François Rude Place, Dijon, Guia do visitante e o que fazer por perto

François Rude Place is a lively square in the old centre of Dijon, named after the Dijon-born sculptor François Rude. It is known locally as Place du Bareuzai, after the statue of a grape treader at its centre, and it is framed by medieval half-timbered houses and a late nineteenth-century department store building.

The story behind it

The square was laid out in 1904 and given the name of François Rude, the Dijon sculptor best remembered for the great relief on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, usually called La Marseillaise. It was a way for the city to honour one of its most famous artistic sons.

Locals prefer another name, Place du Bareuzai. The story goes that the name plays on the words for low rosé: the statue shows a grape picker who has trampled grapes for hours and comes away with pink-stained legs. It is a joke about Burgundy wine, told in the middle of a city that lives with vines all around it.

What to look for

• The statue of the grape treader at the centre of the square, and its pink-legged joke that gave the square its nickname.
• The half-timbered houses on the north side, whose timber frames and leaning upper floors date back to the Middle Ages.
• The former A la Ménagère department store building on the west side, dating from 1897, a reminder of how shopping looked in the late nineteenth century.
• The mix of eras around the square, where medieval houses and later commercial architecture stand a few steps apart.

Tips for your visit

• Plan on 15 to 20 minutes to look around properly, longer if you sit at a café terrace and watch the square.
• Morning and early evening are pleasant for photographs, when the timber facades catch the light and the square is less crowded.
• It is an open public square, so there is nothing to enter and no ticket needed.
• The square sits in the compact historic centre, so you can easily continue on foot to other streets and sights nearby.

See it on a quest

Historical Dijon: A Delivery Through Time brings you to François Rude Place on foot as one stop on a longer route through the historic centre. The app tells you about each place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle based on what is in front of you, which makes you look at the facades and details far more closely than a quick photo stop would. It is a paid quest, and one ticket covers the whole group.