Kir Lake, Artificial lake in Dijon, France
Kir Lake is an artificial body of water southwest of Dijon covering roughly 37 hectares, with the Ouche River flowing through it. The water sits at about 245 meters elevation, and its shoreline features a supervised swimming area, boat rental facilities, children's play equipment, picnic grounds, and a waterside restaurant.
Félix Kir, mayor of Dijon from 1945 to 1968, proposed an artificial lake on the Ouche to regulate the river's habitual floods and create a water sports area. The city began buying land in 1952, and work started in April 1963 after a visit by construction minister Pierre Sudreau on 23 August 1960 tied the lake to a housing scheme. Some 1.2 million tonnes of earth were removed; Kir inaugurated the lake by boat on 20 June 1964, and it was named after him in 1965.
The lake is named after Canon Félix Kir, Dijon's mayor from 1945 to 1968, who had the lake built and inaugurated it on 20 June 1964 from a boat. In 1965 the municipal council named it after him. A monument to Kir was erected on the right bank and inaugurated on 24 January 1976 by mayor Robert Poujade.
The lake lies at the western entrance to Dijon, immediately south of Talant, with Plombières-lès-Dijon under two kilometres west. The Ouche feeds it and is its only outlet. Swimming is allowed on 3,000 m² of beaches and supervised during Dijon Plage; the right bank holds the municipal water-sports base, the left bank a minigolf course and volleyball courts.
The lake's shallow average depth of 3.5 metres lets maintenance crews constantly battle aquatic plants; in 2016, algae and filamentous green weeds covered up to 75% of the surface despite two cutting operations that year. Daily municipal analyses then found no microbial risk to swimming.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,524 contributors worldwide.
