Domme (; ) is a commune in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

department in

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...

in southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It is sometimes called the ''"Acropolis of the Périgord"''.

Geography

Domme - View from Esplanade de la Barre - 02

Domme is above sea level on a rocky outcrop overlooking the

river. With its trapezoid city plan, Domme is a

bastide Bastides are fortified new towns built in medieval Languedoc, Gascony, Aquitaine, England and Wales during the 13th and 14th centuries, although some authorities count Mont-de-Marsan and Montauban, which was founded in 1144, as the first bastides ...

(a fortified medieval town) 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 (, ) is an independent association created in 1982 for the promotion of the tourist appeal of small rural villages with a rich cultural heritage. As of 2024, it numbers 176 member villages (independent Communes of France, ''communes'' or part ...

'' ("The Most Beautiful Villages of France"), Domme has two public spaces of medieval origin: the commercial ''Place de la Halle'' ("Market Hall Square") and the ''Place de La Rode'', where the

breaking wheel The breaking wheel, also known as the execution wheel, the Wheel of Catherine or the (Saint) Catherine('s) Wheel, was a torture method used for public execution primarily in Europe from antiquity through the Middle Ages up to the 19th century ...

entertained the public. There were two other notable locations in the village: the fair and the

moneyer A moneyer is a private individual who is officially permitted to mint money. Usually the rights to coin money are bestowed as a concession by a state or government. Moneyers have a long tradition, dating back at least to ancient Greece. They bec ...

's house.This section was a free translation of th
French article as of June 5 2011
/ref>

History

Founded as a stronghold in 1281 by

Philip the Bold Philip II the Bold (; ; 17 January 1342 – 27 April 1404) was Duke of Burgundy and ''jure uxoris'' Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg. Philip was th ...

following his campaign along the Dordogne river, Domme obtained the privilege of minting its own currency. In 1307, many

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

were imprisoned in Domme during the trial against them, of which hundreds of Templar graffiti still bear witness. They used a code system involving 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 the imprisonment. Similar inscriptions (of disputed authenticity) have been found in other towns such as

Loches Loches (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is situated southeast of Tours by road, on the left bank of the river Indre (river), Indre. History Loch ...

Gisors Gisors () is a Communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, French department of Eure, Normandy (administrative region), Normandy, France. It is located northwest from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Gisors, together with the ...

, and

Chinon Chinon () is a Communes of France, commune in the Indre-et-Loire Departments of France, department, Centre-Val de Loire, France. The traditional province around Chinon, Touraine, became a favorite resort of French kings and their nobles beginn ...

. During the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

, the bastide was coveted by the English who first took the town in 1347 and repeatedly changed rulers throughout the war until 1437 when it finally fell under French rule again. The Wars of Religion brought new turmoil. Protestants took the city in 1588 by climbing the cliffs at night to open the gates. A short success, as the Protestant captain had to hand the bastide in which he was entrenched back to the Catholics in 1592. The city then witnessed popular revolts ('' Jacquerie des Croquants'') in 1594 and 1637. Domme prospered during the seventeenth century only to decline thereafter, which greatly facilitated its preservation in modern time.

Population

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.''Domme''
John Reps Bastide Collection, Cornell University Library 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.''Domme - a beautiful Dordogne town set high above the river''
North of the dordogne Porte des Tours in Domme 04.jpg, Porte des Tours (''Towers Gate'') Grand Rue in Domme 04.jpg, Main street Rue Porte de la Combe in Domme.jpg, Porte de la Combe street Domme - View from Esplanade de la Barre - 01.jpg, View from the belvedere

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

* Christiaan Cornelissen, born in 1864 in Bois-le-Duc, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, died in 1942 in Domme. He was a Dutch libertarian communist teacher, author and economist.

References

{{authority control Communes of Dordogne Plus Beaux Villages de France