Périgueux

Geographically, Périgueux occupies a central position in Périgord. With more than 31,000 inhabitants, it fulfills all the central functions of a prefecture-level city, chief town of a department. Administrative and service center, it is the beating heart of it through its tourist, cultural, heritage and commercial attractiveness. A showcase of economic, social and cultural life, Périgueux acts in a double movement, it brings together and radiates.

Coiled in the loops of the Isle, protected by its hills, this country town claims its status as Capital of Périgord.

A CITY MORE THAN TWO MILLENNIUM:

If Périgueux and its close surroundings were already occupied in the origins of Humanity, the first city, named Vesunna (name of a Gallic tutelary deity whose rite will be preserved by the Romans), date of the 1st century BC during the Roman occupation in Gaul. In the hollow of seven hills, "little Rome" stretches in the loop of the Isle river and becomes the Roman capital of the city of the Petrocores. In the third century AD, the Roman Empire experienced serious difficulties and Vesunna took refuge inside a wall built with the dismantled blocks of the great monuments that made it famous. Around the 10th century, a monastic center frequented by pilgrims was formed on the hill which overlooks the river around the sanctuary of Saint Front, evangelizer of Périgord.

A fortified town of religious, merchants and craftsmen, was formed and became a major stopover for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Between the Count of the City, anxious to preserve his authority, and the bourgeois of Puy Saint-Front, the rivalries are numerous. An act of union gave birth to the city of Périgueux in 1240 during the reign of Saint Louis.

The high Saint-Front cathedral with Byzantine accents signs, like a lookout, the identity of Périgueux and its heritage. It has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under the Camino de Santiago de Compostela since 1998.

During the Renaissance, Périgueux continued to develop and became a trading hub in the region. Neither the uprisings of the crunchies, nor the Revolution, damaged the commercial reputation of the city. Become prefecture of the department, it is the arrival of the railroad, under the Second Empire, which attracts new inhabitants. The population practically doubles in 30 years. The area of the city increases, causing the urban perimeter to stretch. Far from the theater of conflicts, the population of the Dordogne nonetheless suffered the consequences of the Great War. The economy must support the war effort: the railway workshops become "National Defense Workshops" and manufacture shells. During the Second World War, the city, located in the free zone, hosted several Resistance networks.

VARIOUS URBAN LANDSCAPES:

The Roman city

It was born at the foot of the hills, on the right bank of the Isle loop, around 16 BC. In the 2nd century, it extended over 82 hectares and presented all the characteristics of a little Rome. Two centuries later, political and military crises, epidemics and the first invasions led to a decline in demography. Vesunna retreats behind its ramparts and its area is reduced to 6.5 hectares. Today, Gallo-Roman vestiges are still visible: the Tower of Vésone and the domus (current site-museum Vesunna), the amphitheater (current garden of the Arena).

The medieval town

Its uniqueness comes from its composition around two closed centers, the Cité and the Puy Saint-Front, around which suburbs develop. The safeguarded sector offers an idea of this interlacing of alleys, with its wooden houses and its mansions in stone. The protected area, created in 1970 covers more than 20 hectares and concerns the Puy Saint-Front in its pedestrian area, rue Limogeanne and all the alleys around the Tour Mataguerre.

The modern city

In the 18th century, the manager of Guyenne, Louis-Urbain de Tourny, had spaces built, opened avenues and began dismantling the old fortifications. The ditches and ramparts to the north of the city are followed by the vast mall of the alleys of Tourny. In 1826, a young 20-year-old Parisian architect, Louis-Baptiste Catoire disrupted the plot of the city. Drawing new horizons in the West, he finished blowing up the rampart corset.

The contemporary city

At the end of the Second World War, a beautification project was presented with the development of the new Sainte-Ursule district, the new theater. The demolition of the "Rues Neuves"; district at the foot of the cathedral led, until the 1970s, to the displacement of many families to the neighborhoods of Campniac and Gour-de-l'Arche. In the city center, new urban spaces are appearing like the places Saint-Louis and Francheville.

A SWEET CITY:

Périgueux deploys its urban figures in a green setting where forests and fields draw in the vicinity of the city a rural geometry visible and sensitive in all places. The capital of Périgord is lived up to human height, Périgueux is a gentle town. The sweet city is parks, gardens and markets, the pacification of the center, a fair sharing of the street. It is also taking into account the well-being of the inhabitants through an offer of quality services and a permanent vigilance as for safety and tranquility. The sweet city is the search for harmony, an art of living the city in the countryside following the rhythms of nature.