Figeac

Grown up around a Benedictine abbey founded in the 9th century on a pilgrimage route to Santiago, Figeac, in the Lot, has kept a remarkably consistent medieval heritage, with half-timbered houses and the stone-slab or tiled roofs typical of the Quercy. The abbey church of Saint-Sauveur, altered many times over the centuries, still dominates the historic centre, where mansions reflect the town's medieval commercial prosperity.

Figeac is also the birthplace of Jean-François Champollion, whose childhood home now houses a museum devoted to the decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphs, extended on the Place des Écritures by a monumental reproduction of the Rosetta Stone carved into the ground. The nearby Célé gorges complete a visit to this region of limestone cliffs and perched Quercy villages.

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