Périgueux: The Five Domes of Saint-Front and the Tower of Vesunna
Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
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225
XP
+100 France
= 325 total
1 day
Périgueux: The Five Domes of Saint-Front and the Tower of Vesunna
225 + 100 XP
The cathedral of Saint-Front at Périgueux, listed with the Compostela routes in France by UNESCO in 1998, has, like St Mark's in Venice, a Greek-cross plan crowned with five domes on pendentives. Paul Abadie — later the architect of the Sacré-Cœur, which it resembles — went so far in restoring it between 1852 and 1895 that he took the whole building down and rebuilt it stone by stone, demolishing the north dome and replacing the south and east ones; only the 12th-century bell tower, raised over the tomb of Saint Front, came through untouched. On the other side of town, the round Tour de Vésone, 19.60 m across and 24 m high, is the cella of a Gallo-Roman temple to Vesunna, tutelary goddess of the Petrocorii, torn open on its east side by a breach nearly nine metres wide; legend says Saint Front made it driving out the demons that sheltered there. Fifty metres east, the Vesunna museum stands over the remains of the Domus des Bouquets.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Stand under the five domes, then go outside and look up at the one part of the cathedral Abadie did not rebuild — the 12th-century tower over Saint Front's tomb, topped with a ring of little columns under a scaled conical spire that makes it look like a lighthouse
2
of 4
Walk round the Tour de Vésone to the east side and stand in the nine-metre breach: this was the temple doorway, and the gap is what happened when the big blocks of its frame were carted off and the wall above came down — not, as the legend has it, Saint Front's staff driving out demons
3
of 4
In the Vesunna museum, find the model or plan of the temple precinct and then pace the garden outside against it: a rectangular enclosure of 141 m by 122 m, a six-column porch, and 23 columns ringing the tower that was the cella at the middle of it all
4
of 4
At the Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie du Périgord, find the inscriptions naming the Tutela Augusta Vesunnae that settled whose temple this was — the comte de Taillefer had decided it belonged to Isis — including the panther relief with the broken TVT and A still legible on it
Stand under the five domes, then go outside and look up at the one part of the cathedral Abadie did not rebuild — the 12th-century tower over Saint Front's tomb, topped with a ring of little columns under a scaled conical spire that makes it look like a lighthouse
Walk round the Tour de Vésone to the east side and stand in the nine-metre breach: this was the temple doorway, and the gap is what happened when the big blocks of its frame were carted off and the wall above came down — not, as the legend has it, Saint Front's staff driving out demons
In the Vesunna museum, find the model or plan of the temple precinct and then pace the garden outside against it: a rectangular enclosure of 141 m by 122 m, a six-column porch, and 23 columns ringing the tower that was the cella at the middle of it all
At the Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie du Périgord, find the inscriptions naming the Tutela Augusta Vesunnae that settled whose temple this was — the comte de Taillefer had decided it belonged to Isis — including the panther relief with the broken TVT and A still legible on it
Before you go
The Tour de Vésone stands in a public garden on the south side of town, about a kilometre from the cathedral and beside the Périgueux to Brive railway; it is free and open. The Vesunna museum beside it is ticketed and takes its annual closure for the whole of January, so a January visit gets the tower and the cathedral only. The rest of the year it is shut every Monday except in July and August, and on 1 January, 1 and 11 November and 25 December; from September to December it opens 9.30am to 5.30pm Tuesday to Friday and 10am to 12.30pm plus 2.30pm to 6pm at weekends.
Saint-Front is a working cathedral; avoid service times, and note that the crypts and tower are not always accessible.
Allow a walk of about 20 minutes each way between the cathedral and the Vésone quarter, or move the vehicle — street parking around the tower is limited.
Two and a half hours is tight for the cathedral, the tower, the Vesunna museum and the Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie. Pick the two museums you want rather than rushing all four sites.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
325 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
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