With little more than 20,000 inhabitants Beaune is just a small city. And yet it can boast of a truly spectacular monument from the Late Middle Ages, the Hospices de Beaune, also known as the Hôtel-Dieu. The Hospices are a hospital and alms-house, founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin (1376-1462),…
Second only to the Hospices de Beaune, the collegiate church of Notre-Dame de Beaune is the most beautiful monument that this charming Burgundian town has in store for visitors. There was probably already a church at this spot in the tenth century. The current church dates from the second half…
The proud cathedral of Autun is dedicated to Saint Lazarus. Upon hearing the name “Lazarus”, we are obviously inclined to think of the man who was resurrected by Jesus Christ. The cathedral of Saint-Lazare is indeed dedicated to this Lazarus, but this is in fact based on a misconception. For…
In a previous post I have discussed how Bibracte (Mont-Beuvray) was the most important fortified settlement (oppidum) of the Gallic tribe of the Aedui for about a century. Then, roughly between 20 BCE and 10 CE, Bibracte was abandoned. Its citizens left for a new city, founded by the Romans.…
Ancient Bibracte was an important fortified settlement (oppidum) of the Gallic tribe of the Aedui. According to the Roman general Gaius Julius Caesar it was their largest and most prosperous city.[1] This city was situated on a mountain called Mont-Beuvray, which reaches a height of over eight hundred metres. People…
We set out from our hotel on the Place du Président Wilson and entered the centre of charming Dijon. Our plan: a walk along the most interesting churches of the city. There happen to be quite a number of those, although some of these buildings are no longer in use…
The fine arts museum in Dijon is housed in the former palace of the Burgundian dukes. It opened to the public as early as 1787, even before the French revolution, which makes it one of the oldest museums of the country. A first surprise for me was that I found…
In the more distant past the monastery of Champmol was situated a bit outside Dijon, but nowadays the former monastic terrain is firmly within the city. Our trip to Champmol from the city centre proved to be anything but easy. On paper it looked so simple, but one way traffic,…
By far the most spectacular room in the Musée des Beaux Arts in Dijon is the Hall of the Guard (salle des Gardes). Here we find the funerary monuments of dukes Philip the Bold and John the Fearless, rulers of Burgundy and many other territories between 1363 and 1404, and…
As a child I was once handed a history book that had an image of the tomb of Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy. I still vividly remember how deeply impressed I was. Those colours! That realism! Was this really a work from the Middle Ages? My view on the…
Those who enter the village of Grand in the Vosges completely unprepared, will perhaps wonder how on earth it ever got its name. With a population of less than 400 souls, Grand is anything but grand. But the name Grand has nothing to do with the French adjective for ‘large’.…
In spite of its impressive name, Domrémy-la-Pucelle is just a tiny village. Nowadays it has less than a hundred inhabitants. Nevertheless, Domrémy is world-famous, as it is the birthplace of Joan of Arc (ca. 1412-1431), the “Maid of Orleans” who managed to raise French morale during the Hundred Years War…
Jonvelle in the Haute-Saône is a village with less than 125 inhabitants. Its main attraction is the Musée des Vestiges Gallo-Romain, which is dedicated to the remains of a villa from the Roman age. Nowadays we tend to think of a villa as a large house in the country, but…
On a plateau to the southeast of Rethymnon we find the Arkádi monastery, a complex that plays an important role in the history of Crete. According to tradition the monastery was founded in the fifth century by the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius (383-408). It was supposedly named after him, but…
We basically had two reasons to visit the charming little town of Agios Nikolaos in the eastern part of Crete. The first reason was the local archaeological museum, which was recommended in both of our travel guides. The second reason was the fact that one of our travel guides counted…
Andematunnum was one of the principal settlements (oppida) of the Gallic tribe of the Lingones. This tribe had sided with the Roman during Julius Caesar’s Gallic War (58-50 BCE). Their allegiance to Rome is proven by the fact that Caesar had his legions winter in their territories[1], and by their…
Ancient Vesontio was the principal town (oppidum) of the Gallic tribe of the Sequani. Their name refers to the Latin word for the Seine river (Sequana), but it seems rather unlikely that the tribesmen called themselves Sequani too. Modern Besançon is a nice city with a beautiful cathedral. In the…
During the long reign of Psamtik I (ca. 664-610 BCE) Egypt became an independent kingdom again. He defended this independence against both the former oppressors of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and the last pharaoh of the Nubian Twenty-Fifth Dynasty, Tantamani. The latter was forced on the defensive and finally brought to…
The Third Intermediate Period of Ancient Egypt started with the death of Ramesses XI in 1077 BCE and ended with the founding of the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty by Psamtik I in 664 BCE. It was a period of over 400 years during which Egypt was either divided or ruled by Libyan…
Pharaoh Ay must have been quite old when he ascended the throne in about 1323 BCE. After his death a certain Horemheb seized power. He was both a high-ranking general and a commoner, and it was his control of the army that made his coup possible. Horemheb was also the…