The story of this place
The walled hilltop village of Pérouges, near Lyon, is a near-perfect fragment of the Middle Ages: cobbled lanes of round river stones, timber-framed and stone houses of weavers and craftsmen, a fortified church that doubled as a refuge, and gates still guarding the entrances. In 1468 the village withstood a siege by the neighbouring Dauphiné, and a stone plaque still boasts of the victory. As industry passed it by, Pérouges dwindled almost to a ghost town by 1900, with barely a few families left—which paradoxically saved its medieval fabric from modernisation. Rescued and restored from 1911, it has since served as a backdrop for dozens of historical films, from The Three Musketeers to Monsieur Vincent.