Périgueux: Roman and Medieval Heritage

Périgueux is the historic capital of Périgord, in Dordogne in north-eastern Aquitaine. Its centre brings together two long urban histories: the remains of the Gallo-Roman settlement and the medieval district associated with Puy-Saint-Front. Both are still visible in the city’s churches, ruined fortifications, museums and Renaissance streets.

Domes and sacred heritage

Saint-Front Cathedral is recognised by its five domes and Greek-cross plan. Built in the twelfth century, it was restored by Paul Abadie during the second half of the nineteenth. Its neo-Byzantine form recalls Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice, while stained glass depicts biblical subjects, including scenes associated with Saint Matthew. The cathedral takes its name from Front, regarded as the first bishop of Périgueux and linked with the origins of Puy-Saint-Front.

Saint-Étienne-de-la-Cité belongs to an earlier chapter of the city’s religious history. This Romanesque church was built in the eleventh century on the site of a former temple dedicated to Mars. It was Périgueux’s principal cathedral before the Wars of Religion, when a Huguenot fire caused severe damage and Saint-Front gradually took its place. Two of its original four domes remain. Inside are the twelfth-century tomb of Bishop Jean d’Asside and a seventeenth-century altarpiece made from oak and walnut.

The Gallo-Roman city

The Tour de Vésone is the surviving core of a Gallo-Roman temple, generally dated to the first or second century. It stands in the Jardin de Vésone, west of the museum. Its circular form and low gallery reflect Celtic influence, while the columned pronaos is Roman in form. Other remains around the tower were lost during construction of the Périgueux to Brive railway.

The Gallo-Roman museum was built directly over an archaeological site to a design by Jean Nouvel. Transparent walls leave the remains visible from outside. Within, objects from the territory of the Pétrocores are combined with models that explain the ancient urban setting and a reconstruction of a domestic interior. The nearby Jardin des Arènes occupies land that has successively held a Roman amphitheatre, a medieval fortress and a convent before becoming an eleven-hectare public garden in the nineteenth century.

Walls, towers and Renaissance streets

Tour Mataguerre dates from the thirteenth century and formed part of the fortifications of Puy-Saint-Front, one of the settlements from which Périgueux developed. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century it was used to store gunpowder. Its deteriorated roof was removed in the early nineteenth century, leaving the wall walk open above the town’s roofs.

Château Barrière, built in stages between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, survives as a ruin near the amphitheatre remains and Saint-Étienne. It formed part of the city’s defences and belonged to the Barrière family until it was ravaged during the Wars of Religion. Sections of the western enclosure were laid over an earlier Gallo-Roman wall. Windowed masonry, two towers and a flamboyantly decorated doorway remain visible.

Rue Limogeanne is the principal street of Périgueux’s protected historic quarter and contains several Renaissance buildings. Hôtel Fayard, also called Maison Estignard, is among them. At number 7, the initials “AC” refer to Antoine Courtois, a local merchant whose partridge pâtés were sent as far as the Austrian court.

Museums and the Isle

The Museum of Art and Archaeology of Périgord was founded in 1835. Its collection includes 4,500 objects related to archaeology and ethnography, alongside art from Périgord and works by other European artists chosen for related subjects or techniques. The Military Museum, created in 1911, approaches regional military history through more than 10,000 objects, including flags, prints, artillery and personal items associated with Bugeaud and Daumesnil.

The Isle also provides routes beyond the historic centre. A green route of about 15 kilometres is intended for walkers and cyclists, passing through both urban and rural stretches. The corresponding blue route for canoes runs from Trélissac to Marsac, with eleven passages and more than ten launch points described along its course.