Nuits-Saint-Georges

Nuits-Saint-Georges is a commune in the arrondissement of Beaune of the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. It lies in the Burgundy region.

Wine
Nuits-Saint-Georges is the main town of the Côte de Nuits wine-producing area of Burgundy. Map of the vineyards and descriptions (Click on the map to enlarge it).

Nuits-Saint-Georges was the site of the traditional Burgundian festival, la Saint-Vincent-Tournante, in 2007. It is a festival that celebrates the wine of a different Burgundian village each year.

Stone
The local marble is a sedimentary rock, a limestone which is not susceptible to frost damage. It is fine-grained and capable of accepting a polish. There is a vein of this stone, called popularly, "the Comblanchien", extending from Nuits-Saint-Georges to Nevers, which has made the reputations of the quarries of the region. The stone, by the variety of its shades of colour, the pink of bindweed (Convolvulus) and beige and its grain will harmonize with any style.

History
The town owes much to the economic development arising from Cistercian enterprise.

Administration
The Town Council (Click on Equipe municipale).

Sites and monuments

 * A short distance to the east is the Citeaux Abbey, the mother house of the Cistercian order of monks. It was founded in 1098 and has, over the years much influenced Nuits-Saint-Georges.
 * They built the Château du Clos Vougeot and the nearby villages of Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux and Saint-Bernard.
 * Les Bolards is an archaeological site of a trading, crossroads town from the Gallo-Roman period.
 * The municipal belfry was built in 1610
 * The church of Saint Symphorien was built in the 13th century. It amalgamates the Romanesque with the Gothic and contains an early carillon. In 2005, it is closed for renovation. (Details of the saint appear here.)
 * In the Church of Saint Denis, there is a fine organ by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, a great organ builder of the 19th century who built those of Notre Dame in Paris.
 * The Hôpital Saint-Laurent dates in origin from 1634 but the buildings are late 17th century. It has retained its hospital vocation which it supports by the annual sale of the products of its vineyards.
 * The Château d'Entre-Deux-Monts is a private property but open each September for the journées du Patrimoine, heritage days.

Miscellaneous
Nuits-Saint-Georges is a twin town of Hitchin, Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom.

People connected with the commune

 * François Thurot (1727-1760), privateer.
 * Paul Cabet (1815-1876), sculptor.
 * Félix Tisserand (1845-1896), astronomer.
 * Maurice Boitel (1919), French painter.
 * Georges Faiveley and Camille Rodier, wine merchants, founders of the order of the knights of the Tastewine (Chevaliers du Tastevin)

Books to read
Both in French.
 * Nuits-Saint-Georges en Bourgogne, edited by the town of Nuits-Saint-Georges.
 * Lames de sang : La vie exemplaire de François Thurot, by Camille Bailly. (Blades of Blood : The exemplary life of François Thurot).