Périgueux

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Périgueux
Peiregús
Coat of arms of Périgueux
Périgueux (France)
Périgueux
region Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department Dordogne ( prefecture )
Arrondissement Périgueux
Canton Périgueux-1 (main town)
Périgueux-2 (main town)
Community association Le Grand Périgueux
Coordinates 45 ° 11 ′  N , 0 ° 43 ′  E Coordinates: 45 ° 11 ′  N , 0 ° 43 ′  E
height 75-189 m
surface 9.82 km 2
Residents 29,966 (January 1, 2017)
Population density 3,052 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code 24000
INSEE code 24322
Website Périgueux

Saint Front Cathedral

Périgueux ( Occitan Peiregús ) is a city and a municipality (commune) in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and with 29,966 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2017) the largest city in the Dordogne department . The city is the seat of the prefecture of the department.

Location and climate

The city of Périgueux is located on the Isle of River in the center of the old cultural landscape of the Périgord at an altitude of approx. 90  m . The distance to Bordeaux is approx. 135 km in a south-westerly direction; the city of Limoges is approx. 100 km to the northeast; The climate is temperate; Rain (approx. 885 mm / year) falls over the year.

history

Vesunna tower

Antiquity

The history of Périgueux begins with a settlement of the Celtic Petrocorians , which after the conquest of Gaul (52 BC) by the Romans was expanded into a city called Vesunna , which was a not insignificant provincial town in the following centuries. According to tradition, the Holy Fronto still worked here as a missionary and bishop in Roman times . At that time the city had an amphitheater with almost 10,000 seats and was completely surrounded by a city wall. The remains of both structures have been preserved to this day, although the arena today only consists of a few rubble of walls within a park and the Gallo-Roman city ​​wall was largely integrated into later residential developments.

900-1500

Little is known about the fate of Vesunna at the time of the Great Migration . The place experienced a significant boom when the local saint Saint Front was buried around 900 on a hill on the right bank of the Isle - about 500 meters away. A church was built in his honor, which soon became a place of pilgrimage . A settlement developed around this church, which initially bore the name Puy-Saint-Front and grew much faster than the original settlement core. The location of the tomb on one of the main routes to Santiago de Compostela was also important for the pilgrims' visits .

In the 11th century the church was demolished in favor of the much larger domed church of St. Front . The result was a Romanesque basilica with the floor plan of a Greek cross, the four naves of equal length each crowned with a cupola. The crossing between the aisles has a fifth, even larger dome. It is a huge building for the time, which still surprises today with its harmonious shapes and dimensions. At the same time, Puy-Saint-Front received a city wall that was reinforced with 28 towers and delimited an area that housed the entire residential area down to the Isle.

Cathédrale St-Front, interior view
The Maison des Consuls, secular building from the Renaissance

It was not until 1240 that the two settlements united to form the city of Périgueux, which became the capital of the county of Périgord . From then on, ancient Vesunna was called "La Cité", while Puy-Saint-Front was called "Le Bourg". This was the first heyday of Périgueux: the navigable Isle was used for a lively exchange of goods with the surrounding area, many goods were handled via the seaport of Bordeaux . At the same time, Périgueux became an important garrison location during the Hundred Years War : the border between English and French territory ran only about 50 kilometers south, roughly following the course of the Dordogne . Since standing armies were still unusual in the Middle Ages , monasteries and monasteries, but also the bourgeoisie, were obliged to accommodate soldiers passing through. The Rue de l'Aubergerie still reminds of this today, in which some proud town houses from the 13th to 15th centuries have been preserved. In the 15th century, Périgueux received a new walling that now enclosed both the Cité and the Bourg.

Modern times

The city experienced a second boom at the time of the Atlantic sea trade, which followed the discovery of America in 1492 . Bordeaux, now part of France again, was able to achieve a special position in the Atlantic slave trade between Europe, Africa and America, from which Périgueux profited sustainably. Magnificent town houses in the Renaissance style were built, which still characterize the old town today. Residences for the resident consuls were built on the banks of the Isle. Goods from all over the surrounding area were transshipped via the river port - especially wine, which enjoyed a high reputation all over the world.

The centuries that followed were a period of steady decline. The wars of religion hit the region hard; the most capable merchants and craftsmen, the majority of whom had joined the Reformation, left the country. The heavily damaged Romanesque cathedral of St. Etienne could not be completely restored; therefore, in 1669, the pilgrimage church of St. Front was elevated to a cathedral ( St. Front Cathedral ). From the time of Louis XIV , the regional nobility finally lost its political importance, the economic and military focus shifted to other regions, so that Périgueux lost much of its importance. The establishment of a prefecture for the newly created Dordogne department at the end of the 18th century did little to change that.

19th century

An economic boost came in the second half of the 19th century when the city was connected to the rail network and one of the largest repair shops in France was built there. During this time the city walls were pulled down and replaced by a boulevard ; Between the historical core and the train station, new districts were created, a public park and avenues were created. The cathedral of St.Front, threatened with decay, was completely renovated, whereby the commissioned architect Paul Abadie did too much in part and crowned the domes with historically inaccurate columned turrets and small figures to emphasize the Byzantine character of the building . Following the example of St. Front, Abadie later built the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur in Paris. This short period of economic prosperity ended with the complete annihilation of wine cultures by phylloxera and some severe sales crises for agricultural products around the turn of the century, which deprived the entire region of an important economic base and increasingly depopulated through emigration.

20th century

In the 20th century, Périgueux initially hardly developed. The only economic relocation of importance was the stamp printing company of the French State Post, which, however, could not undo the lack of an industrial base and poor transport connections. It was not until the 1970s that the city began to move again: the entire old town was elevated to a national cultural monument level and was greatly enhanced in the period that followed. Today almost all historical buildings have been renovated or restored according to historical models, which means that one of the most beautiful cityscapes in France can be marveled at. Today, the Saint-Front cathedral is part of the World Heritage “ Paths of the Pilgrims of St. James in France ” and is protected by UNESCO . As a result, tourism has also developed dynamically. Périgueux, still the spiritual, administrative and cultural center of the Périgord, is now also known for festivals, fine cuisine and as a center of regional tourism.

Population development

year 1800 1851 1901 1954 1999 2015
Residents 5,733 13,547 31,976 40,785 30.193 29,829

The continuous increase in population in the late 19th and first half of the 20th century is mainly due to immigration from the surrounding villages, whose inhabitants emigrated due to the phylloxera crisis in viticulture and the increasing mechanization of agriculture . At the end of the 20th century, many townspeople again preferred life in the country.

economy

The city forms the economic and cultural center of the largely agricultural and forestry landscape of the Périgord; Viticulture, which was quite important in earlier times, only played a subordinate role after the phylloxera crisis. Dealers, craftsmen and service providers of all kinds have settled in the village itself.

Attractions

Architectural monuments

The city's cathedral is the largest in southwest France. The last surviving watchtower from originally 28 is the Tour Mataguerre on the southwestern edge of the old town. The city has a number of very well-preserved residential buildings since the 15th century. Particularly worth seeing are the Hôtel de Ladouze (16, rue Aubergerie), the building at 4-6 in rue des Farges, where Bertran du Guesclin is said to have lived for a while, and the Maison du Pâtissier (rue St. Louis). Just outside the old town are the ruins of the Château Barrière, whose origins date from the 12th / 13th centuries. Century and that was destroyed in the French Revolution.

Ruin of the Chateau Barriere in Perigueux

Museums

The city has two major museums: the Musée gallo-romain on the history of the Roman city of Vesunna and the Museum of Art and Archeology of Périgord (MAAP, Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie du Périgord). There is also a museum on military history (Musée Militaire du Périgord).

traffic

Personalities

Other people with ties to the city

  • François Augiéras (1925–1971), the writer died in Perigueux
  • Jean Carzou (1907–2000), a French-Armenian painter of Syrian origin, died in this city.

Twin town

Web links

Commons : Périgueux  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Périgueux - map with altitude information
  2. ↑ Périgueux - climate tables