Tour de Vésone
FortressHidden Treasure
Tour de Vésone, located in Périgueux (Dordogne), is a ancient remains built in Antiquity. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- Fort
- Period
- Antiquity
- Location
- Périgueux, Dordogne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
- GPS
- 45.1794, 0.7143
- Mérimée Reference
- PA00082762
Striking vestige of Roman Gaul, the Tour de Vésone rises in Périgueux with its cylindrical shaft of 21 metres, the sole survivor of the cella of a temple dedicated to the tutelary goddess of the ancient city.
History
In the heart of Périgueux, in the Gallo-Roman quarter of the Cité, the Tour de Vésone emerges from the gardens like an apparition from the 2nd century. This twenty-one metre high Roman masonry cylinder is all that remains of one of the largest cellae in Gaul - the inner sanctuary of a monumental temple dedicated to Vesunna, the patron goddess of the ancient city of Vesunna Petrucoriorum. Its wounded silhouette, marked by a deep breach opened up over the centuries, gives it a melancholy majesty that no other vestige in the region possesses. What makes the tower truly unique is the legibility of its construction: superimposed over the entire height of the shaft are the characteristics of the Roman opus mixtum - alternating carefully cut limestone rubble and strings of bricks forming regular horizontal bands. These regular courses, spaced with almost metronomic precision, bear witness to the technical mastery of the Roman builders of the province of Aquitaine. The tower was never a defensive building, but the sacred core of a temple with a circular gallery, surrounded by a colonnade, fragments of capitals, shafts and bases of which have been found during excavations. Visiting the Tour de Vésone is like walking between two worlds: the Vesunna museum, designed by Jean Nouvel and opened in 2003, is a glass and steel dialogue with the nearby Roman ruins, creating a striking architectural and temporal experience. The neighbouring archaeological site reveals the remains of a patrician domus with its mosaics and hypocausts, while the tower stands solitary and sovereign at the centre of peaceful gardens through which walkers pass without always realising the extraordinary presence they are encountering. The setting is just as conducive to meditation as it is to photography: depending on the time of day and the season, the golden Périgord light plays on the limestone and brick facings, revealing the textures and scars of time. The Tour de Vésone is at once a monument, an enigma and a symbol - that of a town that for centuries bore the name of its goddess before remembering that it had also been, and would remain, Périgueux.
Architecture
The Tour de Vésone has a strictly cylindrical plan, with an external diameter of around 17 metres and a preserved elevation of 21 metres above the current ground level. Its construction is a perfect illustration of the Roman opus mixtum technique: a core of lime concrete and rough rubble (opus incertum) is faced on both sides with small, carefully cut limestone rubble, forming a regular opus vittatum. This facing continues uninterrupted up to a height of 13 metres, above which appear the first flat brick courses characteristic of Roman architecture in Aquitaine. These regularised courses are then repeated every 1.32 metres or so up to the top, punctuating the verticality of the shaft with a two-tone limestone and terracotta rhythm. At 4.50 metres from the ground, ashlars cut through the entire thickness of the wall, forming protruding brackets on the inside, probably supporting a gallery or intermediate floor. On the east side, an opening carefully framed by ashlar blocks formed the main doorway to the cella, facing the temenos area. The current gap, distinct from this original opening, is the result of medieval destruction or despoiling of materials. Traces of tuileau mortar plaster - the pinkish plaster so characteristic of Roman buildings - remain in patches on the interior and exterior facing, testifying to a careful surface treatment that must have covered the entire visible surface. The architectural fragments found nearby - capitals, column drums, bases and pilasters - evoke the colonnade of the peristyle gallery that surrounded the tower, probably of Corinthian order, giving the whole a monumental character worthy of the capital of a major Roman provincial city.
Related Figures
Vesunna – déesse tutélaire gauloise puis gallo-romaine, à laquelle le temple était consacré et qui donna son nom à la cité antiqueProsper Mérimée – inspecteur général des Monuments Historiques, sous l'impulsion duquel la tour fut classée en 1846Jean Nouvel – architecte français qui conçut le musée Vesunna (2003), dialogue contemporain avec les vestiges antiquesAuguste – empereur romain sous le règne duquel fut fondée Vesunna Petrucoriorum, cadre de l'essor monumental de la citéLes Pétrocores – peuple gaulois dont Vesunna était la capitale, commanditaires symboliques du sanctuaire
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Tour de Vésone located?
Tour de Vésone is located in Périgueux, Dordogne department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, France.
When was Tour de Vésone built?
Tour de Vésone dates back to a period built during Antiquity.
Is Tour de Vésone open to visitors?
Tour de Vésone is currently closed to visitors.