Périgueux is a city and commune in the Dordogne department and
Aquitaine region of France.
Périgueux is the chief town (préfecture) of the department and the capital of the region.
It is also the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese.
read full wikipedia reference about Perigeaux, France
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Périgueux
PÉRIGUEUX , capital of the département
of the Dordogne and a central base for exploring the countryside
of Périgord Blanc, is a small, busy and not particularly
attractive market town for a province made rich by tourism and
specialized farming. Its name derives from the Petrocorii, the
local Gallic tribe, but it was the Romans who transformed it
into an important settlement. A few Roman remains, as well as
a medieval vieille ville , survive to this day.
The main hub of the city's
contemporary life is the tree-shaded boulevard Montaigne , which
marks the western edge of the vieille ville . At its southern
end, a short walk along rue Taillefer brings you to the domed
and coned Cathédrale St-Front (daily: July & Aug 8am-7.30pm;
rest of year 8am-12.30pm & 2.30-6.30pm), its square, pineapple-capped
belfry surging far above the roofs of the surrounding medieval
houses. Unfortunately, it's no beauty, having suffered from the
zealous attentions of the purist nineteenth-century restorer
Abadie, best known for the white elephant of the Sacré-Coeur
in Paris. The result is too white, too
new, too regular, and the roof is spiked all over with ill-proportioned
nipple-like projections serving no obvious purpose; "a supreme
example of how not to restore", Freda White tartly observed
in her classic travelogue, Three Rivers of France . It's a pity, for when it was
rebuilt in 1173 following a fire, it was one of the most distinctive
Byzantine churches undertaken in France, modelled on St Mark's
in Venice and the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Nevertheless,
the Byzantine influence is still evident in the interior in the
Greek-cross plan - unusual in France - and in the massive clean
curves of the domes and their supporting arches. The big Baroque
altarpiece, carved in walnut wood, in the gloomy east bay, is
worth a look, too, depicting the Assumption of the Virgin, with
a humorous little detail in the illustrative scenes from her
life of a puppy tugging the infant Jesus' sheets from his bed
with its teeth.
At the west end of the
cathedral in place de la Clautre beneath the blank facade of
the original eleventh-century building, there is a fresh produce
market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings. From the terrace below
you look across to the wooded hills beyond the River Isle, while
crowded north and south of the square are the renovated buildings
of the medieval old town . The longest and finest street is the
narrow rue Limogeanne , lined with Renaissance mansions, now
turned into boutiques and patisseries. The surrounding streets
are also scattered with fine Renaissance houses: particularly
handsome are the Logis St Front , 7 rue de la Constitution, now
the seat of the Conservation des Monuments Historiques, and the
more sedate Hôtel de Crenoux next door. Another curious
one is at 17 rue de l'Éguillerie, on the corner of the
attractive place St-Louis , where a turreted watchtower leans
out over the street. There are other old houses down along the
river by the Pont des Barris, notably the fifteenth-century Maison
des Consuls .
At the northern end of
rue Limogeanne, out on the broad tree-lined cours Tourny, is
the city's museum, the Musée du Périgord (April-Sept
Mon & Wed-Fri 11am-6pm, Sat & Sun 1-6pm; rest of year
Mon & Wed-Fri 10am-5pm, Sat & Sun 1-6pm), with some very
beautiful Gallo-Roman mosaics, an extensive and important prehistoric
collection and some exquisite Limoges enamels near the exit,
especially the portraits of the twelve Cæsars. Of less
general interest is the Musée Militaire , near the cathedral
at 32 rue des Farges (Jan-March Wed & Sat 2-6pm; April-Sept
Mon-Sat 10am-noon & 2-6pm; Oct-Dec Mon-Sat 2-6pm), which
contains some unusual exhibits particularly relating to the French
colonial wars in Vietnam.
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