The site has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The Hundred Years War, and then France's bitter "Wars of Religion", turned La Roque Gageac
into a key stronghold, impregnable and densely populated.
Most of its present buildings date from this period, together with its troglodytic forts inside of the cliff (which can be visited)
and vestiges of the former summer palaces of the Bishops of Sarlat.
The village's location turns it virtually into a large natural solarium, and this has made possible the creation of
extraordinary "exotic gardens", alongside the church, halfway up the cliff, with luxuriant sub-tropical and Mediterranean plants.