Le Puy-en-Velay

Le Puy-en-Velay
region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Haute Loire
Arrondissement	Le Puy-en-Velay
Canton	Capital of 4 cantons: Le Puy-en-Velay-1 Le Puy-en-Velay-2 Le Puy-en-Velay-3 Le Puy-en-Velay-4
Community association	Puy-en-Velay
Coordinates	45 ° 3 '  N , 3 ° 53'  E Coordinates: 45 ° 3 '  N , 3 ° 53'  E
height	600-888 m
surface	16.79 km 2
Residents	18,995 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	1,131 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	43000
INSEE code	43157
Website	Community website
View over the city

The French city of Le Puy-en-Velay is located in the department of Haute-Loire in the region Auvergne Rhône-Alpes and is equipped with 18,995 inhabitants (as of January 1 2017) the largest city of the department. The city is the seat of the prefecture of the department. The prefecture also administers the arrondissement Le Puy-en-Velay , which consists of nine cantons , it is the main town (French: chef-lieu ) of the cantons Le Puy-en-Velay-1 , Le Puy-en-Velay-2 , Le Puy-en-Velay-3 and Le Puy-en-Velay-4 .

The city is a major tourist destination because of its peculiar location in a volcanic landscape . On March 18, 1988, the name of the town was changed from Le Puy to Le Puy-en-Velay.

As one of the starting points for the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela and as a diocese with a history spanning more than a thousand years, the city has always been an important cultural center.

geography

Le-Puy-en-Velay is about 625 meters high in the south massif Central in the southeast of the Auvergne, in the Velay landscape .

It is 135 km from Lyon , 130 km from Clermont-Ferrand and 75 km from Saint-Étienne . The nearest major centers are, apart from Lyon in the northeast, Toulouse (252 km) in the southwest, Bordeaux (353 km) in the west and Montpellier (159 km) in the south.

coat of arms

Description: Sown in blue with golden lilies , a soaring silver eagle with red weapons and a red tongue.

Attractions

Le Puy-en-Velay Cathedral

• The city's eye-catchers are the basalt domes ( puys ), former volcanic vents . The church of Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe (Saint Michael on the needle) is enthroned on one of these two crests . A temple that was probably dedicated to the god Mercury had already stood here in Roman times. In the 10th century the first Christian chapel was built, of which remains still exist. A hundred years later a larger chapel was built around it. The new building takes up the entire summit area and adapts to the natural shape of the rock with its outline. The portal at the end of the staircase is richly decorated, in contrast to the interior of the chapel. The influence of Iberian-Arabic art can probably be explained by the connection to the end point of the medieval pilgrimage in Santiago de Compostela. Two sirens with nets appear in the lintel as symbols of seduction.
• On the neighboring volcanic cone, the Rocher Corneille , stands the statue of Notre-Dame de la France , 16 meters tall, erected in 1860, cast from the metal of 213 cannons captured during the Crimean War near Sevastopol and now painted pink. The statue is illuminated at night and gives a particularly 'lovely' picture.
• The Le Puy Cathedral is part of the UNESCO - World Heritage " way of pilgrims in France ." It stands at the foot of the Rocher Corneille volcanic cone .

and display information about the image

Panorama picture

Way of St. James ( Via Podiensis )

Le Puy-en-Velay is the starting point of the French Way of St. James " Via Podiensis ". It is incorporated into the French long-distance hiking network as the GR 65 . There are several stage accommodations (French: Gîte d'étape ) and a youth hostel available for pilgrims . Le Puy-en-Velay can be reached by train from Saint-Etienne or Clermont-Ferrand . The next larger town on the Camino de Santiago is Saint-Privat-d'Allier . The direct road connection there is via the D31 .

various

• Le Puy has the privilege of celebrating a Holy Year when on March 25th the solemnity of the Annunciation and Good Friday coincide. This was the case in 2005 and 2016 and will not take place again until 2157.

• Le Puy's green lentil ( La Lentille Verte du Puy AOC ) is a well-known city specialty that is used in fine lentil dishes.

• The footballers of Club Omnisports du Puy (today: Le Puy Foot 43 Auvergne ) played in the second half of the 1980s under professional conditions in the French second division .

• Every year on May 1st, the "15 km Internationaux du Puy en Velay" takes place, an international top-class road race over 15 km with around 1000 runners.

Personalities

Virgin Mary statue on the Rocher Corneille in Le Puy

• Romain du Puy (before 1085 - after 1134), crusader, lord of Outrejordain
• Agnes von Langeac (1602–1634), beatified Dominican and mystic
• Régis Barthélemy Mouton-Duvernet (1770–1816), general of the infantry
• Charles Crozatier (1795–1855), sculptor
• Jules Vallès (1832–1885), journalist, novelist, publicist and social and literary critic
• Charles Dupuy (1851–1923), philosophy professor and several times Prime Minister of France
• Émile Fayolle (1852–1928), general and later Marshal of France
• Robert Pandraud (1928-2010), Conservative politician, Interior Minister 1986-88
• Jean-Claude Risset (1938–2016), composer and pioneer of computer music
• Grégory Coupet (* 1972), football player
• Laurent Courthaliac (* 1973), jazz musician
• Sidney Govou (* 1979), football player
• Bruno Julliard (* 1981), student activist and politician
• Marion Bartoli (* 1984), tennis player

Town twinning

• Meschede , Germany
• Tonbridge , Kent, UK
• Brugherio , Lombardy , Italy
• Tortosa , Catalonia, Spain
• Mangualde , Portugal

• 

  Saint Michel

• 

  cathedral

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  Madonna

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  Saint Michel

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  cathedral

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  Cathedral and Madonna

literature

• Marcel Durliat : Romanesque Art (= Ars antiqua. Series 3). Herder, Freiburg et al. 1983, ISBN 3-451-19402-3 , p. 487, fig. 400, 401.
• Bettina Forst : French Way of St. James. From Le Puy-en-Velay to Roncesvalles. All stages - with variants and height profiles (= Rother hiking guide. ). Bergverlag Rother, Munich (recte: Ottobrunn) 2007, ISBN 978-3-7633-4350-8 .
• Viviane Minne – Sève : Romanesque cathedrals and art treasures in France. Bechtermünz, Eltville 1991, ISBN 3-927117-84-6 , p. 111.
• Ulrich Rosenbaum : Auvergne and Massif Central. Voyages of discovery from Clermont-Ferrand over the volcanoes and gorges of the Massif Central to the Cevennes National Park (= DuMont art travel guide. ). DuMont-Buchverlag, Cologne 1981, ISBN 3-7701-1111-7 , p. 175, fig. 81-87, color table 32-34, (7th edition, ibid 1989).
• Michael Ruetz : France. Süddeutscher Verlag, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-7991-6485-5 , p. 98.
• Bert Teklenborg : Cycling along the Camino de Santiago. From the Rhine to the western end of Europe. (Cycling guide, route planner). 3rd, revised edition. Publishing House Tyrolia, Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 978-3-7022-2626-8 .
• Ingeborg Tetzlaff : Romanesque capitals in France. Lion and snake, siren and angel (= DuMont-Kunst-Taschenbücher. 38). DuMont Schauberg, Cologne 1976, ISBN 3-7701-0889-2 , Figs. 17-23, (3rd edition, ibid 1979).
• Ingeborg Tetzlaff: Romanesque portals in France. Scales and swords, keys and writing (= DuMont-Kunst-Taschenbücher. 56). DuMont, Cologne 1977, ISBN 3-7701-0997-X , Fig. 62.

Web links

Commons : Le Puy-en-Velay  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Local tourist office
• Along the Via Podiensis (French)
• Le Puy interactive (French)
• Website of the annual sporting event "International 15 km from Le Puy-en-Velay" (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Congregational information on annuaire-mairie.fr (French). Retrieved on January 21, 2010

Way of St. James " Via Podiensis "

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