La Cite (Vesunna), Perigueux

The town, called Vesunna, is know referred to as La Cité. At its height, it was a huge city with an amphitheatre, aqueduct, baths and a tower without any doors or windows. This area is also home to the Cathédrale Saint-Etienne.

Originating from Roman rule in 51 BC, the area known as Vesunna began to develop with many luxurious Roman villas. However, during the third century the town, as with many others, was subject to a succession of barbarian invasions. The town eventually became known as La Cité des Pétrocores, then simply as La Cité. 

Saint Front arrived at some point in the forth century, bringing Christianity to the region and he was eventually buried on a neighbouring hilltop. The sight of his tomb became a pilgrimage sight and eventually a town sprung up around it. This was Le Puy St Front. The two towns began and continued a somewhat unsettled relationship, despite being joined under the act of union in 1240. In fact at the start of the Hundred Years' War La Cité sided with the English and Le Puy with France.

Eventually, several centuries later, after the Wars of Religion, La Cité fell into decline. In 1669 the transfer of cathedral status from Saint-Étienne-de-la-Cite to Saint-Front occurred, sealing the fate of La Cité once and for all. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the area began to expand into the modern city that we known today as Perigueux. The old city however has remain largely untouched, despite the industrialisation of the town at the time.