Vesone Tower Gardens, Parks in Périgueux

Périgueux is the best-known Roman city in Aquitaine.

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

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

Vésone occupied 82 hectares of a meander on the right bank of the Isle. 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 style of life. Around the 40s 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 2nd century, with in particular the construction of the great temple known today as the Tour de Vésone . More than 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 notables of Gallic origin, who were quickly Romanized. In Vésone, all around the civic center, the houses of notables (domus) developed from the 1st century. Towards the end of the 3rd century, after a period of recession, the city closed itself within a rampart. The monuments were dismantled stone by stone to be used, for reuse, in the construction of this new monumental adornment. It was the beginning of a different type of urban life.

THE VÉSONE PARK:

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 Tour de Vésone.

PARK HOURS:

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

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