Domme, Dordogne


Domme is a commune in the Dordogne department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It is sometimes called the "Acropolis of the Périgord".
WWW domme.fr

Geography

Domme is above sea level on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Dordogne river. With its trapezoid city plan, Domme is a bastide adapted to the surrounding terrain, and thus falling short of the rectangular city plan characteristic to bastides.
Today a member of the association Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, Domme has two public spaces of medieval origin: the commercial Place de la Halle and the Place de La Rode, where the breaking wheel entertained the public. There were two other notable locations in the village: the fair and the moneyer's house.

History

Founded as a stronghold in 1281 by Philip the Bold following his campaign along the Dordogne river, Domme was granted the right to mint its own currency.
In 1307, many Knights Templar were imprisoned in Domme during the trial against them, and hundreds of Templar graffiti still bear witness to this. They used a code based on a series of geometric figures: the octagon represented the Grail, the triangle surmounted by a cross represented Golgatha, the square represented the Temple, and the circle represented imprisonment. Similar inscriptions have been found in other towns such as Loches, Gisors, and Chinon.
During the Hundred Years' War, the English sought to control the bastide. They first took the town in 1347 and it repeatedly changed hands throughout the war until 1437, when it finally returned to French rule.
The Wars of Religion brought new disturbances to the town. Protestants briefly took the city in 1588 by climbing the cliffs at night to open the gates. However, the Protestant captain was besieged in the bastide and had to hand it back to the Catholics in 1592. The city then witnessed popular revolts in 1594 and 1637.
Domme prospered during the seventeenth century only to decline thereafter, which greatly facilitated its preservation in modern times.

Points of interest

Domme is famous for its fortifications, which were completed by 1310. The Porte des Tours with the main entrance loads to two drum-shaped towers of stone on the east and west part of the wall. The walls, first completed in 1310, contain two more gates.
The halle, first erected in the 17th century and rebuilt in 1954, faces towards the marketplace, the Place de la Halle. The Maison du Gouverneur, on the opposite side of the Place de la Halle, is a fortress-like building with tower and turrets, first built in the 15th century and expanded in the 17th.

In movies

The village, including the church and the ramparts, served as a shooting location for Le Tatoué by Denys de La Patellière with Jean Gabin and Louis de Funès in 1968.

Notable residents