Tour de Vésone

Before the Roman conquest, the current Dordogne department was occupied by the Celtic people of the Pétrucores or Pétrocores.

When the emperor Auguste created the Aquitaine province around 16 BC. AD, he divided it into 21 cities, including the City of Petrucores (Civitas petrucoriorum) which was endowed with a capital called Vésone (Vesunna in Latin) named after a protective native deity.

Vésone occupied a meander on the right bank of the Isle over 60 hectares. The town planning and architecture of this new city were to express the Roman order and encourage the adoption by the local population of a new lifestyle. Around the 1940s. AD, it already had its forum and the amphitheater was under construction.

The city seems to have been a vast construction site until, at least, the middle of the second century, with in particular the construction of the large temple known today as the Tower of Vesone. Over 24 m high, it represents the sacred part of the ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Vesunna, protector of the city, associated with the cult of water.

As in all of Gaul, public affairs were managed by the notables of Gallic origin, quickly Romanized. In Vésone, all around the civic center, the houses of notables (domus) developed from the 1st century. Towards the end of the third century, after a period of recession, the city tightened in a rampart. The monuments were dismantled stone by stone to serve, in reuse, for the construction of this new monumental set. It was the beginning of another type of urban life.

THE PARK OF VESONE :

Created in the 19th century, remodeled in 1972, this garden with an area of 6,440 m2 is organized on a major Gallo-Roman site, around the ancient vestige of the Tower of Vesone.

PARK SCHEDULES :

From October 1 to April 1 : from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
From April 2 to September 30 : from 7:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Visit the Gallo-Roman Vesunna museum-site : perigueux-vesunna.fr