For many years one of the most magical places in this city, I returned regularly, often accompanied by visitors. Then it was closed for several years for renovation. Now it has reopened and turned from gloomy and mysterious to smooth and luminous. There is now natural light from above and spaces were recovered that were previously inaccessible.
I came during the week to have more space for taking photos and it turned out that I was the only visitor. My friendly and competent volunteer guide was unperturbed and patiently answered all my questions. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur! I thought I knew something but I learnt a lot more.
The history of this place is a convoluted mix of myth and fact and has been presented elsewhere, so I’ll just add some remarks here. Benignus was thought to be a missionary from Smyrna, Asia Minor, in the 2nd or 3rd century, who came to missionarize Burgundy and was killed under gruesome circumstances. For centuries, he seemed to be largely forgotten until the Bishop of Langres declared the remains of an unknown person venerated by the local people to be from this saint, purportedly after the “true” identity was revealed to him in a dream. Lore was added that the torturers of Benignus had buried him in a princely grave with the aim to hide his identity. Nice example of explaining away the obvious.
A small basilica was built in the 6th century to harbour the sarcophagus with the remains. This very simple building is now accessible. An abbey that bore his name was founded in 871.
Much later, in the 11th century, William of Volpiano had a basilica constructed around the tomb which had three levels. Saint Benignus became the patron saint of Dijon. After the basilica fell into disarray, it was flattened and only the bottom story was not completely destroyed but rather filled up. The early gothic cathedral St Benigne was constructed on the site, but not directly above the the basilica, so today’s rotunda it is not really a crypt.
The relics of Benignus are displayed above his empty sarcophagus. Note that there are other purported relics of Benignus elsewhere (Switzerland, Germany)
The most fascinating part have always been the column capitals with their archaic creatures, humanoid, animal or plant-like, a glimpse of very early christianized imagery. There are now several additional ones to be seen, some of them for some reason unfinished. Some of these archaic motifs resemble the famous “Green men“.
Remains of helical staircases were discovered and are now visible:
In the 19th century the octogon rotunda was excavated. In some places there are floor tiles from the 11th and the 19th century side by side, the later ones tastefully mimicking the style of the earlier ones:
A detailed description of the renovation can be found here (in French).