Périgueux Travel Guide

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St.-Front is actually built in the form of a Greek Cross but it is attached to a portion of an earlier partially burnt 11C church and the bell tower of 1125 that connects the two. It is modeled after St. Mark’s in Venice but the support of the domes is 4-square on heavy pendentives, although maintaining 5 domes. The outer domes are almost identical in appearance but if the church is seen from a distance on the southeast near the river (as pictured in other Tips), it looks like the other linear three domes churches of the group. (Below we give a web site with a diagram of the church). The comprehension of all this is made more difficult by the uglifications of Paul Abadie starting in 1852. He was a highly regarded disciple of Viollet-le-Duc and the domes inspired him to add spiky turrets all over the church and to rebuild and cap the 4 story belfry with a heavy conical cupola making the church more Byzantine than before. He was so enamored of his work that he derived the plans for his next church Sacre -Coeur on Montmartre from it, starting in 1876. It too was vilified for half a century like its coeval the Eiffel Tower until they became the landmarks of Paris.

You need a car as public transport is very limited. The best way to get there from the north is to go from Paris to Limoges and then follow the main road to Perigueux. The map shows the department of Dordogne.

Favorite thing: Even if you only pass through the town, make sure to briefly visit the cathedral. It was modelled after Venice's San Marco and it shows from the domes. The adjacent courtyard is a haven of tranquility in this busy market town.

Fondest memory: Wandering around the courtyard of the cathedral - amazingly enough without hordes of tourists! I love these medieval delights and together with the beautiful weather it wasn't hard to enjoy this afternoon.