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Origin and history

The church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste de Saint-Jean-de-Losne, located in Côte-d-Or, replaces a medieval church partially destroyed by a fire in 1362. It was built in the early 16th century (Gothic church flamboyant around 1509-1534) at the Renaissance (nave and gate, 1534-1554), mixing limestone and brick. Recent studies attribute the ensemble to a series of close construction sites, explaining the stylistic contrasts between the west-facing choir and the nave inspired by Italy. The vaults, completed in 1554, unify the building under Gothic veins and Renaissance columns.

The furniture reflects this temporal duality: the red stone chair of Sampans (1604), the organ of Bénigne Boillot (1768), and an ex-voto boat (1826) recall the river past of the city, historical crossroads between Saône, Burgundy Canal and Rhône-Rhin. Ranked a Historic Monument in 1921, the church also retains additions from the 18th to 19th centuries, such as the Baldaquin Louis XVI d'Antoine Marquetty or repairs to the foothills. Its roof in painted polychrome tiles, typical of Burgundy, crowns a building marked by topographical constraints (cruises of the Saône) and artistic developments.

The sources stress the importance of Abbé Saint-Bénigne de Dijon, patron saint of the early church (mentioned in 1095), and local artisans such as the mason Jehan Beringuet (contract of 1534) or the organ factor Boillot. Architectural clumps, visible in the junctions between parts, testify to successive repetitions. Today open to the public, the church illustrates the passage from the flamboyant Gothic to the Renaissance in Burgundy, while preserving traces of the river and religious life of Saint-Jean-de-Losne.

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