Our Blog - Clermont-Ferrand

We decided to cut the drive to Paris/Versailles into two pieces. It is only 6 hours, but it gave us an opportunity to see 2 other cities along the way up and back. On the way up, we decided on Clermont-Ferrand. We had never heard of it before about 2 years ago, when we saw a House Hunters International episode where a couple was relocating to Clermont-Ferrand due to a job transfer. The drive started out very foggy but cleared up about halfway through the drive. As we got close to Clermont-Ferrand, we started seeing what the area is known for ... the Puy's. The word Puy is the geological term used in this area for a volcanic hill. The city sits on a plain the Massif Central and is famous for the Chaîne des Puys (a chain of these volcanic hills) that surrounds it. The highest is the Puy de Dôme, which sticks out and is visible from quite some distance away.

Clermont-Ferrand is actually two cities (Clermont and Montferrand) that were joined together in 1731. Clermont is one of the oldest cities in France, going back to Roman times. Clermont was the starting point of the First Crusade with Pope Urban II preaching to the crusade in 1095, at the Second Council of Clermont (there is a large status of Pope Urban next to the cathedral).

Clermont-Ferrand's most famous public square is Place de Jaude, on which stands a grand statue of Vercingetorix sitting imperiously on a horse and holding a sword. The inscription reads: J'ai pris les armes pour la liberté de tous (I took up arms for the liberty of all). This statue was sculpted by Frédéric Bartholdi, who also created the Statue of Liberty.

Also in Place de Jaude is a statue of Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, a French general and military leader. After a set of small initial successes, he got himself added to a mission into Italy in order to meet General Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon transferred him to the expeditionary force bound for Egypt where he was victorious in Upper Egypt. In addition to this statue, he also has a monument that you will see later, and his name is written on a face of the Arc de Triomphe, with other great military figures of the French Revolution.

The tourist office has done a decent job of having self-guided walking tours. There are 3 within the downtown area of Clermont and one in Montferrand. The 3 in Clermont start at Place de la Victoire (where the tourist office and the Cathedral are) and a series of medallions in the roads and sidewalks indicate the right path. At each point, there is a panel that has information about what you should see there. The negative is that the information is in French (which we can read, but not everybody can). As we did a couple of the walks, we saw quite a few nice decorative doors and carvings.

This lovely house is the format home to Jean-Baptiste Bargoin, who was a pharmacist and botanist in the 1800's. It is built from volcanic rock from the nearby hills and is highly decorated. Initially, we thought the city was quite "dirty" due to the buildings being black, until we realized that while they may be a little dirty, they are built from a black volcanic rock.

Nearby is the Bargoin Museum, the first museum in Clermont (opened in 1903), which was created thanks to the legacy of the same Jean-Baptiste Bargoin. The building itself looks a little like a Greek temple to me.

I mentioned previously that Louis Charles Antoine Desaix had another monument, which in shown here. On the sides are plaques that speak to his successes ... including Italie, Egypt, and Rhin.

Here are a few pictures of the city with the volcanic "puys" in the background.

The Hôtel-Dieu is a former hospital dating back to the 18th century. Nearby is the Fountain of the Queen, which was erected in 1853.

Probably the biggest sight in town in the Cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand. It is built entirely in black lava stone, which makes it highly distinctive, and visible from a long way away. It has twin spires that tower above the town's rooftops at over 350 feet tall. The first cathedral here was in the 5th century, but it was replaced multiple times. The present crypt (made up of an ambulatory and radiating chapels) dates back to this 10th century church, and included a 4th-century white marble sarcophagus. The Northern Gothic cathedral was inspired by Sainte-Chappelle in Paris in 1248. It took a long time to complete, from 1248 through 1884 (with a break, of course, for the French Revolution). The future King Philip III was married here to Isabella of Aragon, and his father, King Louis IX, financed part of the stained glass windows that came from the same workshop as those in Sainte-Chappelle.

The interior

This is probably a broken record by now, by I really do love stained-glass windows, especially really nice ones. I'm not sure if these are ones that came from those financed by Louis IX, but they were quite impressive. Here are a few general ones:

This is the Chapel of the Book of Genesis, which recounts the creation of the world and the story of the original sin. The first picture shows the whole window, then the 2nd is the closeup of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the next show the story of Noah's Ark.

Chapel Saint-George and a set of 13th-century frescoes depicting scenes from the life of Saint-George.

Another set of frescoes are found in the Chapel Saint Mary Magdalene, these dating from the 13th and 15th centuries that were hidden behind some wooden panels. The stained glass shows the legend of Saint Mary Magdalene.

Fontaine d'Amboise was moved to this location in 1962, after being at the crossroads of Sablon and Avenue Carnot from 1854-1962, near the Notre-Dame du Port church from 1808-1854, and in Place Derrière-Clermont before that. It was made in 1511 at the request of Bishop d'Amboise entirely of Volcanic stone. It is interesting in that it shows the transition between several styles: the "flying buttresses" on the 2nd level along with very Renaissance carved elements that also show a clear Italian influence: foliage, masks, grotesque.

The Hôtel de Ville is a large Neoclassical building, although somewhat hard to get a picture of as this side is on a small side-street. Also built of the same, black volcanic stone, it was finished in 1844.

This is a great store-front with Art Nouveau elements.

Basilique du Port is a Romanesque basilica that was built in a beige sandstone, very different from some of the other buildings that were built of black volcanic stone. There was a church here starting in the 6th century was was rebuilt several times, including in the 12th century after being burned down by the Normans. It looks really nice at this point of time due to a major restoration that took place in 2007-2008.

The crypt underground has a wooden statue of a Black Virgin on a throne, which dates back to the 18th century.

And the monument to their war dead from the First World War.

Fountain Delille dates from the late 19th century and takes its' name from Father Delille, who was a poet and translator and is thought to be a native of Clermont-Ferrand.

This is an interesting façade, that of the Pharmacie of Léon Gros. Dr. Gros was a lover of ancient Egypt, and commissioned the same group that did decorative mosaics in Luxor to decorate the front of his new pharmacy in 1921. Initially, it was decorated in this Egyptian style on both the inside and outside, but the interior decorations are now gone.

Rue des Chaussetiers is characteristic of streets from the medieval times and several of the buildings have interesting items on their façades.

And finally, the Theater, which was started in 1891 to replace an older theater from 1759 which became too small. As you can see, the exterior has a very Italian style to it.