Saint-Bénigne Cathedral, Dijon (Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne de Dijon)

What you will see

The nave is tall and sober, a clear example of Burgundian Gothic. Of its old furnishings, only the 18th-century organ survived the Revolution. The highlight is below ground. In the rotunda crypt, a ring of heavy columns, some with carved Romanesque capitals, surrounds the martyrium of Saint Benignus and its paving of coloured marble. Soft, low lighting adds to the feeling of great age.

History

The church honours Saint Benignus, a Christian martyr venerated in Dijon, and stands over his supposed sarcophagus. Soon after the year 1000, Abbot William of Volpiano built a vast three-storey rotunda at the east end of the abbey church, about 17 metres across. It was dedicated in the 1010s. Only its lowest storey survives, excavated in the 19th century and reworked as a crypt.

The Romanesque church was rebuilt in Gothic style from the 1280s, after part of the older building collapsed. The abbey church became the cathedral of the diocese of Dijon in 1792, replacing Saint-Étienne, which later became a grain market. Stripped during the Revolution, it kept only its 18th-century organ. The architect Charles Suisse restored the building from 1884 and added the present spire in 1896.