DIJON
owes its
origins
to its
strategic
position
in
Celtic
times on
the tin
merchants'
route
from
Britain
up the
Seine
and
across
the Alps
to the
Adriatic.
It
became
the
capital
of the
dukes of
Burgundy
in
around
1000 AD,
but its
golden
age
occurred
in the
fourteenth
and
fifteenth
centuries
under
the
auspices
of dukes
Philippe
le Hardi
(the
Bold),
who as a
boy had
fought
the
English
at
Poitiers
and been
taken
prisoner,
Jean
sans
Peur
(the
Fearless),
Philippe
le Bon
(the
Good),
who sold
Joan of
Arc to
the
English,
and
Charles
le
Téméraire
(the
Bold).
They
used
their
tremendous
wealth
and
power -
especially
their
control
of
Flanders,
the
dominant
manufacturing
region
of the
age - to
make
Dijon
one of
the
greatest
centres
of art,
learning
and
science
in
Europe.
It lost
its
capital
status
on
incorporation
into the
kingdom
of
France
in 1477,
but has
remained
one of
the
country's
pre-eminent
provincial
cities,
especially
since
the rail
and
industrial
booms of
the mid-nineteenth
century.
Today,
it is
smart,
modern
and
young,
especially
when the
students
are
around.
The
City
The
rue de
la
Liberté
forms
the
major
east-west
axis of
the town,
running
from the
wide,
attractive
place
Darcy
and the
eighteenth-century
triumphal
arch of
Porte
Guillaume
, once a
city
gate,
past the
palace
of the
dukes of
Burgundy
on the
semicircular
place
de la
Libération
, east
to the
church
of St
Michel
. The
street
is
pedestrianized
and
lined
with
smart
shops
and
elegant
old
houses,
and most
places
of
interest
are
within
fifteen
minutes'
walk to
the
north or
south of
it.
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