A little history of Pey-Berland tower

This high tower was raised by archbishop of Bordeaux, Pierre Berland, who was born in 1375. Pey means Pierre ("Peter") in Southern France dialect...

This tower is isolated from the cathedral and it looks like a belfry. It was raised on an old cemetery (which dates back from the 11th century) in 1440. We also found an ancient fountain, the famous Divona's spring.

So what's the point of our tower? On ground floor, we find a sepulchral chapel which used to be a lantern. With its three storeys and its tall spire, the tower used to be 80 metres high!

But during the French Revolution, the spire was broken, then our tower was sold in 1820 to a man called Bigourdan, an industrialist who transformed it into a smallshots factory.

France state bought it in 1850 and restored it. At the top of the roof, they put in a statue in 1863, the representation of Our-Lady of Aquitaine, completed by French artisan Chertier.