Marguerite Sutter grew up in Grésilles, a working-class neighborhood northeast of Dijon. She saw the construction of the large bars in the 1950s, then their destruction in the 2000s. She saw the arrival of returnees from Algeria and then Spanish and Polish immigrants. She still remembers the sound of the bombs in 1944, “who fortunately spared the historic center”specifies the one who organizes visits to the Sainte-Bernadette church, a 20th century buildinge century designed by the architect Joseph Belmont and classified as a historic monument.
“I really like this church, whose construction I witnessed; I was here in 1964. It’s a very simple and inexpensive building, made of steel and concrete, with large bay windows and a glass walkway that goes around the enclosure”, she adds. Like this church, Marguerite Sutter loves what her city has become: “I knew Dijon gray and sad, it has become more beautiful over the last twenty years. »
Same story among the regulars of the bar Chez nous, right in the heart of Dijon, next to the market halls dating from 1875: the pedestrianization and beautification work of the historic center are unanimously agreed with the Museum of Fine Arts, when the International City of Gastronomy and Wine, inaugurated in 2022, must further gain notoriety. It’s in the tiny kitchen of this atypical place, where locals and tourists mix, Rachel Prost-Duprat concocts tasty and inexpensive dishes.
A few streets away, the Millière house, a beautiful 15th century buildinge century, has become a tea shop-room which notably offers the Dijon trilogy: mustard, blackcurrant and gingerbread. “ Rue de la Chouette, where we are located, was austere, says Jean-François Lieutet, the owner. We are lucky to live today in the midst of an exceptional and reinvented heritage, in a lively city on a human scale. »
It is pleasant to stroll through the center of Dijon, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the Burgundy Vineyard Climats. “We started by chasing away the car and chose to re-enhance the stone. It was a city without terraces, closed on itself. The twenty kilometers of tramway have also modified urban planning”summarizes the mayor, François Rebsamen.
This mineral town has the specificity of not being crossed by a river. Dijon is best understood at the top of the Philippe-le-Bon tower, in the palace of the Dukes and States of Burgundy. From the platform, we can see the numerous bell towers and emblematic monuments, such as Saint-Bénigne Cathedral, with its roof in red, blue and green Burgundy glazed tiles forming geometric patterns, and the lantern tower of Notre-Dame of Dijon, whose facade is decorated with chimeras.
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