The morning walking tour of Beaune. At first it was dry, but it started to rain a bit as we went around the town.

Beaune (French pronunciation: ​[bon]) is the wine capital of Burgundy in the Côte d'Or department in eastern France. It is located between Paris and Geneva.

Beaune is one of the key wine centres in France and the annual wine auction of the Hospices de Beaune is the primary wine auction in France. The town is surrounded by some of the world's most famous wine villages, while the facilities and cellars of many producers, large and small, are situated in Beaune itself. With a rich historical and architectural heritage, Beaune is considered the "Capital of Burgundy wines".

It is an ancient and historic town on a plain by the hills of the Côte d'Or, with features remaining from the pre-Roman and Roman eras, through the medieval and renaissance periods and up to recent history and modern times.

Beaune is a walled city, with about half of the battlements, ramparts, and the moat, having survived and in good condition, and the central "old town" is extensive. Historically Beaune is intimately connected with the Dukes of Burgundy.

Landmarks in Beaune include the old market (les Halles), the 15th-century Hospices, the Beffroi (clock tower), and the collegiate church of Notre Dame.

Place Monge

Tour de l'horloge de Beaune

Tower of the clock of Beaune

The belfry , known as the clock tower , of Beaune is a tower built in the 13th and 14th centuries, located rue Marey, Beaune , Côte-d'Or .

The clock tower of Beaune , which belongs to the city of Beaune, was classified historical monument by decree of the 27 August 1885.

In 1395 , following a dispute between the town of Beaune and the Abbey of Maizières , Duke Philip III the Bold ordered the monks to yield to the city, for 200 gold francs, a tower and house located in the rue du Coal market. In November, 1397 , the Duke granted a portion of the money raised on the salt for the establishment of a clock on the tower; The oldest bell is dated 1407 .

A deliberation of the 8 April 1575 Mentions a contract with Jehan de Curtil , a roofer in Beaune to cover the clock with lead tiles, slates and others.

In 1681 , a report of the visit described the building as a six-storey tower, the only one of which could be inhabited, the others having no floor (the weights of the clock then descended to the second floor). The tower, judged to be in poor condition, will have to be raised by 12 feet ( 3.90 m ) so that the clock can be heard throughout the city. At that date, the large dormer East contains a dial surmounted by a moon; At the end of the eighteenth century , Bredeault reported that a globe half black, half gilded, marked the phases of the moon; Two inscriptions on paper found in the globe in 1800 indicate that it was made in 1620 and redoured in 1780 .

A new clock was bought in Paris in 1860 and the dial replaced in 1880 . In the 17th century , the other skylight was adorned with a leaded Mercury.

The tower of the clock was repaired many times over the centuries; Following an estimate of the repairs made in June 1749 by the contractors Bellevault and Rouge, the municipality decided, 20 December 1750 , To make demolish the tower judged in too bad state. In the face of the general disapproval, the project of destruction was abandoned, and the building was consolidated by ties according to the estimate of 1749 . A memorial of reparation was established in 1785 by Pourcher.

The tower includes a vaulted cellar with well, a ground floor that housed a shop, and five floors covered with beamed floors. The cellar is reached by a stone staircase, the first floor by a staircase in stone screw and the others by straight staircases in wood.

The five floors are pierced on the street side with cushion windows, the sixth of a rectangular day on each side. On the second floor, a fireplace has retained a raven and ancient piers.

The tower is covered with a roof of slate in pavilion surmounted by a campanile openwork in framework covered with lead; Its gargoyle spire is adorned with a ducal crown in the upper third and a spike of ridge.

Since 2009, in the evening there is a video animation specially designed for the architecture of the building. It stages cogs and gears of the clocks, inside the building, and a cat playing with the lights that could come out of the windows. In 1893 the timber-frame, roof and plumbing of the campanile were restored, and the walled or partly destroyed bays restored according to the Selmersheim estimate.