Photo : BiacheB / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Site troglodytique de Jonas
The Jonas caves, at Saint-Pierre-Colamine, in the Puy-de-Dôme, form an old troglodyte village entirely dug by hand in a volcanic tufa cliff. They sheltered a true community in the Middle Ages, in more than sixty rooms spread over several levels: dwellings, bread oven, remains of a castle and outbuildings cut into the rock.
The site is mostly renowned for its Romanesque chapel, supported by seven columns that carry round arches. It keeps medieval wall frescoes, which sources date from the ninth to the eleventh century according to datings, and which illustrate notably the Passion of Christ. The church and the Jonas cave are protected as historic monuments.
The visit, free or guided depending on the period, lets you walk the galleries and understand daily life in this hanging village. The site is in the Sancy massif, south-west of Clermont-Ferrand.
