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New year is celebrated on a great scale here with 30000 people attending the festivities. There are parades, light shows, concerts and many locals decorate their cars and drive around on New Years Eve before the streets are blocked to cars at four o'clock in the afternoon. On Facebook.
The large cathedral that's the namesake of the district dominates the old town. There has been at least two cathedrals here earlier, a Merovingian cathedral founded by St Pallais, and a Romanesque cathedral of which the southern cross and a dome have been incorporated in the current building. The Gothic cathedral was once much higher, up to three times higher than its current version. Traces of the ridge raising up to 39 m are still visible on the bell tower, and arcs on the outside raise up above the roof. During the 15th and 16th centuries it was built to those grand proportions, and the cathedral was almost finished when it was largely destroyed by Protestant troops in 1568 during the French Wars of Religion. There weren't funds to rebuild it as large as it had been, and the current height is about a third of what it once was. Surrounding buildings related to the cathedral like the bishops' residence were also not rebuilt.
An important pedestrian and shopping street, with more than half of the old town's shops. As such it's a great place to just walk around and do window shopping; or to make some side trips along the alleys. Most façades date from the 17th and 18th centuries though there are still some medieval houses left.
Another major shopping street in the old town, also known as the Grand’Rue (big street). It follows the routing of an old Roman street. It's pedestrianized and lined with palms and flowers. Looking towards the Charente river along the street, you can see the Germanicus arc. There's a great variety of businesses on this street from perfume shops and hotels to crêperies and art galleries.
The most "medieval" street of the old town, at least when it comes to the houses lining it which were untouched by the 17th century building project. As there are relatively few businesses, it's much less busy than the shopping streets and even overlooked by visitors spending a short time in the city.
In the heart of the Quartier Saint-Pierre, and first mentioned in a charter from 1340, it was one of the main churches within the city walls in the Middle Ages. The present church was built in "flamboyant Gothic" style, destroyed during the Wars of Religion and rebuilt as a smaller version in 1638. After the revolution it became disused for more than half a century until 1849, then functioning as a Carmelite convent until 1922 when it first became a grocery store and then a warehouse. In 2000 it was acquired by the Fraternity of St. Pius X, renovated, and is once again a religious building.
A Dominican monastery established in 1292, it was rebuilt in the 15th century. After the revolution it became a dwelling house. In the 19th century a certain Maurice Martineau with a large collection of books lived there and as he passed away in 1928, the house and the books became the property of the city. Therethrough the municipal library came into being, and which it has been ever since. Only the Gothic choir with its grand bay and inscriptions reveal that this was once a house of worship.