Dijon

Dijon, city in east central France, capital of Côte-d'Or Department, a port at the confluence of the Ouche and Suzon rivers and on the Burgundy Canal. It is a shipping center for Burgundy wine and a commercial and manufacturing center; products include machinery, electronic equipment, processed food (notably mustard and gingerbread), brandy, and fabricated metal. Among the numerous points of interest in Dijon are the city hall (12th century, rebuilt 17th-18th century; formerly the ducal palace), housing a museum with fine statues by the medieval Dutch sculptor Claus Sluter; the Cathedral of Saint Bénigne (chiefly 14th century) and the Church of Notre Dame (13th century), both mainly in the Burgundian Gothic style; the Renaissance Church of Saint Michel (15th century); and the Palace of Justice (15th-16th century), once the seat of the parliament of Burgundy. The University of Dijon (1722) is here.

Long a transportation and commercial center, the city was known as Castrum Divionense in the 9th century. It became the capital of the duchy of Burgundy in the early 11th century and flourished as an artistic center under the Valois ducal dynasty (1364-1477). Dijon continued to prosper after passing to the French crown in 1477, and in the 18th century it was a noted intellectual center; in 1749 the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau contributed a famous essay “Discours sur les sciences et les arts” (Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts, 1750), to a contest sponsored by the Academy of Dijon. The city's modern industrial growth dates from the mid-19th century. Population (2005 estimate) 150,800.