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Origin and history

The Hotel de Vogüé, located 8 rue de la Chouette in Dijon near the church of Notre Dame, is a private hotel built between the end of the 16th century and the first half of the 17th century. It was built on three houses gradually acquired from 1589 by Jean Bouhier, adviser to the parliament of Burgundy, and then by his son Étienne Bouhier de Chevigny, magistrate and amateur of art. The front right wing, dated 1614 with an inscription on the chimney of the guard room, marks the initial nucleus of the whole, although the hotel was only completed later. Its architecture, inspired by Italian models, makes it the prototype of the Dijon parliamentary hotels, with a plan between courtyard and garden, facades adorned with frontons, mascarons and Burgundy varnished tiles.

According to family tradition, Étienne Bouhier himself designed the hotel's plans, a hypothesis supported by his documented interest in architecture, fed during a possible stay in Italy after his law studies in Padua. Although this trip is not proven, its library included architectural works in Italian, and its involvement in other local construction sites (General Hospital, Ursulines convents and Visitandines between 1629 and 1635) suggests certain expertise. There is, however, evidence that he would have received technical assistance to finalize the plans. The hotel, richly decorated, mixes Renaissance elements (cariates, ivy leaves evoking Hugues Sambin) with innovations such as the Renommes sculpted in the scabs of the portico d ́entrée, where also appears his monogram E.B.M.G. celebrating his marriage with Madeleine Giroud in 1615.

In 1717, a portal was pierced to facilitate the access of the carriages to the stables of the garden, while in 1766 the hotel entered the family of Vogüé by the marriage of Catherine Bouhier de Versalieu with Count Cerice-François Melchior de Vogüé. Now owned by the City of Dijon, it now houses its municipal services. Ranked a historic monument since 1911, it is distinguished by its courtyard framed with pavilions, its guard room adorned with a painted fireplace depicting Hero and Léandre, and a sober garden facade animated by two square turrets. Its style, influenced by the treaties of the Italian Renaissance and the Toulouse or Montpellieran achievements, bears witness to Burgundian aristocratic ambition in the 17th century.

The posterity of the Hotel de Vogüé is based on its role as a model for Dijon's parliamentary aristocracy, as well as on the persistence of its original decoration, despite subsequent developments such as the 1717 gate. The archives also highlight the importance of its library, reflecting the intellectual networks of its sponsor, between law, art and architecture. Today, its roof in varnished tiles, characteristic of Burgundy, and its decorations combining classical rigor and fashionist fantasy make it a major testimony of the French civil heritage of the first modernity.

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