Beaune

Beaune, France

Beaune, town, Côte-d’Or département, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté région, east-central France, on the Bouzaise River, southwest of Dijon.

Settled since prehistoric times, it prospered under the Romans as a centre for cattle and viticulture and is still the wine capital of Burgundy. In the 3rd and 4th centuries it was fortified against Germanic invasions and was the seat of a count under Charlemagne. The first Burgundian Parliament (Jours Généraux) met at Beaune in 1227, and the dukes of Burgundy resided there. France took the town from the Burgundians in 1478. During the religious wars Beaune expelled the Catholic League’s partisans and welcomed Henry IV. The town’s prosperity declined with the flight of the Huguenot weavers and leather workers at the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, but its fortunes revived with the wine trade of the 18th century. Beaune has given its name to part of the celebrated wine country of Burgundy, the limestone hills (côtes) of the Côtes de Beaune.

The town, circular in shape, is still partly protected by walls that retain 13th- and 16th-century towers. In other parts, promenades have replaced the ramparts and separate town from suburb. Two towers of the dismantled château survive. The Hôtel-Dieu (1443), founded as a hospital for the poor, owns some of the finest vineyards and remains operational; one of its wards is a museum for Rogier van der Weyden’s great altarpiece, The Last Judgment, commissioned by the hospital’s builder, Nicolas Rolin, last chancellor of the Burgundian dukes. The Collégiale Notre-Dame (begun in the 12th century) has a beautiful series of 15th-century tapestries. The Musée du Vin de Bourgogne is a wine museum.

The regional wine sales (including Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, and Meursault) are in November. Much of the local economy is linked directly or indirectly to the wine trade. Other economic activities include printing and the manufacture of plastics, electronics, and medical equipment. Beaune is also an important tourist centre. Pop. (1999) 21,923; (2014 est.) 21,579.