Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy
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Transcript
The palace complex was expanded by the Valois dukes in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and later transformed by the Estates of Burgundy and royal authorities.
Philip the Bold received the Duchy of Burgundy from his father, King John II of France, in 1363. Through marriages and inheritance, his successors accumulated territories including Flanders, Brabant and Holland.
That made the dukes technically vassals in some lands and sovereign-like princes in others. Medieval constitutional maps are less maps than legal puzzles with rivers.
Dijon served as a dynastic and administrative centre, though the northern cities generated enormous wealth.
The palace today houses the Musée des Beaux-Arts and municipal institutions — another example of a state building changing employer without changing address.