Cahors Travel Guide

Situated inside a meander of the river Lot surrounded by hills, the city "Divona Cadurcorum" grew up in the 1st century B.C. around the sacred Divona spring now known as the Fontaine des Chartreux. Roman Cahors had an aqueduct bringing water from Vers, villas, temples, a huge theatre and thermal baths. The "Arc de Diane" near the railway station and some sculptures in the Museum Henri Martin are all that have survived from that era.

In the period of the great barbarian invasions (5th to 8th century) the city changed considerably. In the 7th century a strong wall was built confining the city to the eastern side in the area around where the Cathedral and the mediaeval city later developed.

Cahors went through a period of exceptional expansion in the 13th century, linked to the arrival of Lombard bankers and the presence of merchants and businessmen involved in international trade. The façades of the houses in the "rue droite" (now the rue Nationale), rue du Château du Roi and rue des Soubirous date from this period: wide arcades housing shops and workshops and, above, beautiful double windows with fine tracery.

Brick was most commonly used, and stone reserved for the arcades and carvings. A native of Cahors, Jacques Duèze, became Pope John XXII in 1316 and gave the city a Charterhouse and a University, plus a scheme of improvements to the river: locks, weirs, watermills and the Valentré Bridge itself. Around 1345 the existing ramparts were reinforced and a new defensive barrier, of 11 square towers at intervals and two gate towers, was raised to the north of the city, completely closing it off.

Three bridges spanned the river. The oldest, the Pont Vieux, with five defensive towers, carried the north-south traffic while the Pont Neuf (1291) was on the east. The Pont Valentré on the west was added later, with three fortified towers and six arches, a superb example of mediaeval defensive architecture. The slow progress of the building work, begun in 1308 and finished some seventy years later, gave rise to a legend about the Devil, remembered by the little carved devil dating from the restoration work of 1879 on top of the central tower.

The Cathedral dates from the 11th to 17th centuries and was restored in the 19th century. The massive Western tower was added in the early 14th century, giving the building a completely new façade. The houses clustered around the cathedral were demolished, creating a new courtyard, now place Chapou and the market place. In the 15th and 16th centuries, chapels were added and the present cloister, built in the Flamboyant Gothic style, was begun around 1506.

At the end of the 15th century, mouldings in the form of branches with pruned-back side shoots and motifs such as full-blown roses and flaming suns appeared on the city's facades, around doorways and windows and on chimney pieces. Intellectual life flourished, based on the University, and in the 17th century fine town houses were built and open galleries fronted with basket-handle arches were created on top floors.

In the 19th century, development spread to the west of the old city and Boulevard Gambetta became the main street, created where the ditch outside the city wall used to run. The houses on the east side of the boulevard were altered by decree to make them the same height, forming the terraces still visible now. The new Town Hall, theatre, Law Courts, and library were built, new streets, wide malls, promenades and gardens were created and quays completed along the banks of the Lot.

The city now has a relaxed feel with many pavement cafes and restaurants, especially along the Boulevard Gambetta, and is especially good to visit on a market day when the square by the cathedral is humming with activity.

Market days: Open market in Place Chapou by the cathedral on wednesday and saturday mornings. Small covered market open every day except monday. Fairs in Place François Mitterand every 1st and 3rd Saturday.

River trips: in summer.

There are many restaurants and cafes as well as shops of all kinds.