Théâtre de verdure
Built in the moat of the Rempart de la Comédie, it housed the public baths
Today it is used for open-air shows
At the same time as the construction of the Vauxhall, on the site of the former Bastion Saint-Nicolas, the city authorised the construction of bathing/showering facilities in the moat of the Rempart de la Comédie.
Built in 1813 to the plans of Alphonse Forest, this building had the appearance of a small theatre with an antique-style colonnade. It housed the public baths until the 1960s and then it was converted into an open-air venue, the "Théâtre de Verdure".
Here you could watch wrestling matches between the Ange Blanc and the Bourreau de Béthune (the White Angel and the Béthune Executioner!), or variety artists such as Claude François or Annie Cordy.
This is the only building dating from Napoleonic times in Beaune. As part of our guided tours, you can stroll about the Théâtre de Verdure, admire its gardens, its pool, the former public baths and the passage under the ramparts.
This links the Théâtre de Verdure to Place Morimont, the centre of executions in the Middle Ages.
Place Morimont:
On 24 June 1367, Philip the Bold confirmed all the justice rights granted to the town of Beaune since the charter of franchise in 1203. As a result, the municipality had an executioner and a place where capital sentences and ordeals ordered by the courts were carried out. More than 30 executions were carried out between the 16th and 18th centuries. At the end of the 18th century the executions were transferred to Dijon.
The Jacobin monastery, built at the time of the Hospices (1477): admire the roof of the chapel, with a nave resembling that of the Hall of the Poor in the Hôtel Dieu (vaulted roof shaped like an upturned boat hull).
