 2007, but the steady decline of its readership does not stop: in 2016, it was 41.110 copies, of which 36,850 in total paid circulation. Dijon l'Hebdo is a free local news newspaper created in 2013 by Jean-Louis Pierre, former boss of Voo Tv, a subsidized local television channel sold since then.

France 3 Bourgogne, a local branch of the France 3 national editorial board affiliated to France Télévision, has its studios in Dijon.

other free and written media were published in Dijon, dealing mainly with cultural news. Among them, we can cite in particular the Journal of Freedoms-Culture, monthly devoted to the news of the human rights; Magma Magazine, cultural magazine, TV-NET-BOURGOGNE, a cultural web TV launched in 2002 by Lionel Vigneron and the quarterly magazine Sparse since October 2012.

 

 

Local radios

Six independent local radio stations were broadcasted in Dijon. Five of them are of category A. The oldest is Radio Campus Dijon (92.2 MHz), a student and cultural associative radio set up in 1983. Radio VTI (106.3 MHz) was born in 1991, as an associative radio station. and multi-cultural. It stops issuing in 2012 after the liquidation of the association "Voice of the Immigrant" who was its owner.

In 1991, RCF in Burgundy (88.3 MHz), one of the local radio stations of the group of Christian radios, began broadcasts. The radio Jewish thematic radio station Shalom Dijon (97.1 MHz) was created in 1993. The last local radio stations date from 2008 with Radio Cultures Dijon (100.0 MHz), radio cultural association and K6FM (101.6 MHz), radio category B purely Dijonnaise , also arrives in 2008.

Two regional radio stations covered the city: Frequency Plus (95.4 MHz), which transmits in Burgundy and Franche-Comté, and France Bleu Bourgogne (98.3 MHz), station of the France Bleu network of Radio France. This last is the first radio of the Côte-d'Or. The Chérie FM (102.5 MHz), Virgin Radio (87.9 MHz), Fun Radio (90.7 MHz) and Nostalgie (97.5 MHz) radios broadcast local or regional dropouts.

 

Digital media

In addition to the digital platforms of traditional media, Dijon also benefits from exclusively online news media. Jondi.fr is thus a cultural agenda of the city and Infos-Dijon.com a general media of local and regional news. Other online media disappeared in recent years: the oldest, gazetteINFO.fr, was a subsidiary of the paper weekly La Gazette of Côte-d'Or but had a dedicated editorial and separate from its parent company. The second, Dijon scope, was until May 14, 2013, date of judicial liquidation, the first regional daily newspaper to have the status of online press publisher. It was created on August 1st, 2009 and is based in Dijon.

cults

The Dijonnais have worship places of the main religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam.

Christianity

The large number of Catholic churches in Dijon reflects the long history of Catholicism in the city. It goes back, according to the tradition, to saint Bénigne, who would have evangelized Dijon in the 2nd century. Under the Ancien Régime, the numerous churches and chapels earned Dijon its nickname of a city with a hundred steeples.

 

Catholicism

As far as Catholicism is concerned, the archdiocese of Dijon is part of the ecclesiastical province of Dijon. The territory of the commune of Dijon is divided into eleven parishes. The creation of the diocese of Dijon dates from 1731. Since the restoration of the diocese of Langres in 1823, the territorial limits of the diocese of Dijon are those of the department of Côte-d'Or. In addition to the Saint Benigne Cathedral, Dijon has about twenty churches and chapels, built between the thirteenth and twentieth century.

The Main places of worship of the city:

• Saint Bénigne Cathedral
• Assumption Chapel
• Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc Chapel
• St. Joseph Cottolengo Chapel
• St. Louis Chapel
• St. Vincent de Paul Chapel
• Blessed Church of Elizabeth of Trinidad
• Church of the Sacred Heart
• Church of St. Bernadette
• Saint Bernard Church
• Church Sainte-Chantal
• Church of St. John Bosco
• St. Joseph's Church
• Saint Michael's Church
• Notre-Dame Church
• St. Paul's Church
• Saint Peter's Church

 

Ancient places of worship in the city:

• • Chapel of the Carmelites
• • Chapel of the Elected
• • Chartreuse of Champmol
• • Great Chapel of the Holy Spirit Hospital
• • St. Anne's Church
• • Saint-Etienne Church
• • Saint John Church
• • Church of St. Nicholas
• • Saint-Philibert Church
• •           Holy Chapel

Protestantism

Protestant worship is celebrated in Dijon at the Protestant Temple of Dijon, rue du Temple, dedicated in 1898.

Orthodoxy

Orthodox Christianity is celebrated in Dijon in three places of worship. Two Orthodox churches of Byzantine tradition are hosted in places lent by the diocese:

• St. Francis of Assisi chapel attached to the Serb Patriarchate

• Saint-Jacques chapel attached to the Romanian patriarchate

A Coptic Orthodox community (Patriarchate of Alexandria) celebrates the liturgy in the Saint John Chapel, the Theologian of Dijon.

 

Judaism

The Jewish community celebrates Jewish worship according to the Sephardic rite, at the synagogue of Dijon, built from 1873 to 1879.

Islam

The Islamic community of Dijon has three mosques: En-Nour, El-Imân and Al-Kheyr.

Economy

The growth of Dijon in the twentieth century is linked to its position as a railway node on the Paris-Lyon-Marseille axis, from the lines leading to Besançon, Belfort, Nancy, Italy and Switzerland. The trade growth has favored an industry which, in retrospect, looks surprisingly varied in the middle of the century: metallurgy (wire drawing and rolling mills, railroad equipment, cycles and motorcycles, machine tools, precision mechanics, dairy and butchery equipment ), food industry (mustard, biscuits, chocolate, gingerbread, blackcurrant), leather work (shoes, saddlebags), clothing, electrical equipment, precision optics, tobacco factory, soap factories, pharmaceutical industry, building materials, musical instruments. As elsewhere, the road has since dethroned the railroad, the industry is decline, and it is rather the tertiary sector which growed from 62% of the active population in 1954 to 67.5% in 1975. In the Dijon plain, we find large crops: wheat, barley, rapeseed and sugar beet.

Income of the population and taxation

 

A dynamic economic area

In 2004, 2005 and 2007, Dijon was three years "cited the attractiveness of France", according to the magazine l'entreprise in the category of urban areas of 200 000 to 500 000 inhabitants. 40% of motorway flows Europeans and 65% of the French stream through the Dijon corridor, passage to the rest of southern Europe and Central. Dijon labour is on average more skilled than most other regions. Dijonnaises economic areas are mainly the Longvic ZI and the AEZ Cape fleece of gold/Saint-Apollinaire. Only Dijon has 11 ZA all real estate developing.

Four areas are particularly well represented in Dijon, electric-electronics, mechanics, food processing, and chemistry-pharmacy. The creation of the Vitagora competitiveness cluster around the taste, nutrition, food innovation and health, emphasizes the propensity of Dijon to implement projects to real opportunities in a dynamic and strategic approach from one strong partnership between all economic players, the city, Dijon metropolis and the University.

The University of Burgundy is the largest research employer in the region, which, with its 1,900 research professors, researchers, engineers and technicians, is able to intervene in the most diverse sectors. Other schools located in the heart of the city have a good national reputation, Sciences Po Dijon (branch of the Institute of Political Studies of Paris), the Higher National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Food and Agriculture. the environment (Agrosup), the Business School of Dijon (ESC) and the Graduate School of Materials Research Engineers (ESIREM), all members of the Conférence des Grandes Ecoles, the National School of Transplantation, the School of Notary, the National School of Fine Arts or the National Conservatory of Music, Dance and Drama. These assets make the Dijon metropolis the first pool of life and employment in Burgundy.

 

Development poles

The leading industrial sector in Dijon in terms of jobs is electrical construction and electronics, which in 2003 had some 3,200 employees. Then comes the mechanical industry, which employs about 3,000 people, to whom we can add about 1,200 people working in metallurgy (including SEB) and another 1,200 in the plastics and rubber industries. Once rich and diversified (Terrot cycles, Lapierre, Simplex derailleurs ...), the mechanics Dijon is mainly focused on automotive outsourcing, affected by relocations, but not exclusively, as evidenced by the activities of the Technical Center of Mechanical Industries Dijon . The agglomeration also benefits from the presence of laboratories and production units of the industrial pharmacy, primarily Sanofi, Urgo and Fournier, which employ a total of 2,100 people, with a research and development activity involving pharmaceutical laboratories. University of Burgundy and smaller actors, such as Oncodesign (research of cancer treatments). The historically important optical sector (including Hermagis-SOM-Berthiot) is still represented by Essilor (corrective lenses), Nachet (microscopes) and Sagem (visors, periscopes).

 

 

The food and taste sector has recently been organized around the "competitiveness cluster" Vitagora, taking advantage of the international gastronomic image of Burgundy and Dijon, historically at the forefront of the agri-food industry. The cluster brings together "skills platforms" centered on agronomy, pedology and plants, packaging, chemistry and logistics. Two emblematic companies in this sector in Dijon are Lanvin chocolatier, absorbed by Nestlé, and Mustard Amora, absorbed in 2000 by Unilever, whose historic factory was liquidated in July 2009.

Dijon was home to the parent companies of several major groups such as Lejay-Lagoute or Boudier, producers of crème de cassis. Tetra Pak has had a packaging unit there since 1971, one of the largest and most innovative in the group in Europe.

The headquarters of Autoroutes Paris Rhin Rhône is located in Saint-Apollinaire, in the suburbs of Dijon.

 

Tourism

Tourism occupies a significant place in the economy of Dijon. The tourist interest of the city rests mainly on the richness of its historical inheritance and on the proximity of the viticultural coast. Thus, the old city has three of the ten most visited monuments in Côte-d'Or in 2004, year in which the Museum of Fine Arts in Dijon was attended by more than 210 000 visitors. The agglomeration has nearly 500 restaurants and several hotel zones (Toison d'Or, Central Station district ...). Dijon can be divided into three major sectors: cultural tourism (museums, monuments, festivals and cultural events), gastronomic and wine-growing tourism (although less developed than in Beaune), and business tourism (convention center and adapted hotels-restaurants).

Nevertheless, the 2008 figures recorded by INSEE show a 0.5% decline in tourism activity, with hotel occupancy rates 7 points lower than the national average rate. Foreign customers was particularly lacking (-1.6%).

 

Viticulture

Located in the heart of Burgundy, the city of Dijon was listed in the list of wine communes of France. Indeed, on its geographical area, is produced AOC wines: Burgundy aligoté, Burgundy, Burgundy all-grain, Coteaux-Burgundy (formerly Burgundy grand-ordinary), Crémant de Bourgogne and sparkling Burgundy.

Local culture and heritage

Dijon has one of the first protected areas in France, covering an area of ​​97 hectares, with classified and remarkably preserved monuments. Internationally recognized, its heritage has been built over the centuries, and continues to be built today, with public buildings such as the Zenith or the Auditorium or high-tech buildings like the Elithis tower. The "old Dijon" or historic center contains innumerable old houses, parliamentary hotels, bourgeois houses but also more modest houses, which give their charm to the streets of the city center. Most of these monuments date from the Middle Ages. 19th century works, of the "Hausmannian" type, complete this Dijon heritage.

 

Viticulture

Located in the heart of Burgundy, the city of Dijon is listed in the list of viticultural towns of the creation of a protected area, the gradual repair of most historic homes and the development of a pedestrian zone in constant expansion since 1970s, allow Dijonnais as visitors for a day to enjoy this rich heritage that fits into a departmental and regional tourism, around wine and the medieval heritage.

The symbols of Dijon

Several symbols characterize the city of Dijon, the best known being the owl whose adventures are narrated in a count for children in four languages ​​(French, English, German and Esperanto) who won the youth prize of the year 2017.

Architecture

The architectural diversity of Dijon is the result of a long history. The city has in its center streets lined with medieval buildings that have evolved within the ancient boundaries of the castrum of Dijon Roman heritage. The city then ran out of space and, after the destruction of the ramparts, new districts appeared.

 France. Indeed, on its geographical area, produced AOC wines: Burgundy aligoté, Burgundy, Burgundy all-grain, Coteaux-Burgundy (formerly Burgundy grand-ordinary), Crémant de Bourgogne and sparkling Burgundy.

Local culture and heritage

Dijon has one of the first protected areas in France, covering an area of ​​97 hectares, with classified and remarkably preserved monuments. Internationally recognized, its heritage has been built over the centuries, and continues to be built today, with public buildings such as the Zenith or the Auditorium or high-tech buildings like the Elithis tower. The "old Dijon" or historic center contains innumerable old houses, parliamentary hotels, bourgeois houses but also more modest houses, which give their charm to the streets of the city center. Most of these monuments date from the Middle Ages. 19th century works, of the "Hausmannian" type, complete this Dijon heritage.

Religious architecture is also very represented. Dijon would have been nicknamed the "city of one hundred bell towers" by a king of France, Francis I or Henry IV; this expression is still used occasionally. Indeed, religious buildings punctuate the city center. The most representative monument of the Middle Ages in Dijon was the abbey church of Saint-Bénigne, rebuilt from 1001 by Guillaume de Volpiano. The Romanesque rotunda with three floors, destroyed in 1793, remains the lower level restored in the 1860s and called crypt of Saint-Bénigne. The only religious building of Romanesque period, remained almost intact in Dijon, is the church Saint-Philibert. The church Notre-Dame, of the XIIIe century, is the representative of the Gothic Burgundy. A later work of the Gothic is made by Claus Sluter at the gate of the Church of the Charterhouse of Champmol and the well of Moses. The civil architecture of the Middle Ages is represented by the former palace of the dukes, rebuilt by Philip the Good, dominated by the tower Philip the Good, and the many medieval half-timbered houses and mansions of rich bourgeois.

Flemish and Italian architecture then inspired Dijon artists. Hugues Sambin interprets in Dijon the style of the Italian Renaissance. The Saint-Michel church was rebuilt from 1499 and its facade was typical of the Renaissance style. In the seventeenth century and the eighteenth century, two great court architects, Jules Hardouin-Mansart, then Jacques V Gabriel, redraw a part of the center of the city. The first creates the Place Royale, in front of the former palace of the dukes, which he remodels. Gabriel continues this work. Private hotels bear witness to 17th and 18th century architecture, such as the Hôtel de Vogüé (1610), the Chartraire de Montigny hotel or the Bouhier de Lantenay hotel (currently the prefecture).

 

Dijon was deeply influenced by 19th century architecture. Neoclassicism is represented by the theater, begun under the Empire and completed in 1828, according to the plans of Jacques Cellerier. The covered market, dating from 1873-1875, is an example of metal architecture. Neighborhoods have "Hausmannian" architecture, such as Place Darcy and adjacent streets, or those along the major boulevards such as Brosses Boulevard, Devosge Street, Carnot Boulevard and Wilson Square. The synagogue was built from 1873 to 1879; the Protestant church from 1896 to 1898. Finally, Dijon has recent notable buildings, such as the church of the Sacred Heart, Roman-Byzantine style, built from 1933 to 1938, the church of St. Bernadette, built of concrete, plastic and aluminum from 1959 to 1964, the convention center and the sports palace.

In 2005, the label "Heritage of the twentieth century" was awarded to ten buildings in Burgundy including two in Dijon: the villa Messner dating from 1912 - 1913 rue Parmentier by Joseph Jardel, and the church Sainte-Bernadette dating from 1960 - 1964 whose architect is Joseph Belmont. The church, located in the district of Les Grésilles, is one of the first examples of religious architecture after the Council of Vatican II. Finally, Dijon has modern buildings built by renowned architects. The Palais des Congrès and Exhibitions of 1955, the Auditorium built in 1998 by Arquitectonica Miami, and the Elithis tower built in 2009 by Arte-Charpentier. Future projects, especially concerning the Clemenceau district, are also marked by contemporary architecture. The seat of the new rectorate (Marbotte Plaza) was signed by Rudy Ricciotti. These achievements are above all ecological and use sustainable materials.

 

The Palace of the Dukes and States of Burgundy houses since 1787 the Museum of Fine Arts. In the 19th century, the city hall also settled there. Opposite the palace is the Place de la Libération in the shape of a hemicycle, designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in 1680. It was renovated in 2006: the pavers were replaced by stone slabs and three fountains, made of jets of water and light, were put in place. The palace bears witness to Dijon's past under the dukes. It includes: the tower of Bar, old tower of Brancion built by Philip the Bold in 1365; the ducal kitchens, built by Philip the Good in 1433; the Philippe le Bon tower, originally the 1455 tower of the Terrasse, which served as a watchtower and dwelling, and whose staircase has 316 steps.

The Saint-Bénigne cathedral, built in the 13th and 14th century, houses in its crypt, only vestige of a Romanesque rotunda destroyed in 1792, the remains of the tomb of the eponymous martyr, evangelizer of Burgundy. The building, formerly abbey, was surrounded by buildings which remains the former Benedictine dormitory, where is now the archaeological museum.

Saint-Philibert church in Dijon is located a few steps south-east of the Saint Benigne Cathedral. It is recognizable by its stone steeple. It served in the 19th century salt warehouse, which gnawing from the stone of the building. In very bad structural condition, it was closed from 1979 to 2011.

 

The Notre-Dame church, of the thirteenth century, masterpiece of Gothic Burgundy, is unique in the French Gothic architecture. It houses the statue of Our Lady of Good Hope. Its western facade is adorned with many decorative gargoyles restored in the nineteenth century by seven Parisian sculptors. The beginning of its southern tower supports the Jacquemart clock with four automata. The chapel of the Assumption nearby is adorned with the Assumption of Jean Dubois, but is not open to the public. The Dijonnais are used to caress the owl carved on the buttress of a chapel of Notre-Dame. According to legend, a caress of the left hand, heart side, would bring happiness.

Palace and Dijon mansions 

Apart from the famous palace of the Dukes and States of Burgundy which nowadays houses the Museum of Fine Arts and the Town Hall, there is in Dijon a Palace of Justice, former Parliament of Burgundy. Its construction, begun in 1518, was completed in 1522. The building currently houses the Court of Appeal. The other jurisdictions were transferred to the contemporary building of the judicial district, Boulevard Clemenceau.

The former abbey palace of Saint-Bénigne is an unfinished palace of which only the left wing was built from 1767 to 1770 by Claude Saint-Père. Neoclassical style, this building then became an Episcopal Palace and the National School of Fine Arts in Dijon: ENSA Dijon Art & Design.

 

The mansions of Dijon represent four centuries of evolution of the architecture and testify to the presence of an aristocracy, a big bourgeoisie and a parliamentary nobility, of the Middle Ages to the Revolution. More than a hundred remarkable mansions were built in Dijon from the fifteenth century to the Revolution by large parliamentary or bourgeois families. Most of these mansions, all of which are in the city center, are concentrated mainly around the Palace of the Dukes and the Burgundy States and the Palace of Justice. The Renaissance has marked its style two types of buildings, mansions and large mansions. In the seventeenth century, the model of the hotel between courtyard and garden, popular in Paris, imposes little by little in Dijon. Finally classicism stages an architecture of symmetry and measurement. The lounges open onto gardens in French-style flower beds. This style prevails in Dijon for two centuries during which many mansions are built.

Among these mansions of Dijon the best known are:

 

Monuments and main tourist places

Monuments and tourist places:

• • The castrum of Dijon (third century) remains only the tower known as Petit Saint-Bénigne. Signs mark the boundaries of this ancient castrum and a plaque, Place de Sainte-Chapelle, indicates the route.
• • The Saint-Etienne church of Dijon is the oldest place of worship of the castrum of Dijon. First Romanesque church (the foundations are still visible), abbey of canons regular in the Middle Ages, cathedral in 1731, disused during the Revolution, it housed until 2007 the Chamber of Commerce, and now the library "La Nef" and the library of the Museum of Fine Arts. The Rude Museum occupies the choir.
• • The medieval ramparts left few traces: the railway passes on the old wall called " Mercy". Hospital Street, remains of the bastion of Guise, which formed the southwest corner of the rampart; rue de Tivoli and rue Berlier, two sections of walls are still preserved.
• • The Saint-Jean church of Dijon, which dates from the fourth century, was rebuilt in 1448, in a flamboyant Gothic style.
•  
• • The old Carthusian monastery remains the well of Moses, carved by Claus Sluter at the end of the 14th century, and the portal of the chapel. The well of Moses is in the center of a courtyard of the hospital center of Chartreuse. It is a masterpiece of Claus Sluter, initiated in 1395. It is 7 m high and is bathed in a pool fed by a water table. It is decorated with statues of the six prophets of the last testament. It was classified a historical monument in 1840. In 1833, the department bought the domain of the chartreuse to make it a psychiatric hospital, which poses problems for tourist enhancement.
• • The Millière House and the Hôtel de Vogüé rose behind Notre-Dame Church, rue de la Chouette.
• • The former parliament of Dijon was built in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century to house the Parliament of Burgundy; it is still the seat of courts. The carpenter Antoine Galley built in 1522 the ceiling of the large room also called "golden room". The main door of the main facade is a copy of the one carved in the 16th century by Hugues Sambin.
• • The Sainte-Anne church of Dijon, baroque cupola in copper gray-green of the eighteenth century. It shelters the museum of sacred art of Dijon inaugurated in 1980.
• • The Bernardine monastery of Dijon, classic and Renaissance style of the seventeenth century. It houses the Bourguignonne Museum Perrin de Puycousin since 1993.
•  
• • The charity hospital chapel has an altar dais presentation that is a baroque composition gilded wood by the sculptor Jehan Maitrier.
• • The chapel of the convent of the Carmelites, the first women's monastery in Dijon, from 1608.
• • The Castel de la Colombière and the Parc de la Colombière linked to the city center by the "Allee du Parc", founded in the 17th century by the princes of Condé and governors of Burgundy Louis II of Bourbon-Condé and Henri Jules de Bourbon- Conde (father and son).
• • The Guillaume Gate, located on Darcy Square, stands on the site of a fortified gateway to the city walls. It was erected in 1788 by Caristie, according to the plans of Jean-Philippe Maret, in honor of the Prince de Condé.
• • The market halls of Dijon in metal architecture were built from 1873 to 1875 by Clément Weinberger.
• • The port of the Dijon canal (19th century), an old fluvial trading port on the Burgundy canal, now a marina.
• • The church of the Sacred Heart of Dijon dates from the 1930s.
• • The Burgundy roofs are also elements of the cultural heritage of Dijon. Composed of multicolored glazed tiles arranged in geometric patterns, they adorn a few buildings in the city center such as the Hôtel de Vogüé, the Aubriot hotel, the Saint Bénigne cathedral ...
• • The meridians, indicating the true solar noon, are highlighted. One is Rue de la Liberté, another on the facade of the Palace of the Dukes, a third inside the Philippe le Bon tower. We can observe the true solar noon on these meridians at the legal hours given by the table below:

 

Green spaces

Dijon is a flower town having obtained four flowers with distinction Grand Prix in 2007 in the contest of towns and flowery villages. The city has many parks and public gardens, both in the City Center and periphery, for 745 hectares of green space, an average of about 50 m2 per inhabitant.

Among these green spaces, the most varied is the botanical garden of the arquebuse of Dijon. It is a rich botanical garden of about 3,500 species of botanical plants from Burgundy and around the world. It consists of a public garden, an arboretum, a rose garden, a museum of natural history and ethnology and planetarium. At the gateway to the historic center is the Darcy Garden, a 1-hectare public garden in the Neo-Renaissance style, located on the Darcy Square in the city center, dedicated to the hydraulic engineer from Dijon Henry Darcy (1803-1858).

The city of Dijon has about twenty parks, the main ones are:

• Parc de la Colombière;
• Bacquin Career Park;
• Botanical garden of the arquebus;
• Darcy Garden;
• Japanese garden ;
• Lake Kir.

But also the Parc de la Toison d'Or, Clemenceau Park, the Parc des Argentières, the Parc du Drapeau, the Combe Saint-Joseph Park, the Combe Billenois, the Fontaine de Ouche stream park, the natural park of the Combe to the Snake, the park of the Combe Persil, the park of the castle of Larrey, the park of the Grésilles, the park of Motte-Giron.

Cultural Heritage

The city spent about 54 million euros in 2007 on culture, with a total budget of around 250 million euros. The auditorium with exceptional acoustics, the eight museums - completely free except for the Magnin museum - including the Beaux-Arts, which ranks among the first in France for the importance of its collections, theaters and theaters shows such as La Vapeur, a new talent show, art galleries, cinemas, municipal libraries, the National Conservatory of Music, Drama and Dance, parks and gardens, a planetarium and a new media library inter-neighborhoods are the major assets of the cultural heritage of Dijon.

 

Dijon holds its International and Gastronomic Fair every year in autumn. With over 500 exhibitors and 200,000 visitors every year, it is one of the ten most important fairs in France. Dijon is also home, every three years, to the international flower show Florissimo.

 

Dijon has numerous museums such as the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, the Musée Archéologique, the Musée de la Vie Bourguignonne, the Musée d'Art Sacré, and the Musée Magnin. It also contains approximately 700 hectares of parks and green space, including the Jardin botanique de l'Arquebuse.

 

Apart from the numerous bars, which sometimes have live bands, some popular music venues in Dijon are : Le zenith de Dijon, La Vapeur and l'Atheneum.

 

Dijon mustard originated in 1856, when Jean Naigeon of Dijon substituted verjuice, the acidic "green" juice of not-quite-ripe grapes, for vinegar in the traditional mustard recipe. In general, mustards from Dijon today contain white wine rather than verjuice. Dijon mustard is not necessarily produced near Dijon, as the term is regarded as genericized under European Union law, so that it cannot be registered for protected designation of origin status. Most Dijon mustard (brands such as Amora or Maille) is produced industrially and over 90% of mustard seed used in local production is imported, mainly from Canada. In 2008, Unilever closed its Amora mustard factory in Dijon. Dijon mustard shops sell exotic or unusually-flavoured mustard (fruit-flavoured, for example), often sold in decorative hand-painted faience (china) pots.

 

Burgundy is a world-famous wine growing region, and notable vineyards, such as Vosne-Romanée and Gevrey-Chambertin, are within 20 minutes of the city center. The town's university boasts a renowned enology institute. The road from Santenay to Dijon is known as the "route des Grands Crus", where eight of the world's top ten most expensive wines are produced, according to Wine Searcher.

 

The city is also well known for its crème de cassis, or blackcurrant liqueur, used in the drink known as "Kir", named after former mayor of Dijon canon Félix Kir, a mixture of crème de cassis with white wine, traditionally Bourgogne aligoté.

 

Dijon is home to Dijon FCO, a football team now in Ligue 1. Dijon has a its own (Pro A) basketball club, JDA Dijon Basket. The Palais des Sports de Dijon serves as playground for the team and hosted international basketball events such as the FIBA EuroBasket 1999 in the past. Dijon is home to the Dijon Ducs ice hockey team, who play in the Magnus League. To the northwest, the race track of Dijon-Prenois hosts various motor sport events. It hosted the Formula 1 French Grand Prix on five occasions from 1974 to 1984.

 

Colleges and universities

Dijon hosts the main campus of the University of Burgundy

École nationale des beaux-arts de Dijon

European Campus of Sciences Po Paris

Agrosup Dijon

 

Museums

Dijon has many museums with important regional collections, installed in prestigious historical monuments.

The Dijon Museum of Fine Arts, housed in the Palace ,the Dukes of Burgundy, houses the tombs of the Dukes Philip the Bold and John the Fearless as well as important collections with extremely varied themes (history of Burgundy, ancient Egypt, Renaissance , modern Art).

The archaeological museum occupies part of the former Saint Benigne abbey and holds pieces from regional excavations.

The Bourguignonne Museum Perrin de Puycousin exhibits the ethnographic heritage of Burgundy, with reconstructions of scenes from everyday life, old Dijon stores of the nineteenth century and a gallery of famous children of Dijon.

The museum of sacred art, located in the old church of Bernardines, presents interesting liturgical collections and a piece of masterful sculpture: the Visitation, from the convent of the same name destroyed during the Revolution.

The Arquebuse Botanical Garden includes the Natural History Museum of Dijon, the Planetarium and the botanical collections of the Arquebuse Garden.

The Musée Rude, located in part of the old Saint-Étienne church, houses castings of various statues by the sculptor François Rude from Dijon.

 

 

The Magnin Museum is a state-owned property located in the former mansion of the Magnin family.

A center of contemporary art of international renown is present in Dijon, The Consortium. It is managed by the association Le Coin du Miroir, created in 1977. Renovated and enlarged by the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban (also the architect of the Pompidou Metz center and having received the Pritzker Price 2014), the Consortium building offers a exhibition space of more than 4,000 m2. Its objectives are the production and dissemination of contemporary works, the enrichment of the public heritage in this area and the training in art and thought today.

Finally, Dijon in 2016  was with one of the four City of gastronomy. This project is one of the four obligations that the State put in place, included in the management plan defined in 2011, following the inscription of the gastronomic meal of the French to the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, by the French Mission Heritage and Food Crops (MFPCA). The project was officially launched on the 19^th of June 2013 as a Cities network of Gastronomy, bringing together Dijon, Lyon, Paris-Rungis and Tours. Each city will have its specificity: the City of gastronomy of Dijon constitute the pole of reference for the culture of the vine and the wine. The project, valued at 54 million euros, was carried out in the former General Hospital.

 

 

Theaters

The main theater in Dijon is the Zenith, measuring a maximum of 7,800 places when it opened in 2008. An extension of 1,200 seats was carried out since the summer of 2012, allowing the Zenith to have a capacity of 9 000 places and therefore be the third zenith of France. Since 1998, the city of Dijon has at its disposal the Auditorium, a collective work of the great architects Arquitectonica. This modern building is considered to be one of the best European venues in terms of acoustics. It has 1,600 seats. Many smaller rooms also exist. The Opera or the Grand Théâtre de Dijon, built in the early nineteenth century on the site of Sainte-Chapelle, offers 692 seats in a magnificent Italian-style hall.

Steam is a contemporary building with about 600 seats. The Théâtre des Feuillants located in the historic center of the city can accommodate 500 people. The Theater Dijon-Bourgogne, which occupies the Saint-Jean church, is a national dramatic center of 280 places. On campus there are two theaters: the Mansart Theater with a capacity of 204 seats and the Atheneum with 190 seats.

The city of Chenôve which is part of Dijon Métropole has for project since the arrival of the tramway to build a cultural center and meetings. It is planned that the Conservatory of Chenôve be established in this building with a theater with a capacity of 700 places by 2013.

Dijon dispose en outre de deux cinémas Art et Essai, le Devosge (5 salles) et le Cinéma Eldorado (3 salles).

There is also the theater or the MJC des Grésilles with a capacity of 144 seats, the theater or the MJC of the Fontaine d'Ouche 290 seats, or the MJC Bourroches-Valendons. The Dijon Conservatory is also equipped with three auditoriums, including one in its annex.

Finally, a project for a new auditorium was planned around 2014. The arrival of the tram on the Place de la Republique could contribute to the transformation of the former Alhambra cinema, which closed in 1978. theater with its Italian-style balcony would have cultural equipment in the spirit of the music hall. A concept quite close to what is the Unique Place in Nantes. A truly multi-cultural, life-giving place where all forms and types of art, concerts, DJs, shows, one man shows, atmospheres, with a brewery or restaurant could be expressed. All in a very complementary approach to what already exists on the Place de la République.

 

The Alcazar or Alcazar-Kursaal, which was a music hall created in 1870 rue des Godrans, is the scene of the first cinematographic screening in Dijon in 1896.

The Dijon agglomeration has a total of three cinemas including two multiplexes (Le Darcy, Olympia and Cape Verde).

The oldest of them is the Cinema Le Darcy, built in 1914 and named at the time of the "Darcy Palace"; it includes 6 projection rooms.

The largest multiplex in the agglomeration, Cape Verde, has 12 rooms. It was born in October 1999 in the town of Quetigny. It is the only cinema complex in the Dijon agglomeration that is not located in the commune of Dijon.

The second multiplex, the 10-room Olympia, was inaugurated in December 2007 in place of the former EuroPalaces Gaumont closed a few months earlier.

Dijon also has two Art and Essay cinemas, the Devosge (5 theaters) and the Eldorado Cinema (3 theaters).

 

The city of Dijon also had two other cinemas:

the former Alhambra cinema built in 1918, which closed its doors in 1978. This building located on Place de la République is composed of a two-level room with a balcony to the Italian. There was also the cinema ABC composed of 5 rooms, located rue du Chapeau-Rouge, created May 5, 1937, closed permanently on June 14, 2011.

Every year since 1992, in October or November, is held the International Adventure Film Festival of Dijon, organized by the "Screens of Adventure" which presents a wide selection of films of explorations and adventures.

Since 1995 is also held the International Short Film Festival of Dijon, more generally called "festival window on shorts", devoted to short film and organized by the association "Plan9".

Public Library

The Municipal Library of Dijon is a network of eight main Libraries but also a mobile library that moves every day of the week in the city. The Champollion media library, located in the rehabilitated neighborhood of Les Grésilles is the most recent and the most modern. The Saint-Étienne church is a former place of worship which is currently home to a municipal library since the move of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Dijon in the business city Clemenceau in 2007. The library and heritage study the richest set of written heritage in the region.

 

Old language and Burgundian accent

The city of Dijon was part of the area of ​​Romance Gallo-Romance. However, the French has completely replaced the local declination which was nevertheless maintained until the nineteenth century in the suburbs and especially in rural areas through a patois recognizing its two specificities. On the one hand, this Lyonnais speech retains a characteristic vocabulary still used in Côte-d'Or and linked to the wine culture as "bareuzai" designating the winemaker. The accent is also recognizable, in older people, by the rolling of "r" and the lengthening of certain phonemes such as "eu" and "a". The ellipse of some syllables is also very used as in "the kennels", pronounced "the chnil". We can also note the specific pronunciation of the "x" (s) preserved in place names like Auxerre, Auxois or Auxonne. This accent is no longer used by Dijonnais but persists sometimes in the region.

Gastronomy

In popular culture, Dijon is known for: mustard, blackcurrant with which is made the crème de cassis which enters the recipe of kir, famous aperitif of the city. Many gastronomic specialties are also attached to Dijon, such as: snails of Burgundy, ham parsley, truffle of Burgundy, beef bourguignon, gougères, eggs en meurettes or chicken Gaston Gérard, the gingerbread and the nonnettes. Contrary to popular belief, the Burgundy fondue is of Swiss origin. This name refers to the cheese fondue and on the other hand to the origin of Charolais meat, Burgundy.

Dijon is the capital of gastronomy of national and international reputation thanks to its starred restaurants and gastronomic or with its international fair and gastronomic (6th of France) which brings together several hundreds of thousands of people each autumn at the exhibition grounds. Initiated by the mayor Gaston Gérard in 1921 and locally nicknamed the "Fair", this event puts a different country every year in the spotlight, and is intended to promote Burgundy culture and savoir-vivre around the world. Dijon also hosts all odd years the International Biennial of Culinary Arts: BIAC.

Through its high schools, an agricultural training establishment with its technological hall, the university institute of vine and wine Jules-Guyot, its Grandes Ecoles such as AgroSup and Burgundy School of Business (with the School of Wine & Spirits) , Dijon can be considered as a city of training in food trades. Moreover, the city of Burgundy saw the School Ferrandi implanted in 2018. At the same time, it is the star chef Thierry Marx who announced in March 2017 the opening of his cooking school in the heart of the Dijon metropolis.

Dijon also tends to be recognized as a city of agricultural research with the University of Burgundy which holds the only UNESCO Chair in the world specializing in the study of culture and traditions of wine or with INRA, the Center des taste and food sciences, within the Vitagora competitiveness cluster and soon on the Bretenière agropole where more than 400 researchers are working on the taste, health, nutrition, agriculture and food of tomorrow.

Finally, in late 2018, Dijon is equipped with one of the four City of Gastronomy and will be the reference center for the cultivation of vines and wine.

 

Military life

The air base 102 Dijon-Longvic

Dijon Métropole welcomes in southern perimetry of Dijon air base 102 in the town of Longvic. This one was for a long time that of the storks hunting squadron popularized by The Adventures of Tanguy and Laverdure, whose several adventures have frame Dijon and its region. The stork hunting squadron has now left for Luxeuil Air Base 116. The main units on the base are the Air Force Command Staff, the 2/2 Côte d'Or Squadron flying on Alpha Jet and the Commando CPA 20, the French Army's pole of excellence for MASA missions (active measures of aviation security) which consists of placing snipers in helicopters with the objective of intercepting a possible low-speed aircraft (aeroclub, ULM, helicopters, etc.) and possibly the destroy by order of the Prime Minister. The CPA 20 is one of the pillars of the security of major events: summits of heads of state, world cup, Olympics, parades Parisian July 14, etc.

 

Barracks and other military buildings

In the aftermath of the defeat of 1870-1871, the city of Dijon was chosen to constitute a military second line in the defensive system "Séré de Rivières", between those of Langres and Lyon, behind that of Besançon. A set of six strong belt so the Dijon agglomeration between 1875 and 1883, to which are added some redoubts and batteries but also, even within the communal limits, an arsenal and powder magazines. Never really expanded, this position has not been used in the last two world conflicts. The military hold is therefore important in the town of Dijon. During the last two centuries, Dijon has housed several barracks, called "quarters" or "barracks" according to military occupying units. Often set up originally in old monasteries of old Dijon, then, in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, in places specifically built, including Avenue du Drapeau, the Dijon garrison was affected by the reorganization contemporary armies. At the end of the 20th century, most buildings were reassigned to another use. Only the Vaillant barracks retains a significant activity. The staff has long been housed in a former mansion in the city center: Esterno Hotel, rue Monge. The arsenal, the stores (Handling) and magazines included in the defensive system of the city extended the military influence south of the town. The gendarmerie, once housed in the center, now occupies the Joffre district northeast of the town. Finally, Dijon owned a military hospital, named Hyacinthe-Vincent, whose activity stopped in 1998.

 

Units having taken garrison in Dijon

• Staff of the 8th Military Region since 1939
• Staff of the 15th Motorized Infantry Division, 1939
• General Staff of the 32nd Counter Aircraft Brigade, 1939
• 27th Infantry Regiment, 1906, 1939
• 26th Dragon Regiment, 1906
• 1st Artillery Regiment, 1906
• 108th Heavy Towed Artillery Regiment, 1939
• 602nd Road Traffic Regiment, 1977 - 1993

People related to Dijon

In the Middle Ages was born in Dijon Hugues Aubriot (1320-1382), Minister of Finance King Charles V, provost of Paris, builder of the Bastille. Capital of the duchy of Burgundy which reaches its apogee, Dijon is the birthplace of John the Fearless (1371-1419), Philip the Good (1393-1467) and Charles the Bold (1433-1477).

 

From the Renaissance time, many prominent representatives of arts and letters were born in Dijon, like the writers Étienne Tabourot (1547-1590) and Bossuet (1627-1704), Jacques Cazotte (1719-1792), Virginie Ancelot (1792- 1875), Saint Jeanne de Chantal (1572-1641), the composers Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) and Claude Balbastre (1724-1799), the philologist Charles de Brosses (1709-1777), the poet Alexis Piron, the sculptors Thibaud Maistrier (1629-1678), François Rude (1784-1855), François Jouffroy (1806-1882), Mathurin Moreau (1822-1912), the sculptor Auguste Moreau (1834-1917), the prefect of Paris Nicolas Frochot ( 1761-1828), the engineer Charles Joseph Minard (1781-1870) inventor of computer graphics, the utopian socialist Étienne Cabet (1788-1856), a time member of the Côte-d'Or and author of Voyage en Icarie, the inventor of the Blue Guides Adolphe Joanne (1813-1881), the philosophers Maurice Blondel (1861-1949) and André Lalande (1867-1963), author of the Vocabulary of philosophy, scientists: hydraulic engineer Henry Darcy, engineer Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), Hippolyte Fontaine, developer of the dynamo, Jacques Théodore Saconney, general of division and scientist (aerial photography and meteorology).

For the contemporary period: the canon Kir (1876-1968), mayor of Dijon, the actress Claude Jade (1948-2006), François Rebsamen (born in 1951) mayor of Dijon and former Minister of Labor, Anne Lauvergeon (born in 1959 ), former president of Areva.

And more recently, the sports journalist and television host Denis Brogniart (born in 1967), the actor Alban Lenoir (born in 1980) and the electronic music artist Vitalic (born in 1976).

 

Heraldry

The coat of arms of Dijon have evolved over time. Until 1391, they were "First Gules". On this date, the Duke of Burgundy Philip II the Hardi added the leader to the colors of the Duke of Burgundy. The coat of arms was abolished under the Revolution. Under the First Empire is attributed to Dijon a new coat of arms: "left, on the 1st azure, the vine of gold vine, the bordure compony Argent and Gules; 2nd, banded Or and Azure, with the border Gules, the chief Gules charged with three bees of gold which is good cities of the Empire. Under the Restoration, the city took over its coat of arms from before 1789. When Dijon receives the Legion of Honor on May 21, 1899, from the hands of the President of the Republic Émile Loubet, the cross, without ribbon, is added in the field gules. Since 1962, the decoration is placed under the coat of arms, reinstating again the coat of arms of the time of Philippe le Hardi.

 

 

 

Source: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dijon