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Worth seeing
:
The old city
The Saint-Sacerdos
cathedral,
it took five centuries. The
tower-hall dates from the 12th century, the apse from the 15th century, the
choir from the 16th century and the nave from the 17th century. If you
pass though the porch, you arrive at the " cour des Fontaines" where the monks chose to settle in the
8th century.
From there, a vaulted passage leads to
the
garden of Enfeus (which hosts
the Games of theatre festival today), an old cemetery where
Roman and Gothic gravestones are dug in the wall.
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front of the cathedral, the most famous home of
Sarlat,
the Boétie hotel, an puzzling mixture
of medieval and Renaissance styles, is the birth place of the famous poet and political writer Etienne de la Boetie.
Behind the cathedral, the lantern of deaths was to commemorate the passage of Saint-Bernard in
Sarlat in 1147.
When you take the street
to the left of this
curious building and you get to the top, you will see the Grézel hotel and the tower dating
from the 15th century (street of the Salamander)
and the Génis hotel in the
15th-17th century (Présidial street ).
Just a steps away from the
latter,
Présidial (street Landry) is the old
seat of royal justice, built in 1640. It is one of the most
beautiful houses in Sarlat.
On going down, we
arrive on the "place de la liberté". To the east, the Town hall, a
beautiful building dating from the 17th century.
To the north, the
Sainte-Marie church which only welcomes market-gardeners. It is around this place that the
Wednesday markets (food only, 8h30-13h) and Saturday ones are not to
be missed (8h30-14h). The truffles market takes place in the old
Sainte-Marie church on Saturday mornings from December to February (come very early to attend the negotiations).
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©
Boguy
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Behind the Sainte-Marie church, take the street of the Consuls, which
concentrates a maximum of splendid buildings. A number 6, the Tapinois de
Betou hotel. At number 7, opposite number
6, the Mirandole hotel, dating from
the 15th century. A curious medieval fountain
dug in a cave
and accessible if you take a small staircase. At the corner of the
street, a vast "trompe-l'oeil". At the n° 8 and 10, the Plamon hotel (home of the consuls). At
the n°9,
the Vassal hotel. At the n°14, the
Labrousse hotel. Then at the entrance of the square of "Marché-aux-Oies", the Gisson hotel, 17th century.
Being a
member of the charter of the towns of Art and History,
the town of Sarlat offers discovery visit of the historical center, together
with highly qualified guides.
Thematic visits are also programmed, some night and some by
especially for the children from 6 to 12 years (every Tuesday at 15h). Information with the tourist office
: Tourny
street . |
Demonstrations
:
Festival of Ringuetta
: Whitsunday
Monday, every 2 years, the next fesival is to take place on May 12, 2008. Traditional festival proposing
bygone games, parades in costumes and périgourdin meals
(reservation at the tourist office)
The Sarlat theatre
games Festival : since 1952, it has enlivened the old stones in summer, late August early
July.
The Cinema Festival
: the
second week of November. http://www.ville-sarlat.fr/festival/
| History
:
City founded in the 9th century around a
Benedictine abbey.
In 1147, the legend relate about Saint Bernard, passing though Sarlat, on
his return
from crusade, and performing miracles for example healing the sick, the Saint-Bernard Tower commemorates these
miracles,
known as " Lantern of deaths " (we can admire
it behind the Saint-Sacerdos cathedral, in the middle of what was the
first cemetery of Sarlat). The abbey was
transformed into a church in the 13th century then into a cathedral in 1317 thanks to the
pope John
XXII who promated Sarlat to bishopric palace, it's at this time
there, in spite of plague epidemics , its vigorous trade favoured its exceptional growth.
The Middle-class and the city traders,
bishops and magistrates built the majority of the hotels which are Sarlat's pride today. |
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Having Sarlat endured the Norman invasions , then the Hundred Years'War, because
of its bein a frontalier area
ruled inturns by the kings of France and England. The city fortifed by
its consuls, resisted all attacks and become English only
at the end of the first period the Hundred Years War (1360) at
the time of the treaty of Brétigny where, in exchange for the throne of France, Edouard III of England received
the South-west of France. And 10 years later, Du
Guesclin, the supreme commander of French
armies drove out the English people and Sarlat became French
again .
If the victory of Castillon in 1453 put an end to
the Hundred Years's War, the wars of religion wreaked havoc, religious fanaticism was fought in
vain by Boetie, born
in Sarlat,
Montaigne's friend. The city was taken by the Protestants in February
1574, in May, then fell again to the Catholics . I n 1591 it
became a sensitive centre for the the members of a league who did not acknowledge the authority of king Henri IV
. Sarlat peace reigned in only when the king converted
to catholicism.
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During the French revolution, Sarlat lost the bishopric
(transferred to Périgueux), then its economic power and became lethargic. Being
kept away from the common big industrial
echanges and with the railway arriving
there only at the end of the 19th century, the city did
not evolve and that was its luck, so its architectural heritage
was passed on to us almost undamaged, Sarlat beneficied from the Malraux low
which encouraged the restoration of old
monuments.
In 1965, both
villages of Canéda and Sarlat merged under the name of Sarlat-la-canéda.
Owing to
its architecture Sarlat is tourist site
has the higjest number of visitors in Perigord.
Sarlat is the European city having the highest
percentage of monuments per square kilometre. The city appears
on the UNESCO World Heritage list . |
But Sarlat is only the central
core of Périgord which
contains thousands of treasures which you will not miss to visit, you well of this feeling felt by
this famous American, Henri Miller, to live in the " French Paradise".....
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