5 Best Sights in Burgundy, France

Housed in the 16th- to 17th-century bishop's palace, this museum's magnificent interior features a wreath-and-cornucopia carved oak fireplace, ceilings with carved wood beams, and a Renaissance staircase. The jewel of the museum is the Lévy Collection (one of the finest provincial collections in France), which includes Art Deco glassware, tribal art, and an important group of Fauve paintings by André Derain and others. Part of the museum is still undergoing restoration and some of the exhibition rooms are currently closed to the public.

Beside the basilica, Musée François-Pompon is partly devoted to the work of animal-bronze sculptor Pompon (1855–1933), whose smooth, stylized creations seem contemporary but predate World War II. The museum also contains Gallo-Roman funeral stones, sacred art, and a room highlighting local gastronomic lore.

In a 17th-century mansion, this museum showcases a private collection of original furnishings and paintings from the 16th to the 19th century.

Built by Chancellor Nicolas Rolin, an important Burgundian administrator and famous art patron (he's immortalized in one of the Louvre's greatest paintings, Jan van Eyck's Madonna and the Chancellor Rolin), this museum across from the cathedral is noteworthy for its early Flemish paintings and sculpture. Among them is the magisterial Nativity painted by the Maître de Moulins in the 15th century, but the collection's star is a Gislebertus masterpiece, the Temptation of Eve, which originally topped one of the side doors of the cathedral. Try to imagine the missing elements of the scene: Adam on the left and the devil on the right. It is worth watching the 12-minute film describing the cathedral's tympanum sculptures before visiting the cathedral. The museum is currently closed for renovations until 2025.

The former 18th-century abbey of St-Loup, to the side of the cathedral, now houses a superlative collection of paintings from the 15th to the 19th century—including works by Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony Van Dyck, Antoine Watteau, François Boucher, and Jacques-Louis David. Other highlights include an impressive assortment of birds and meteorites; medieval statuary; and local archaeological finds, most notably gold-mounted 5th-century jewelry and a bronze Gallo-Roman statue of Apollo.