Église Notre-Dame de Bergerac

Bergerac

This neo-Gothic "little cathedral" owes its existence to the tenacity of a simple parish priest, Father Julien Macerouze, who secured its construction at the height of the Catholic revival of the Second Empire. The municipality, having first approached Viollet-le-Duc, whose project exceeded the planned budget, finally entrusted the work to Paul Abadie — the same architect who, a few years later, would draw on the nearby cathedral of Saint-Front to design the Sacré-Cœur of Montmartre. He too went far beyond the initial estimate, raising the bill from 300,000 to a million francs. The church houses two paintings unexpected in a provincial town: an Adoration of the Shepherds by the Milanese Gaudenzio Ferrari and an Adoration of the Magi by the Venetian Pordenone, both from the former collection of the Duke of Orléans.

Getting there : Free admission

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound