You will recognize the museum by its arched stone arcades forming a classic cloister courtyard, crowned by a steeply pitched tiled roof and a modest wooden clock tower. This tranquil building is the former monastery of the Bernardines, a strict order of Cistercian nuns, but today it houses the Museum of Burgundian Life Perrin de Puycousin.
The museum is named after Maurice Bonnefond Perrin de Puycousin, an avid collector who dedicated himself to preserving the everyday history of rural Burgundy. He opened his first museum in nineteen thirty-eight. But preserving history takes constant work. The collection eventually merged with the Museum of Fine Arts, then actually had to close its doors in nineteen seventy because the delicate items were deteriorating. Thankfully, local historians rescued the artifacts and moved them to this serene monastery in nineteen eighty-four. The city later associated it with the Museum of Sacred Art next door, making a lovely historical connection to the chapel you visited just a moment ago.
Inside, the museum functions as a massive time capsule of the late nineteenth century. Rather than just displaying objects in glass cases, the curators built eleven fully reconstructed historic Dijon storefronts. You can peer directly into an old-fashioned pharmacy, a barber shop, a hatmaker, and a butcher shop. It is a fantastic way to step directly into the daily lives of the people who built this region.
And because we are in Dijon, you will naturally find an entire section devoted to the heritage, origins, and manufacturing of mustard. Alongside the everyday artifacts, the collection holds thousands of historic photographs and quite a few impressive paintings, including Henri-Léopold Lévy's massive piece, The Glories of Burgundy.
If you want to step back in time, the museum is open every day except Tuesday, from nine thirty A-M to twelve thirty P-M, and again from one thirty to six P-M.
This peaceful courtyard is a wonderful place to simply pause and reflect on the generations that came before us. Take as much time as you like here, and whenever you are ready, we can head to the next stop.
