The Church of Notre-Dame of Dijon is a Roman Catholic church in Dijon. It is a masterpiece of 13th-century Gothic architecture, situated at the heart
The Church of Notre-Dame of Dijon is a Roman Catholic church in Dijon. It is a masterpiece of 13th-century Gothic architecture, situated at the heart of the preserved old centre of the city. It is located in Place Notre-Dame, near the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy and opposite the rue Musette. Work on the church began around 1230. The church contains the statue of Notre-Dame de Bon-Espoir, formerly called the Black Madonna. The church's decorations also include two symbols of Dijon: the jacquemart (bell-striking automaton) and the owl. The church was classified as a Monument Historique in the List of historic monuments of 1840. The chapel of the Assumption, the sacristy, and the gallery that links them have been listed as Monuments Historiques since 5 July 2002. Several historians have noted the originality of the western façade, in that it is much more planar than usual in French Gothic architecture. The façade is framed by a pair of corner buttresses, each surmounted by a turret enclosing a spiral staircase and topped with a conical roof. Above the façade there was originally intended to be a pair of square towers, but only the foundations exist. The southern one serves as a support for the jacquemart. The clock with its jacquemart sits on a campanile rising from the base of the unbuilt south tower of the western façade. It has four metal automatons. Two of them, called Jacquemart and Jacqueline, sound the hours by striking a large bell with a hammer. The other two, their "children", Jacquelinet and Jacquelinette, strike the quarter hours, each on a small bell.
Size: 5304px × 3936px
Location: Dijon, France
Photo credit: © Philip Chapman / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: 13th-century, architecture, architecure, automaton, bell, campanile, centre, church, clock, dijon, facade, gothic, hammer, historique, jacqueline, jacquemart, masterpiece, monument, musette, notre-dame, owl, place, preserved, rue, sound, striking, symbols, western, •
