Guided tour
The Souillac Area is situated in the Dordogne Valley in the Lot, which has « Area of Art and History » status . With or without a guide, on foot or by little road train, you can visit the old streets and explore Souillac's architectural heritage and that of the little villages which surround it.
And we could tell you all about the gabares, the boats that used to ply up and down the river Dordogne.
Explore Souillac...The choice is yours !!!
Guided tour of the old quarters and the banks of the Dordogne with the little road train
Departure outside the Tourist Office
Tariffs :
- adults : 5 €
- children from 3 to 15 : 3 €
- groups : 4 € (from April to October, reservation in advance)
Walking tour of Souillac lasting about 1 ½ hours : the old town centre and the Romanesque Abbey church of Sainte-Marie
Start from the Tourist Office
Tariffs :
- adults : 5 €
- children (>12 yrs old) : 4 €
- groups (10 to 25 pers.) : 85 € + 2,50 € per additional person (reservation in advance)
Please contact us for more information (days, times,...) or to make a reservation
SOUILLAC AREA TOURIST OFFICE***
BP 30099
Boulevard Louis-Jean Malvy
46200 Souillac
Téléphone : 05 65 37 81 56
Fax : 05 65 27 11 45
Courriel : office@tourisme-souillac.com
A little bit of history...
This favourable site, where a land route (Paris toToulouse), two river routes (the Dordogne and the Borrèze) and a ford over the Dordogne converge, was chosen by the Benedictine monks from Saint Pierre d'Aurillac to establish a priory in the 10th century.
Two centuries later, a vast Romanesque abbey grew up, surrounded by a walled enclosure. Then a monastic settlement developed around three main roads. It was enclosed within a wall in which there were five gates, and rapidly achieved town status. In 1253, the Dean of the abbey, under pressure from a powerful merchant bourgeoisie who controlled the river traffic between the upper reaches and the Atlantic, accorded a charter of customs.
Souillac was occupied by the English during the Hundred Years' War and then became a target for Protestants in the Wars of Religion. The monastery then lay in total ruin, and the bell tower of the parish church was badly damaged.
In the 17th century, the Benedictine monks of St. Maur rescued and rebuilt the ruined church and monastic buildings.
The town took on its modern aspect in the late 18th century with the demolition of the walls and the opening of the Royal Road.
The "gabariers" coming down from Argentat on the Dordogne used to stop at Souillac, at the Larroumet port, with their cargo of oak heartwood for barrel-making and chestnut stakes for viticulture. On the way up, they used to unload sea salt, dried fish, spices and wine at the port of Les Cuisines.
The coming of the railway in the 19th century, then the construction by Louis Vicat in the early 20th century of the road bridge continued to encourage trade, but also killed off the river traffic.
Tour of Souillac :
A. OTSI (Tourist Office)
B. Mairie (Town Hall)
C. La Poste (Post Office)
E. Bibliothèque (Library)
F. La Halle (Market hall)
G. Eglise St-Marie (Church of Ste. Marie)
H. Abbaye (Abbey)
I. le Beffroi (Belfry)
J. Ecole maternelle (Nursery school)
1. Tourist Office
2. Place Barnicou
3. Place Pierre Betz
4. Place de l'abbaye
5. Interior of the Abbey Church of Sainte Marie
6. National Museum of robotics and automata
7. Place de la Nau
8. Rue du Pont
9. Rue de Juillet
10. Place du Puits
11. Rue des Oules
12. Place des Toiles
13. Rue de la Halle
14. Place Roucou
15. Place Bénétou
13. Return rue de la Halle
16. Avenue Gambetta
17. Place Doussot
19. On the left, you come back to the rue Orbe
20. On the right, the rue du capitaine Clavel runs beside the former church of St. Martin
21. Allées de Verninac
See also :
The Louis Vicat bridge
The Bramefond railway viaduct
Find out more...
1. The tourist office
The boulevard Malvy, now the RD 820, is the old Royal Road, built in the 18th century along the line of the mediaeval walls, at the foot of the slope on which grew the abbey's vines.
2. Place Barnicou
This square preserves the name of one of the five town gates. A round 19th century well stands in the middle. On the right, on the street corner, you can see the town house known as the Nucé de Lamothe house. This late 15th century house has pointed-arch openings on the ground floor destined for business, and mullioned windows on the upper floor.
3. Place Pierre Betz
Recently renovated, this square corresponds to the outline of the former monastic enclosure. Here stands Sainte-Marie Abbey, a remarkable architectural ensemble comprising the 12th century church and the monastic buildings reconstructed in the 17th century. The east end of the church is unusual in possessing polygonal radiating chapels. The transept and nave are covered with cupolas. The monastic buildings, which were used as a tobacco warehouse from 1856 to 1970, have conserved a fine staircase with successive straight flights and a cloister with groined vaulting.
4. Place de l'abbaye
This was created where the monks' cemetery and orchards used to be. At the west end of the church stands the late 11th century tower-cum-porch with its Romanesque modillions. The entry was transformed by the Maurist monks, as is shown by the portal bearing their motto: Pax.
5. Interior of the Abbey Church of Saint Mary
Beneath the tower lies a necropolis used from the 13th to the 15th century (sarcophagi re-using 9th century elements). On the ground floor, there remains a fragment of 12th century wall-painting. The font is surrounded by a wrought-iron grille of high quality.
Enter the nave, which is covered by a line of cupolas on pendentives. The apse is amply lit by vast windows. The work began at the east end in about 1140, and finished at the west end about 1200. As you turn round, in the last bay of the nave you can see a group of Romanesque sculpture of high quality, elements from a doorway carved about 1140 and never put in place. Placed high up are scenes from the legend of Theophilus, a monk who sold his soul to the Devil and was saved by the Virgin. To the right of the door, the prophet Isaiah, legs crossed in a dance movement, announces the Good News "and behold, a Virgin shall conceive". On the right, on the pillar, fantastic animals and humans are interwoven, whilst Abraham prepares to sacrifice Isaac. On the left of the door, the patriarch Joseph was executed by a different hand.
In the nave hangs a painting by Théodore Chassériau (19th century), Christ on the Mount of Olives, and a polyptych showing the Mysteries of the Rosary (16th-17th century).
6. National Museum of Automata and Robotics
This museum has more than 300 items from the Roullet-Descamps workshops on show: mechanical toys, automata, musicians and animated scenes. One of the richest collections in Europe.
7. Place de la Nau
The Occitan name of this square, close to the Borrèze, is a reminder of the river boats, or, more likely, of drinking troughs for animals. On the left, the rue de la Sourde led to the Barebaste mill. On the right, the rue Orbe follows the line of the abbey enclosure. Dark and narrow, it passes under little "bridges" between houses. Opposite you stands a large house (n°s 14 and 16) called the Sales House. It is traditionally said to be the former abbey guest building but the carved cockleshell, drinking gourd and pilgrim's staff are probably re-used from elsewhere. The house on the corner (rue du Pont, rue de Juillet) has traces of 14th century geminate tracery windows and moulded cordons terminating in human heads.
8. Rue du Pont
Going across the place de la Nau, this road led to the only bridge which crossed the Borrèze.
9. Rue de Juillet
Formerly rue de la Borie, this led to the Borie Gate giving access to the Paris-Toulouse road.
N° 10 is a merchant's house with a round arch opening on the ground floor, a 17th century doorway and, on the upper floor, a 15th century mullioned window.
10. Place du Puits
Once the source of supply of drinking water for the whole town, the present square well is no older than 19th century. The Consuls' House was on this square; they formed the town administration until the Revolution.
12. Place des Toiles
This square, whose name recalls the cloth and textile merchants who had their stalls here on market fair days, is a reminder of the considerable commercial activity that went on in Souillac.
13. Rue de la Halle
You are in the former High Street linking the two principal gates of the town, on the Paris-Toulouse route. The Chapeau Rouge inn, often mentioned in texts, welcomed travellers at the north end of the town.
N° 37 is a 15th century house with a double ogee arch on the lintel of one window and a scallop shell motif.
14. Place Roucou
"Roucou" is the Occitan name for weld, or dyer's rocket (reseda luteola) which gives a yellow dye, and is probably a reminder of the dyers' trade.
15. Place Bénétou
This square has been enlarged by the demolition of several houses. You can see a fine 18th century fireplace clinging to a load-bearing wall. At the corner of the square, at the back of a house, stands a defensive tower which may have been part of the castle of the Giguet de la Tour family, recorded in Souillac since 1480.
13. Return to the rue de la Halle
(via the rue du Pressoir)
N° 15: between two houses, there are curious steep, narrow steps, communicating with two entrances. N° 10: now the library, this is a vast 14th century mediaeval house with large tracery windows resting on moulded cordons. In the 18th century, it became the property of the Post Master, M. Dufour. Opposite, the house with a half-timbered side wall has ogee motifs on its string-piece. The school and convent of the Mirepoise Sisters (institution for the instruction of poor girls created in 1665 in Cahors by the Marquise de Mirepoix) stood at the end of this street.
16. Avenue Gambetta
This was opened up in the 19th century, straight through the mediaeval town as can be seen from a fragment of moulded cordon and the jamb of a window with a slim column on the corner of a house.
17. Place Doussot
The 19th century neo-classical market hall stands on white limestone pillars and was doubtless preceded by an earlier structure. As you go towards the place Saint Martin, to the right you can see the house of the Verninac de Saint Maur family. The door bears the family coat of arms and a marine anchor. This family, recorded in Souillac since 1480, produced several famous men, in the political or military field. In 1833, Admiral Raymond Jean Baptiste de Verninac brought the Luxor Obelisk back from Egypt to the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
18. Place Saint-Martin
The church of Saint Martin, the former parish church, became the Town Hall from 1829 to 1985, hence the conversion of the bell-tower into a belfry (with a civilian purpose). Altered many times, it has conserved a Romanesque tympanum showing Christ in majesty, the Virgin, a monk and an angel. Inside, the nave, restored in the 17th century, is still used as a meeting or exhibition room. The Tourist Office is now housed in part of the church.
21. Allées de Verninac
You come to the allées de Verninac, a fine example of a promenade as they used to be set out in the 18th century in many French towns.
Opposite, the Café de Paris was, during the war, the meeting place of intellectuals who had fled to the "Free Zone" (e.g. Tristan Zara, Paul Eluard, Claude Roy and Jean Lurçat), and later became the headquarters of the literary review "Le Point", which no longer exists.
Also worth seeing...
The Louis Vicat Bridge
This bridge, begun in 1812, comprises seven depressed arches with a span of 22 metres each. It solved the traffic problems, as the ferry no longer sufficed to carry the ever-increasing traffic between the two banks. It necessitated the destruction of the Port chapel, and only the statue of the Virgin of Pity was saved. This construction of this bridge is due to the Bridge and Roadways Engineer Louis Vicat, who tried out the natural hydraulic lime process here.
The Bramefond Railway Viaduct
This 14-arch viaduct is the masterpiece of the line from Saint-Denis-les-Martel to Souillac. It was constructed in 1882 by Jean Vilette, and is 320 metres long, 44 metres high and spans a wide area of dry valleys.
OFFICE de TOURISME du PAYS de SOUILLAC - Boulevard Louis Jean Malvy - 46200 SOUILLAC Tel : 05 65 37 81 56 Contact us
