One of the greatest of Dijon's artistic
monuments lies some 1.5km west of the
city centre along avenue Albert-1er,
beyond the
gare SNCF . It is the
Chartreuse de Champmol (daily
8am-6pm; free), founded by Duke Philippe
le Hardi in 1383 to be the burial place
of his dynasty - Dijon's equivalent of
the cathedral of St-Denis in Paris. To
adorn it, Philippe recruited a talented
team of artists, foremost among them the
Dutchman Claus Sluter, pioneer of
Realism in sculpture and founder of the
Burgundian school. Although it was
practically destroyed in the Revolution
and most of the surviving works of art
are in the city's museums, two of
Sluter's finest - the so-called
Well
of Moses , featuring six highly
realistic portrayals of Old Testament
prophets, and the portal of the chapel -
remain
in situ . The site is now
part of a psychiatric hospital, and you
enter at 1 bd Chanoine-Kir (bus #12 from
the station, direction "Fontaine d'Ouche"
to stop "Hôpital des Chartreux"). On the
way from the station to the Chartreuse
de Champmol, you pass Dijon's waxworks,
the
Musée Grevin at 13b av Albert-1er
(daily 9.30am-noon & 2-6pm; 30F/¬4.57),
a not wildly interesting experience,
consisting principally of scenes from
Burgundy's history. You're better off
strolling in the botanical garden, the
Jardin de l'Arquebuse (daily
7.30am-6/7pm), site of the
Natural
History Museum (Mon & Wed-Sat 9am-noon
& 2-6pm; 14F/¬2.13), with just about
every stuffed bird and mammal you can
think of, plus an exquisite collection
of butterflies.