Périgueux

Administrative centre of the Dordogne département in Aquitaine, France, on the River Isle, 127 km/79 mi east of Bordeaux; population (1990 est) 32,800, conurbation 60,000. It is a trading centre for wine, foie gras (goose-liver pâté), and truffles. Industries include railway workshops, tanneries, food-canning factories, and a government stamp-printing works.

The name of the city derives from the Petrucorii, a Gallic people and the original inhabitants of the area. The settlement itself was first mentioned at the time of the Roman emperor Julius Caesar and was an important Roman city with aqueducts, arenas, villas, and temples. Périgueux was fortified in the 3rd century.

The town has Roman remains and many old buildings, including the Romano-Byzantine cathedral of St Front, which dates from the 12th century but was reconstructed in the mid-19th century. The cathedral was built on the 6th-century burial place of the saint. Other features include one of the 28 towers dating from 1130 which linked the medieval city's walls and Castle Barrier, a 12th-century castle.