Palace of the Dukes of Dijon:history, museum and Philippe le Bon tower

The Palais des ducs et des états de Bourgogne sits at the exact centre of Dijon, on place de la Libération, and on its own concentrates much of what you need to understand about the city before visiting it. The building has housed Dijon’s city hall (Hôtel de Ville) since 1831, along with the municipal archives, the tourist office and the Musée des Beaux-Arts: it’s one of the rare French ducal palaces still in active administrative use, not just a monument-museum frozen in time. Listed as a historic monument as early as 1862, with protection boundaries set out by decree on 22 May 1926, it blends two eras that look nothing alike - a medieval core from the 14th-15th centuries and a classical shell from the 17th-18th centuries.

One palace, two overlapping histories

The medieval ducal palace

Reconstruction of the palace began in 1365, driven by Philip the Bold, first duke of Burgundy of the Valois line and son of King John II. The tour de Bar, the oldest surviving part, was built between 1365 and 1370 as a three-storey residential tower; it served as a prison for King René of Anjou between 1432 and 1436, which gave it its current name. A century later, between 1450 and 1460, major ducal works added the main residence and the terrace tower, since renamed the Philip the Good tower. The guard room, completed in the same building campaign, measures 18 metres long by 9 wide and 9 high: this is where the great ceremonies of the ducal court were held. The kitchens, built between 1430 and 1435, form a square room 12 metres a side with double fireplaces, sized to feed a large court.

The classical rebuild by Mansart

At the turn of the 17th century, the medieval palace no longer suited the times: the dukes of Burgundy had disappeared since 1477, absorbed into the crown of France, and the building became the seat of the Estates of Burgundy, the provincial assembly. Between 1681 and 1786, based on an initial design by Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the whole complex was restructured in a classical style, facing the newly created arcaded place Royale, now place de la Libération. It’s this classical facade, not the medieval keep, that you see first. You have to pass under the archway and reach the main courtyard to find any trace of the ducal palace proper.

Cour de Bar and cour de Flore: two courtyards, two histories

The palace is organised around three courtyards, fanning out either side of the central main courtyard facing the square. On the right, the cour de Bar (1365-1370) is the oldest: it retains the tour de Bar and the ducal kitchens, the medieval core of the building. On the left, the cour de Flore (1773-1780) belongs to the classical extension commissioned by the Estates of Burgundy. Under its archway runs the Gabriel staircase, designed by Jacques Gabriel between 1731 and 1738, which leads to the Estates room and then the salle de Flore, formerly a banquet hall built in 1786 and now the city council chamber. For visitors: the cour de Bar can be viewed at any time, freely, while the cour de Flore and the rooms it serves only open for heritage days, concerts or themed guided tours.

The Burgundian court, a power that rivalled the King of France

Under the four great Valois dukes (Philip the Bold, John the Fearless, Philip the Good, Charles the Bold), the Burgundian court based in Dijon rivalled Paris for splendour, to the point that chroniclers of the time often described it as the most sumptuous in western Europe. The duchy controlled territory stretching as far as Flanders, and Dijon was its political capital, not a secondary residence. The Philip the Good tower stages that power: built between 1450 and 1460, at the very height of the duchy, it answers as much to a logic of display as of defence, and still dominates Dijon’s historic centre.

City hall and museum: a palace with two uses

The Palais des Ducs surprises first-time visitors: part of the building still hosts, day to day, the services of Dijon’s city hall. The city acquired a first portion of the palace in 1809, then the rest of the buildings in 1831, the year the Hôtel de Ville moved in for good (until then, the municipality had sat at the Hôtel Rolin, former residence of chancellor Nicolas Rolin, since 1500). The direct consequence for visitors: the administrative wings, the mayor’s offices and municipal services, are closed to the public outside official business. Only the heritage areas remain accessible, namely the Musée des Beaux-Arts, the guard room, the Bar and Flore courtyards outdoors, and the Philip the Good tower on a guided tour. The Estates room and the salle de Flore, where the city council sits, are only open for occasional events (heritage days in September, concerts, themed guided tours booked in advance). A visitor turning up on an ordinary day will therefore see neither - a common frustration best anticipated rather than discovered on site.

The Musée des Beaux-Arts, free in the ducal halls

The dukes’ tombs and the pleurants

The Musée des Beaux-Arts occupies the east wing of the palace, renovated between 2008 and 2012, and draws around 150,000 visitors a year. The centrepiece of the collection remains the tombs of Philip the Bold and John the Fearless, two late-medieval funerary monuments installed in the guard room in 1827 and surrounded by 82 alabaster figurines known as pleurants (mourners), renowned for their finesse and expressiveness. Together with the guard room that houses them, they’re the only parts of the palace you can visit freely, without booking or a guided tour.

Beyond the tombs: what else the museum holds

The ducal tombs don’t sum up the collection. The museum also holds the Crucifixion altarpiece, carved by Jacques de Baerze for the dukes of Burgundy, one of the major works of late Burgundian Gothic art, plus a set of Flemish and German primitives inherited from ducal patronage. Since its renovation was completed in 2019, the museum displays around 1,500 works across 50 rooms, spanning the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

Opening hours

The museum opens daily except Tuesdays, 9:30am to 6pm from 1 October to 31 May, and 10am to 6:30pm from 1 June to 30 September. It closes on 1 January, 1 and 8 May, 14 July, 1 and 11 November, and 25 December.

Prices, accessibility and visit length

The permanent collections have been free since 2004, a fairly rare policy for a museum of this scale, and reason enough on its own to justify a stop. Only temporary exhibitions are paid, €9 full price and €5 reduced. The museum is fully accessible to reduced-mobility visitors, unlike the tower. Allow one hour for a visit focused on the tombs, two hours for a broader look at the 50 rooms.

The Philip the Good tower: climbing to the top

Booking, prices, duration

Unlike the museum, the tower can’t be visited freely: access is by guided tour only, booking compulsory through the Dijon Métropole tourist office, 11 rue des Forges (08 92 70 05 58, or info@otdijon.com). The visit lasts 45 minutes. Prices and booking through the Dijon Métropole tourist office, on destinationdijon.com. From the top of the 46-metre tower, the view covers the historic centre and, on a clear day, the first slopes of the vineyard to the west.

Accessibility and precautions

The climb counts 316 steps, with no lift. The tourist office explicitly advises against the visit for pregnant women and people with mobility difficulties, a point worth checking before booking, especially with young children in tow: nothing is adapted to a slow pace, and there’s no way to turn back partway down without disrupting the group.

Where to eat on the spot or right next door

Place de la Libération, redesigned as a pedestrian esplanade with fountains facing the palace, brings together the best addresses for extending your visit without walking far. Le Pré aux Clercs, at 13 place de la Libération, faces the Palais des Ducs directly: traditional Burgundian cooking, homemade dishes, a terrace on the square. A few steps away, Café Gourmand occupies a covered terrace with a view of the classical facade and has held the Maître Restaurateur label since 2009. L’Hémicycle and Rich’ Bar round out the offering facing the fountains, one more casual, the other open seven days a week with a Burgundian menu and burgers. At number 15 on the same square, La Cave Vauban adds a wine bar for a shorter stop. None of these addresses sit inside the palace itself: the main courtyard and the Bar and Flore courtyards have neither café nor restaurant, only benches and the shade of the arcades.

Planning your visit to the palace

In practice, visiting the Palais des Ducs splits into two separate experiences that aren’t booked the same way. The Musée des Beaux-Arts and the guard room can be visited freely, with no set time slot, an easy stop to fit between two appointments or at the end of the morning. The Philip the Good tower, on the other hand, requires booking a time slot in advance, especially in high season, when groups capped at 18 people fill up fast. The most efficient approach: book the tower first, then fit the museum visit around the slot you’re given. Allow one hour for the museum alone, close to two hours for both, booking and waiting included, with a lunch break or a coffee on the square to bridge the two.