Visiting the Hospices de Beaune - the Site of the World's Most Famous Wine Auction with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
Laurent and I wanted to go to Beaune, but wanted to take country roads to get there instead of the highway, so we could see more of the scenery. We found ourselves following the Canal du Centre, which links the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Canal du Centre was opened in 1792.
Tranquil houses with cascading red geraniums lined our route along the Canal du Centre. Men were out fishing. A few canal trip boats were starting to wheel their way down the canal with tourists snapping photos. We wheeled our way into Beaune and parked outside the ramparts, so we could walk into town.
We entered the world famous Hôtel Dieu, or Hospices de Beaune, and admired the ceramic tile roof of knotted geometric designs just as it opened. We were able to visit the site with a map and audio, but the explanatory panels and labels inside were more than adequate for doing this I thought, but you had to be able to read French to understand them.
The Hospices de Beaune was founded in 1443 by Nicholas Rolin (1376 – 1462), Chancellor of Burgundy, and his wife Guigone de Salins (1403 – 1470), who held her own lands, property, and money. The building itself is a museum now. However, modern buildings and associated hospitals continue to provide medical services today.
Nicholas Rolin and Guigone de Salins chose to build a hospital to thank God for the bounty they had received on earth and to ask for their entry into heaven. The portraits of the two that the Flemish artist Rogier van der Weyden (1403 – 1470) painted of them on the reverse side of his Last Judgment Altarpiece (1443 – 1451) shows them to be wearing simple, dark clothing. Nicholas Rolin and Guigone de Salins appear to be consulting a Bible with fine drapes and furnishings to their backs.
After Nicholas Rolin’s death in 1462, Guigone de Salins managed the Hospices the Beaune. The floor tiles in the Salle des Pôvres or Room of the Poor Ones honor the life and work of Nicholas Rolin and his wife Guigone de Salins. Their heraldic shield of arms is a composite one. The three golden keys on the right against a black background represent the Rolin family while the white tower against the black background represents the Salins family.
Their Hospices de Beaune has grown over time as other hospitals became associated with the Hospices de Beaune. In November, the Hospices de Beaune holds a fundraising auction for the hospitals featuring wine from the region. The auction is one of three social events of the season known as the Les Trois Glorieuses.
The auction for the Hospices de Beaune is the second of the Trois Glorieuses. The other two events that make up the social season in Burgundy are the Paulée de Meursault and the banquet for the Confrérie des Chevaliers des Tastevin at Clos de Vougeot. Workers and vineyard owners alike attend an upscale dinner at the Paulée while kings, queens, and the wealthy of the world attend the Trois Glorieuses event at the Clos de Vougeot.
With a few hours left for tourism, we decided to visit Cluny Abbey, that was the largest structure in Christendom until Saint Peter’s was built in Rome.
By Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
 |
| Laurent Paget Photography |
 |
| Laurent Paget Photography |
 |
| Laurent Paget Photography |
 |
| Ruth Paget Selfie |
