Grand Théâtre de Dijon

What you will see

Stand in Place du Théâtre to take in the portico of eight Corinthian columns, crowned by an entablature and an attic. Its lines recall the Grand Théâtre of Bordeaux and the old Paris stock exchange. The square around it gathers several chapters of Dijon's history: the church of Saint-Michel with its Renaissance front, the former church of Saint-Étienne, now a library, and the back of the Palace of the Dukes.

History

The theatre stands on the site of the Sainte-Chapelle of the dukes of Burgundy, the seat of the Order of the Golden Fleece, which was pulled down from 1802. The first stone was laid on 2 December 1810 to plans by the Dijon architect Jacques Cellerier. Work stopped for years during the fall of the Empire, and the theatre was finally inaugurated on 4 November 1828. Its facades and roofs have been listed as historic monuments since 1975.

Inside is an Italian-style horseshoe auditorium with three balconies, decorated by Pierre-Luc-Charles Ciceri, the famous decorator of the Paris Opera. The ceiling, painted by Charles-Antoine Cambon in 1855 and 1856, creates the illusion of a garden ringed by a balustrade, with sphinxes and cherubs holding portraits of playwrights and composers. A renovation in 1969 and 1970 cut the seating from 1,000 to 692 places. The city began a new restoration in phases in 2021, and the theatre is due to reopen in 2028.