Visitor Information

Accommodation
The Forfait Découverte - Take advantage of the Two Night Discovery Package from 118 - 204 Euros per person, based on two people sharing. Choose your hotel (2, 3 and 4-star options) and your stay will include two nights' bed and breakfast, two town tours, a pass providing entry to four museums, a gastronomic dinner (excludes drinks), plus a free gift from the region.
www.ville-perigueux.fr

Places to see
Périgueux is a surprising city with more than 2000 years of history. It is worth taking one or more of the guided visits offered by the Office de Tourisme.
Visit to Gallo Roman Périgueux daily mid-June until mid-September except Sunday, three times a week the rest of the year.
Medieval and Renaissance Périgueux, daily mid-June to Mid-September, three times a week the rest of the year - includes privileged access to sites (e.g. the éscalier of the Hôtel de Lestrade) closed to the general public.
Tours are conducted in French and English and depart from the Office de Tourisme, where you can get further details and reserve your place. Adults 5 Euros, children under 13 free.

Vesunna Musée Gallo-Romain, Parc de Vésone. Named after the former Roman city, Vesunna is described as an archaeological and architectural event. Designed by internationally acclaimed architect Jean Nouvel, the transparent walls allow the remains of a Roman villa to be viewed in their original setting, with the Tour de Vésone and the city ramparts visible from the museum interior. Meticulous presentation and outstanding sculpture collections complete a unique experience. Entry per adult 5,50 Euros, children 3,50 Euros. Vesunna is open every day all day throughout July and August, every day except Monday in September - June, and closes lunchtimes October - April. Closed January and Bank Holidays.

Rue Limogeanne In the heart of the Medieval Renaissance part of the city, this street contains buildings of historical interest (marked by informative panels) including the Maison Estignard with wonderfully decorated doorway and elegant spiral staircase inside. Shops to look out for include the Coutellerie Favié with its sign of the scissors hanging over the entrance and La Ferme Perigourdine, which stocks a huge range of cheeses. And don't miss the boulangerie Truchassout or the Galerie Medicis.

Just one street away, look out for the Galerie de la Sagesse. Enter through an ancient stone corridor into an Aladdin's cave of antiques and exotic items from all over the world. Definitely worth a look (and the owner speaks haltingly good English).

Périgueux, The Ancient Heart of Périgord

We set out to discover just what makes Périgueux, capital of Dordogne, so special, and are surprised to discover not one city but two.
According to French custom, we should, of course, be referring not to the Dordogne, but to le Périgord, at whose own heart lies the unnervingly similar-sounding Périgueux. Despite this auditory trip-wire, the departmental capital turns out to be just as beguiling as the countryside by which it is surrounded. Originally settled around 16BC by the Gallic Petrocorii (meaning 'four tribes') people on a low hill beside the river Isle, the strategic value of the site's location between the Boissière and Ecorneboeuf hills would have been obvious. The Romans agreed, and lost no time developing the walled town of Vesunna (named after the Vésone spring) to the west of the original site. Not surprisingly, the creation of baths meant that demands for fresh water soon outgrew this modest supply, prompting the construction of an aqueduct 7km in length and spanning the river. Little now remains, but evidence of other grand projects is clear enough, including the fortress-like stone and brick Tour de Vésone, once the central tower of a much larger sacred temple. Just beyond its vast shadow lay a villa known as the domus de Vésone, whose extensive and well-preserved remains were unearthed back in 1959. So important did the discovery turn out to be that it now forms the centrepiece of the daring new Musée Gallo-Romain de Périgueux designed by Jean Nouvel. Never one to hold back, the internationally acclaimed architect came up with a characteristically daring creation whose roof appears to float unsupported above towering walls of glass, overhanging them by some 10m. Equally miraculously, the building avoids upstaging the delicate survivor from classical antiquity preserved within. Also displayed is the great wealth of artefacts which have come to life during local excavations, enabling the museum to present a remarkable and wide-ranging insight into daily life during the 1st-3rd Centuries AD.

Outside the reflections in its huge plate glass panels enable the contemporary structure to merge unobtrusively into the surrounding landscaped gardens. Nearby, beyond a deep railway cutting spanned by an old bridge, lie the extensive remains of the massive walls intended to protect the settlement (unsuccessfully) from Barbarian and Viking invasions. Towering over the rugged remains is the mournful shell of the 12th Century Château Barrière, sole survivor of a series of fortified seats of the Périgordine aristocracy, who held the site from the 5th Century onwards. Rather less well-preserved are les Arènes; the 20,000-seat Roman amphitheatre was once comparable to that of Arles, but after having been commandeered by the Comtes du Périgord during the 12th Century to serve as a fortress (le Château Rolphie) then pillaged during the Hundred Years' War, all that remain today are vast ruins slumbering romantically around the popular Jardin des Arènes.

After the prolonged period of turmoil which followed the collapse of Rome, the arrival of Christianity produced the new commune of Puy Saint-Front, which developed into a busy market town and an important centre of pilgrimage. So much so, in fact, that it eventually inspired one of the great early religious structures of Aquitaine, the Eglise St Etienne-de-la-Cité. Erected on a site formerly occupied by the Temple of Mars, the dazzling Romanesque showpiece symbolised the supremacy of the church, until the Huguenots seized the town in 1577 and demolished around half of the great building. Today the results of this cruel disfigurement are clear enough, particularly from outside, which provides few clues as to what awaits in the cavernous interior. Of the four original bays just two were spared, including a vast 11th Century dome some 15m in diameter (the largest ever built in Périgord) suspended high above twinned columns. Gazing up in awe, we can only wonder at the full effect of the original building, which until 1669 enjoyed the full status of cathedral, before that particular honour was passed to the Cathédrale Saint-Front .

If the Gallo-Roman town is easily overlooked, then the Medieval (or Renaissance) quarter is altogether harder to ignore, particularly on Saturday mornings, when the celebrated fruit and vegetable market is in full song beneath the brightly-coloured parasols assembled in the Place de la Clautre. The mood is infectious, for this is the real thing, a time-honoured tradition, aware of its obvious tourist value but ultimately focussed on more down-to-earth matters. Here, beside the cloisters of the Cathédrale Saint-Front, traders from outlying villages arrive early to pile their stalls with freshly-picked produce. Particularly prized are seasonal specialities like walnuts and chestnuts, both fresher and cheaper than those found in any supermarket. From now on a constant stream of shoppers arrives to circulate among the stalls, comparing prices and quality before joining the queues clustered around those stallholders who have the winning combination. The show is set to continue until midday, by which time the pickings often are very thin indeed, the traders nervously spacing out what little still remains unsold. This is one traditional market which is obviously very much alive and well.

It's a similar story over in the vieille ville, where shoppers circulate among the stalls filling the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville and Place du Coderc before peeling off to grab a table at one of the surrounding café and bar terraces. With all the hard-nosed bargaining completed for the weekend it's a good time to unwind and exchange news with friends over a cooling démi, or perhaps a pulse-quickening expresse, all the while observing less fortunate late-comers still locked in the thick of it. Street theatre doesn't come any better than this.

Even away from the market places the energy level can be no less intense. Rue Limogeanne, named after the old town gate to which it once led, is particularly popular, providing the classic sights sounds and smells of Périgord in a setting little changed for centuries. Even the setting is remarkable. Seek out number 12, for example, and you'll find the Hôtel Méredieu, a perfectly preserved 15th Century town house which became even more elegant during the 17th Century with the addition of a Renaissance portal. The title 'Hôtel' is generally applied to une Maison Particulière, meaning the private home of a wealthy merchant or similar public figure. Further down the street, at number 7, you'll spot the initials of Antoine Courtois, the 18th Century caterer whose renown spread even to the Court of Prussia. Rue Limogeanne really was one of the places to be, and still is; a couple of doors further along lies the famous Maison Estignard, featuring not only noble dormers and the mullions, carved heads of personalities and animals, but also the Royal salamander emblem of François I. Inside is a spiral staircase worthy of a château and executed in the pale local limestone which gave the area its name of le Périgord Blanc. There's another fine example at number 1 Rue de la Sagesse, plus a ceiling decorated with scenes from mythology.

So far we've merely scratched the surface of the many secrets which the ancient heart of Périgueux holds in store, and with so much to discover, walking in just about any direction will reward your curiosity. The town's most important feature, on the other hand, is impossible to miss. The Cathédrale Saint-Front was quite simply the biggest thing ever to happen around here, and despite the passage of almost 900 years remains a potent force on the local skyline. Unique in France, the curious Romanesque-meets-Byzantine building has the floor plan of a Greek cross. Its site is that of an Augustinian or Benedictine abbey which grew around the 6th Century Saint's tomb, an important halt on the old Roman road used by medieval travellers from Rodez to Cahors and Saintes. During the Wars of Religion the building was pillaged, the tomb destroyed, and the subsequent rebuilding proved hasty rather than sensitive. The final, more radical transformation occurred between 1852 and 1901, at the hands of architects Emile Boeswillwald and Paul Abadie. The latter was also responsible for creating the Sacre-Coeur basilica in Paris, and many of the same thought processes are already clearly visible in his work here.

Contemplating the results reflected in the broad waters of the river, though, it's hard to feel too aggrieved by the end result. Ahead lies one of the truly great views of France, which seems entirely appropriate for one of the most deservedly popular of all her cities.

© Words and pictures Roger Moss
The full version of this feature first appeared in everything France magazine Issue 35

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