PEROUGES, FRANCE

MIDDLE AGE IN XXI CENTURY - MAY 2005

Perouges is a lovely well kept medieval treasure located 34 kms from Lyon, 38 kms from Bourg en Bresse, and 120 kms from Geneva. At an altitude of 290 m, it has roughly 900 inhabitants, 80 of which residing within the walled city limits.
Perouges appears to have been founded by a Gallic colony returning from Perugia in Italy. The sites of the two towns are strangely alike, and their ways of spelling are identical. The Romans built a beacon tower here, governing the road from the Rhone valley and defending Lugdunum (Lyon). Standing high on the hill, Perouges was long fought by Savoy and Dauphiné, and finally became French by the Treaty of Lyon in 1601. It was rescued from demolition in 1911, and was freed from Nazi occupation by U.S. and French resistance forces in 1944. On June 27, 1996, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton made a visit to Perouges (just before a G7 meeting was held in Lyon). Mr. Clinton spoke beneath the so-called Tree of Liberty, which was planted in 1792 after the French Revolution and, according to CNN, challenged world leaders to «rally the forces of tolerance and freedom» against terrorism, calling for the same kind of allied solidarity that existed during World War II.


"PLACE DU TILLEUL is one of the best-preserved elements of the town with at the centre, the Tree of Freedom. It is situated at the end of the "Rue des Princes", and its Gothic gallery would often be chosen by the local merchants as a trading place"


"OSTELLERIE DU VIEUX PEROUGES - One of the most beautiful residences of Perouges. It's a corbelled house: vertical beams, horizontal beams and oblique beams encircle bricks... Serving as a hotel and a restaurant, it's a nice place to taste the famous Galette au Sucre"


"RUE DES RONDES/RUE DES PRINCES, with the pavement made of round pebbles, are the two most important streets in town"