Le Bugue • Dordogne

Holidays Dordogne • Bugue by Tourists Information of Dordogne

Le Bugue

This pretty town is spread like a fan over a luxuriant hillside and the site, occupied from time immemorial, has remained true to its traditions and history. A Benedictine abbey called Saint Marcel and St Salvador was founded there in 964 and survived until the 19th century.

The occasional old house seen from the street is the only trace today of le Bugue’s rich past. The most important event in the town’s history was the decision to establish a Tuesday market there, a decision made six and a half centuries ago. And this is not just a local legend! Philippe le Bel, King of France, did indeed decide the day. In 1319 he gave Le Bugue a charter which enabled it to free itself from the tutelage of Limeuil. With control over the surrounding area Le Bugue could establish itself as an important town with its own forges and convents.

The occasional old house seen from the street is the only trace today of le Bugue’s rich past. The most important event in the town’s history was the decision to establish a Tuesday market there, a decision made six and a half centuries ago. And this is not just a local legend! Philippe le Bel, King of France, did indeed decide the day. In 1319 he gave Le Bugue a charter which enabled it to free itself from the tutelage of Limeuil. With control over the surrounding area Le Bugue could establish itself as an important town with its own forges and convents.

This quiet market town owes some of its prestige to the well-known physician Jean Rey who was born in the town and went on to discover the laws of gravity 200 years before Lavoisier, and who invented the thermoscope, a forerunner of the modern thermometer.

The face of le Bugue changed in 1860 with the building of the bridge, the new St Sulpice church and the coming of the railway.

Now le Bugue is essentially a tourist town, home to such prestigious attractions as the Village du Bournat, l’Aquarium du Périgord Noir et the Cave of Bara-Bahau

Le Bugue townhall official website: www.lebugue.fr
Le Bugue library : http://bibliotheque.le.bugue.over-blog.com/