Chalon-sur-Saône, a city of art and history, has an important historic quarter with old half-timbered houses, numerous alleys, towers, an old bishop’s palace, and Gallo-Roman and medieval remains. The Saint-Vincent cathedral, built between 1090 and 1520, has a neo-gothic facade.
Chalon-sur-Saône is first mentioned in the Gaul war of Julius Caesar (VII, 42 and 90) under the name Cavillonum. The Romans built warehouses and a strategic river port on the Saône in Cavillonum. Chalon was the capital of the kingdom during the independence of the Burgundian kingdom.
The city has three museums:
- Nicéphore-Niépce museum, (contemporary) photography;
- Vivant-Denon Museum: about a remarkable figure of art at the end of the Ancien Régime;
- Veterans Memorial Museum, dedicated to the war memory.
It was the establishment in 1839 of the shipyards “Le Petit Creusot” by the brothers Adolphe and Eugène Schneider that initiated the industrial development of the city.
The highlights of today’s Chalon-sur-Saône are:
- Nicéphore Cité: platform for image and sound sources.
- L’Abattoir: former regional slaughterhouse, developed into a cultural structure that guides and supports street artists.
- Conservatory for music, dance and theater.
- Lapéniche: modern music room, located on the domain of L’Abattoir.
- L’arrosoir: jazz club founded in 1971.
- Espace des Arts: theater, dance, music, visual arts …..
- Municipal theater: Italian theater (facade dating from 1783).
- “Grain de Sel” theater. Exhibition center and the Colosseum.
- Winery of the Côte Chalonnaise.
For more information, visit: www.achalon.com