Hospices de Beaune

Hospices de Beaune Review

The star attraction of Beaune is its famed Hospices de Beaune (better known to some as the Hôtel-Dieu). Set across from the tourist office, this building has become one of the icons of Burgundy thanks to its spectacular tile roof and Flemish architecture—the same glowing colors and intricate patterns are seen throughout the region. It was founded in 1443 as a hospital to provide free care for men who had fought in the Hundred Years' War. The interior looks medieval but was repainted by 19th-century Gothic restorer Viollet-le-Duc. Of special note are the grand salle, more than 160 feet long, with the original furniture, a great wooden roof, and the super-picturesque cour d'honneur. The Hospices carried on its medical activities until 1971—its nurses still wearing their habit-like uniforms—and the hospital's history is retraced in the museum, whose wide-ranging collections contain some weird medical instruments from the 15th century. You can also see a collection of tapestries that belonged to the repentant founder of the Hospices, ducal chancellor Nicolas Rolin, who hoped charity would relieve him of his sins—one of which was collecting wives. Outstanding are both the tapestry he had made for Madame Rolin III, with its repeated motif of "my only star," and one relating the legend of St. Eloi and his miraculous restoration of a horse's leg.

But the showstopper at the Hôtel-Dieu is Rogier Van der Weyden's stirring, gigantic 15th-century masterpiece The Last Judgment, commissioned for the hospital by Rolin. The intense colors and mind-tripping imagery were meant to scare the illiterate patients into religious submission. Notice the touch of misogyny; more women are going to hell than to heaven, while Christ, the judge, remains completely unmoved. A sound and light show is presented every evening April through October. Note that some of the region's finest vineyards are owned by the Hospices.