Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon is one of the oldest museums in France, housed in the Palace of the Dukes and Estates of Burgundy on Place de la Libération in Dijon's pedestrian centre. Its permanent collections are free, and its centrepiece is the tombs of the Valois dukes of Burgundy. It suits anyone in Dijon, whether for two focused hours or a short stop between other sights.

The palace was the 15th-century seat of the Burgundian state and later a royal residence, remodelled to a scheme by Jules Hardouin-Mansart in the 17th century. The Estates of Burgundy ordered the museum's creation on 30 November 1787, building on an art school founded in 1767, and it opened in 1799. A full renovation began in 2006. The Middle Ages and Renaissance route opened on 7 September 2013, and the complete museum, with about 1,500 works in 50 rooms, opened on 17 May 2019.

The Salle des Gardes holds the tombs of Philip the Bold, John the Fearless and Margaret of Bavaria, brought from the Chartreuse de Champmol. The small carved mourners around their bases, hooded figures in procession, are among the most admired sculptures of the late Middle Ages. Gothic altarpieces surround them.

Beyond the tombs, the museum holds the most important group of German and Swiss primitive paintings in France, Egyptian antiquities including Fayum mummy portraits, and works by Titian, Veronese, Georges de La Tour, Rubens and Monet. Islamic glass, Chinese and Japanese porcelain and pre-Columbian ceramics widen the scope. Sculptures by François Pompon, the Burgundy-born animal sculptor, are also on display. The ducal kitchens and the palace courtyards form part of the building, and the Tour Philippe le Bon rises from the palace.