Museum of Burgundian Life (Musée de la Vie bourguignonne Perrin de Puycousin)
Everyday life in old Burgundy, with costumes and a street of Dijon shops, in a convent cloister.
- Museum
- 43 min from Beaune
- Allow 1 to 2 hours
- UNESCO World Heritage
€120one way from Beaune with a private driver
At a glance
- Where
- Dijon · Côte-d'Or
- Official website
- musees.dijon.fr
Getting there
Private driver from Beaune: 43 min by road (47 km), €120 one way for the whole car.
Or add it to our full-day wine tour, €560.
Coming by train or plane? Transfers from stations and airports →
About the place
This free museum tells the story of daily life in Burgundy and Dijon from the 18th to the 20th century. It occupies the cloister of a 17th-century convent of Cistercian nuns. Rural interiors, regional costumes and a street of reconstructed Dijon shops make the past easy to picture.
What you will see
On the ground floor, scenes recreate rural Burgundy in the 19th and early 20th centuries, with furniture, tools and costumes shown as they were used. Upstairs, a street of old Dijon shops has been rebuilt, including a pharmacy, a grocery and a butcher's. Other rooms cover local industries, among them mustard, and the crafts of stone, earth and wood, with portraits of Burgundy people by noted photographers.
History
The collections began with Maurice Perrin de Puycousin, born in Tournus in 1856. Inspired by Frédéric Mistral's museum in Arles, he collected furniture, costumes, headdresses and household objects between 1880 and 1920. He gave his collection to the city of Dijon in 1935, and a first museum opened on rue des Forges in 1938. Perrin de Puycousin died in 1949, and that museum closed in 1970.
Cistercian nuns from Tart settled in Dijon in the 1620s and built a monastery here. The cloister dates from 1679 to 1681 and the domed church of Sainte-Anne from 1699 to 1708. After the Revolution the buildings became an orphanage, then housed hospital services until 1983. In 1985 the cloister became the home of the Musée de la Vie bourguignonne.
Planning your visit
Tips for your visit
Entry is free. The museum is closed on Tuesdays and on some public holidays, and it has a lift. It shares its site with the Musée d'Art sacré, in the domed church next door, so you can easily see both. In a heatwave the museum may open for the morning only. Check the official website for opening times.
Around here
What to combine with Museum of Burgundian Life on the same day, nearest first.
Dijon
1 km awayMarsannay-la-Côte
6 km awayFixin
9 km away
- Christmas
Les Fééries de Noël de Dijon
Usually from the last Saturday of November to the first Sunday of JanuaryDijon - Tradition
Fête de la Pressée
Usually the third weekend of September, during the European Heritage DaysChenôve
Questions
Museum of Burgundian Life is about 43 min from Beaune by road (47 km). With a private driver, the trip from Beaune starts at €120 for the whole car, up to 4 guests.
Did you know? The nuns who built this convent came from Tart, in Burgundy, where the very first Cistercian abbey for women was founded in 1125.
Sources
Museum of Burgundian Life with a private driver
€120 one way from Beaune · up to 4 guests