Périgueux

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the French Wikipedia. (March 2010)

Click [show] on the right to read important instructions before translating.

View a machine-translated version of the French article.
Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
After translating, {{Translated|fr|Périgueux}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance.
For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Administration
Périgueux

Top:Panorama view of Périgueux, include Saint-Front Cathedral, from Trelissac, Middle left:Statue of Thomas-Robert Bugeaud in Esplanade Robert Bugeaud, Middle right:Barbadeau Castle (Le chateau de Barbadeau), Bottom left:View of Isle River and Barries RBridge, Bottom right:Vesone Tower (La tour de Vesone), nearby Vesunna Museum
Périgueux
Location within Aquitaine region Périgueux
Country	France
Region	Aquitaine
Department	Dordogne
Intercommunality	Périgourdine
Mayor	Michel Moyrand (PS) (2008–2014)
Statistics
Elevation	75–189 m (246–620 ft) (avg. 101 m or 331 ft)
Land area¹	9.82 km² (3.79 sq mi)
Population²	29,080 (2008)
- Density	2,961 /km² (7,670 /sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	24322/ 24000
¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
²Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Coordinates: 45°11′34″N 0°43′18″E / 45.1929°N 0.7217°E / 45.1929; 0.7217

Périgueux (French pronunciation: [peʁiɡø] ( listen); Occitan: Peireguers [pejɾeˈɣɥes, pejɾeˈɡœː] or Periguers [peɾiˈɣɥes, peɾiˈɡœː]) is a commune in the Dordogne department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.

Périgueux is the prefecture of the départment. It is also the seat of a Roman Catholic diocese.

History

This section requires expansion. (June 2008)

The name Périgueux comes from Petrocorii, a Latinization of Celtic words meaning "the four tribes" – the Gallic people that held the area before the Roman conquest. Périgueux was their capital city. In 200 BC, the Petrocorii came from the north and settled at Périgueux and established an encampment at La Boissière. After the Roman invasion, they left this post and established themselves on the plain of L'Isle, and the town of Vesunna was created. This Roman city was eventually embellished with amenities such as temples, baths, amphitheatres, and a forum. At the end of the third century AD, the Roman city was surrounded by ramparts, and the town took the name of Civitas Petrocoriorum.

In the 10th century, Le Puy-Saint-Front was constructed around an abbey next to the old Gallo-Roman city. It was organised into a municipality around 1182.

During the year 1940, many Jews from Alsace and Alsatians were evacuated to Périgueux.

Simone Mareuil (a lead actor from the surrealist film Un Chien Andalou) committed self-immolation on 24 October 1954 by dousing herself in gasoline and burning herself to death in a public square in Périgueux.

↑Jump back a section

Geography

The Isle flows through Périgueux.

↑Jump back a section

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±%
1793	9,898	—
1800	5,733	−42.1%
1806	6,306	+10.0%
1821	8,452	+34.0%
1831	8,956	+6.0%
1836	11,576	+29.3%
1841	12,187	+5.3%
1846	11,455	−6.0%
1851	13,547	+18.3%
1856	16,291	+20.3%
1861	19,140	+17.5%
1866	19,633	+2.6%
1872	19,956	+1.6%
1876	24,169	+21.1%
1881	25,969	+7.4%
1886	29,611	+14.0%
1891	31,439	+6.2%
1896	31,313	−0.4%
1901	31,976	+2.1%
1906	31,361	−1.9%
1911	33,548	+7.0%
1921	33,144	−1.2%
1926	33,389	+0.7%
1931	33,988	+1.8%
1936	37,615	+10.7%
1946	40,865	+8.6%
1954	40,785	−0.2%
1962	38,529	−5.5%
1968	37,450	−2.8%
1975	35,120	−6.2%
1982	32,916	−6.3%
1990	30,280	−8.0%
1999	30,152	−0.4%
2008	29,080	−3.6%

↑Jump back a section

Sights

There is an amphitheatre, the remains of a temple of the Gallic goddess, "Vesunna", and a luxurious Roman villa, called the "Domus of Vesunna", built around a garden courtyard surrounded by a colonnaded perisink.

Périgueux Theater Palace

Saint-Etinne Church

The cathedral

Main article: Périgueux Cathedral

Cathedral of St Front

The bell tower of St Front's cathedral

The cathedral of St Front was built after 1120 AD and restored in the 19th century.

The history of the church of St Front of Périgueux has given rise to numerous discussions between archaeologists. Félix de Verneihl claims that St Front's was a copy of St Mark's Basilica in Venice; Quicherat, that it was copied from the church of the Holy Apostles of Constantinople. M. Brutails is of the opinion that even if the style of St Front's reveals an imitation of Oriental art, the construction differs altogether from Byzantine methods. The dates 984–1047, often given for the erection of St Front's, he considers too early; he thinks that the present church of St Front was built about 1120–1173, in imitation of a foreign monument by a native local school of architecture which erected the other domed buildings in the south-west of France.

The local architect, Paul Abadie (1812–1884), was responsible for radical changes to St Front's which are no longer appreciated by architects or local residents who prefer the purer Romanesque church of Saint-Étienne de la Cité, the former Cathedral of Périgueux.

The cathedral is part of the World Heritage Sites of the Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France.

↑Jump back a section

Transport

Périgueux railway station offers connections to Limoges, Bordeaux and Brive-la-Gaillarde and other regional destinations.

↑Jump back a section

Personalities

Périgueux was the birthplace of:

Georges Bégué (1911–1993), engineer and agent in the Special Operations Executive

William Joseph Chaminade (1761–1850), founder of the Society of Mary (Marianists) and the Daughters of Mary Immaculate

Jean Clédat (1871–1943), Egyptologist, archaeologist and philologist.

Francine Benoît (1894–1990), composer, music critic and teacher, who gained Portuguese citizenship in 1929. She taught pianist Maria João Pires and composer Emanuel Nunes, amongst others.

↑Jump back a section