Photo : Arisu789 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Clermont-Ferrand
Clermont-Ferrand is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme, set at 386 m altitude at the foot of the Chaîne des Puys, inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage since 2018, and above the fertile Limagne plain. The present city results from the union, in 1731, of two rival towns, Clermont and Montferrand, after an edict of Louis XIII in 1630.
Its image owes much to the black Volvic stone, a lava quarried nearby, from which the cathedral of Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption and a large part of the old centre are built, giving it its dark tint. The philosopher Blaise Pascal is linked to the city, which is also the seat of Michelin, whose industrial history is presented at L'Aventure Michelin.
Clermont-Ferrand has about 146,000 inhabitants, and its conurbation nearly 273,000. It is also a large university town, with some 40,000 students. It is a convenient starting point for reaching the Auvergne volcanoes, which rise a few kilometres to the west.
