Clermont-Ferrand

Clermont-Ferrand's first name was Augusta Nemetum. It was born on the central knoll where the cathedral is situated today, known then as Nemossos. It overlooked the capital of Gaulish Avernie. The fortified castle of Clarus Mons gave its name to the whole town in 848, to which the small episcopal town of Montferrand was attached in 1731, together taking the name of Clermont-Ferrand. The old part of Clermont is delimited by the route of the ramparts, as they existed at the end of the Middle Ages. The town of Clermont-Ferrand came about with the joining together of two separate towns, Clermont and Montferrand, which was decreed by Louis XIII and confirmed by Louis XV.[6]

Statue of Vercingétorix by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi on the main square of the city

Clermont ranks among the oldest cities of France. The first known mention was by the Greek geographer Strabo, who called it the "metropolis of the Arverni" (meaning their oppidum, civitas or tribal capital). The city was at that time called Nemessos – a Gaulish word for a sacred forest, and was situated on the mound where the cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand stands today. Somewhere in the area around Nemossos the Arverni chieftain Vercingetorix (later to head a unified Gallic resistance to the Roman invasion led by Julius Caesar) was born around 72 BC. Also, Nemossos was situated not far from the plateau of Gergovia, where Vercingetorix repulsed the Roman assault at the Battle of Gergovia in 52 BC. After the Roman conquest, the city became known as Augustonemetum sometime in the 1st century, a name which combined its original Gallic name with that of the Emperor Augustus. Its population was estimated at 15,000–30,000 in the 2nd century, making it one of the largest cities of Roman Gaul. It then became Arvernis in the 3rd century, taking its name, like other Gallic cities in this era, from the people who lived within its walls.

The city became the seat of a bishop in the 5th century, at the time of the bishop Namatius or Saint Namace, who built a cathedral here described by Gregory of Tours. Clermont went through a dark period after the disappearance of the Roman Empire and during the whole High Middle Ages, marked by pillaging by the peoples who invaded Gaul. Between 471 and 475, Auvergne was often the target of Visigothic expansion, and the city was frequently besieged, including once by Euric. Although defended by Sidonius Apollinaris, at the head of the diocese from 468 to 486, and the patrician Ecdicius, the city was ceded to the Visigoths by emperor Julius Nepos in 475 and became part of the Visigothic kingdom until 507. A generation later, it became part of the Kingdom of the Franks. On 8 November 535 the first Council of Clermont opened at Arvernis (Clermont), with fifteen bishops participating, including Caesarius of Arles, Nizier of Lyons, Bishop of Trier, and Saint Hilarius, Bishop of Mende. The Council issued 16 decrees. The second canon reiterythe principal that the granting of episcopal dignity must be according to the merits and not as a result of intrigues.

In 570, Bishop Avitus ordered the Jews of the city, who numbered over 500, to accept Christian baptism or be expelled.[7]

In 848, the city was renamed Clairmont, after the castle Clarus Mons. During this era, it was an episcopal city ruled by its bishop. Clermont was not spared by the Vikings at the time of the weakening of the Carolingian Empire: it was ravaged by the Normans under Hastein or Hastingen in 862 and 864 and, while its bishop Sigon carried out reconstruction work, again in 898 (or 910, according to some sources). Bishop Étienne II built a new Romanesque cathedral which was consecrated in 946. It was almost entirely replaced by the current Gothic cathedral, though the crypt survives and the towers were only replaced in the 19th century.

Galeries of Jaude

Clermont was the starting point of the First Crusade, in which Christendom sought to free Jerusalem from Muslim domination. Pope Urban II preached the crusade in 1095, at the Second Council of Clermont. In 1120, following repeated crises between the counts of Auvergne and the bishops of Clermont and in order to counteract the clergy's power, the counts founded the rival city of Montferrand on a mound next to the fortifications of Clermont, on the model of the new cities of the Midi that appeared in the 12th and 13th centuries. Until the early modern period, the two remained separate cities: Clermont, an episcopal city; Montferrand, a comital one.

Clermont became a royal city in 1551, and in 1610, the inseparable property of the French Crown. On 15 April 1630 the Edict of Troyes (the First Edict of Union) joined the two cities of Clermont and Montferrand. This union was confirmed in 1731 by Louis XV with the Second Edict of Union. At this time, Montferrand was no more than a satellite city of Clermont, and it remained so until the beginning of the 20th century. Wishing to retain its independence, Montferrand made three demands for independence, in 1789, 1848, and 1863.

In the 20th century, construction of the Michelin factories and of city gardens, which shaped modern Clermont-Ferrand, united the two cities, although two distinct downtowns survive and Montferrand retains a strong identity.

The city is in the rain shadow of the Chaîne des Puys, giving it one of the driest climates in metropolitan France, except for a few places around the Mediterranean Sea. The mountains also block most of the oceanic influence of the Atlantic, which creates a climate much more continental than nearby cities west or north of the mountains, like Limoges and Montluçon. Thus the city has comparatively cold winters and hot summers. From November to March, frost is very frequent, and the city, being at the bottom of a valley, is frequently subject to temperature inversion, in which the mountains are sunny and warm, and the plain is freezing cold and cloudy. Snow is quite common, although usually short-lived and light. Summer temperatures often exceed 35 °C (95 °F), with sometimes violent thunderstorms. The highest temperature was reached in 2019 of 40.9 °C (105.6 °F) while the lowest was -29.0 °C (-20.2 °F).

Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral of Notre-Dame de l'Assomption.

Clermont-Ferrand has two famous churches. One is Notre-Dame du Port, a Romanesque church which was built during the 11th and 12th centuries (the bell tower and was rebuilt during the 19th century). It was nominated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998. The other is Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption de Clermont-Ferrand), built in Gothic style between the 13th and the 19th centuries.

Lecoq Garden (Jardin Lecoq)

• Jardin Lecoq
• Parc du Montjuzet
• Jardin botanique de la Charme
• Arboretum de Royat
• Jardin botanique d'Auvergne

Tramway in Clermont-Ferrand

The main railway station has connections to Paris and several regional destinations: Lyon, Moulins via Vichy, Le Puy-en-Velay, Aurillac, Nîmes, Issoire, Montluçon and Thiers.

The motorway A71 connects Clermont-Ferrand with Orléans and Bourges, the A75 with Montpellier and the A89 with Bordeaux, Lyon and Saint-Étienne (A72). The airport offers mainly flights within France. There is a flight between Southampton and Clermont-Ferrand, operated by Flybe from May to October. Recently, Clermont-Ferrand was France's first city to get a new Translohr transit system, the Clermont-Ferrand Tramway, thereby linking the city's north and south neighbourhoods.

The TGV will arrive in Auvergne after 2030. It will be one of the last regions to not have a TGV stop.

A racing circuit, the Charade Circuit, close to the city, using closed-off public roads held the French Grand Prix in 1965, 1969, 1970 and 1972. It was a daunting circuit, with such harsh elevation changes that caused some drivers to be ill as they drove. Winners included Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart (twice), and Jochen Rindt.

Clermont-Ferrand has some experience in hosting major international sports tournaments such as the FIBA EuroBasket 1999.

The city is also host to a rugby union club competing at international level, ASM Clermont Auvergne, as well as Clermont Foot Auvergne, a football club that has competed in France's second division, Ligue 2, since the 2007–08 season.

In the sevens version of rugby union, Clermont-Ferrand has hosted the France Women's Sevens, the final event in each season's World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, since 2016.

Laure Boulleau

Yves Dreyfus

Audrey Tautou

• Avitus (c. 385–after 17 October 456 or in 457), Western Roman Emperor from 8 or 9 July 455 to 17 October 456,
• Fadela Amara (born 25 April 1964), politician
• Chakir Ansari (born 1991), Olympic wrestler
• Laure Boulleau (born 1986), football player, member of French national team
• Vincent Cé Ougna, footballer
• Nicolas Chamfort (1741–1794), writer
• Étienne Clémentel (1864– 1936), politician
• Jacques Delille (1738–1813), poet
• Patrick Depailler (1944–1980), Formula One driver
• Yves Dreyfus (born 1931), Olympic medalist épée fencer[12]
• Lolo Ferrari (1963–2000), dancer
• Ginette Hamelin (4 March 1913 – 14 October 1944), French engineer and architect; member of the French resistance; died in a concentration camp

• Annelise Hesme (born 1976), actress
• Thierry Laget (born 1959), writer, winner of the 1992 prix Fénéon
• Edmond Lemaigre (1849–1890), composer and organist
• Antoine de L'Hoyer (1768–1852), composer, guitarist, soldier
• Bernard Loiseau (1951– 2003), celebrity chef
• Jordan Loties, footballer
• François-Bernard Mâche (born 1935), composer
• André Michelin (1853–1931) and Édouard Michelin (1859–1940), creators of the group Michelin (tire) whose global headquarters is still located in Clermont-Ferrand
• Darline Nsoki, basketball player
• George Onslow (27 July 1784 – 3 October 1853), composer
• Victor Pachon (1867–1938), physiologist
• Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662), mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher
• Jacqueline Pascal (4 October 1625 – 4 October 1661), sister of Blaise Pascal
• Gabriella Papadakis (born 1995), ice dance World and European champion
• Dominique Perrault (born 1953), architect
• Henri Pognon (1853–1921), epigrapher, archaeologist and diplomat
• Henri Quittard (1864–1919), composer, musicologist
• Aurélien Rougerie (born 1980), rugby union player, member of the French national team
• Christian Sarron (born 1955), Grand Prix motorcycle road racer
• Audrey Tautou (born 1976), actress
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955), Jesuit priest, paleontologist, philosopher

Claude Lanzmann

• Sidonius Apollinaris (c. 430–after 489), Gallo-Roman poet, diplomat and bishop
• Henri Bergson (18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941), philosopher
• Paul Bourget (2 September 1852 – 25 December 1935), novelist and critic
• Anton Docher (1852–1928) "The Padre of Isleta", Roman Catholic priest, missionary and defender of the Indians lived in the pueblo of Isleta in the state of New Mexico for 34 years
• Ivor Bueb (6 June 1923 – 1 August 1959) was a British professional sports car racing and Formula One driver from England.
• Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (born 2 February 1927), has lived in the city of Chamalières, part of Clermont-Ferrand's metropolitan area, President of France from 1974 to 1981
• Claude Lanzmann (27 November 1925 – 5 July 2018), film maker, attended the Lycée Blaise-Pascal