Perigueux

Saint-Front cathedral is unlike most French cathedrals: a Greek cross plan under five domes, closer to Saint Mark's in Venice than to Gothic France, its Romanesque core heavily restored by Paul Abadie in the nineteenth century, who then used the experience on the Sacre-Coeur in Paris. Roman Vesunna lies on the other side of town, where the Tour de Vesone, a circular temple cella about twenty-four metres high with a great gap torn in it, still stands; beside it, Jean Nouvel built a glass and steel shelter in 2003 over the excavated foundations of a large Roman house, now the Vesunna museum. Perigueux is also a foie gras and truffle market town.

History

The name comes from the Petrocorii, "the four tribes", the Gallic people whose capital this was; they settled here around 200 BC with a camp at La Boissière, and after the Roman conquest moved down to the plain of the Isle, where the town of Vesunna grew with temples, baths, an amphitheatre and a forum. At the end of the third century AD it was enclosed by ramparts and took the name Civitas Petrocoriorum. In the 10th century a second town, Le Puy-Saint-Front, grew around an abbey beside the old Gallo-Roman city, and it was organised as a municipality around 1182 (Wikipedia, Périgueux).

What to look for

• Saint-Front cathedral - a five-domed church on a Greek cross plan.
• The Tour de Vesone - a Roman temple cella standing with a torn gap.
• Vesunna museum - a Nouvel glass shelter over an excavated Roman house.
• The medieval quarter - Renaissance houses around the cathedral.

When to go

April to October; the Wednesday and Saturday markets are good, with a truffle market in winter. The museum closes Mondays out of season.

Before you go

The cathedral's restoration was heavy-handed and little original Romanesque work is visible. The Roman sites are on the far side of the city from the cathedral. The centre is a working town.

Nearby

Brantome lies north; the Dordogne valley castles are south.

Key facts