Le Puy-en-Velay is a very special village in the mountainous Auvergne with a population of about 20 thousand . douche and with an annual influx of travelers of about 700 thousand . person . Its special makes not so much a location as a close and centuries-old the connection with Christianity . The town appeared here in ancient times, but later the pilgrimage of St. James took place through it . The first church was built in the city in 430 g .: then, according to legend, in place of the ancient barbaric settlement to people Hail Mary . And today hundreds of travelers and pilgrims, and ordinary tourists, come to Le Puy-en-Vel, to make the difficult journey to the main Christian shrine of the local places - the chapel of St. . Michael .

How to get to Le Puy-en-Velay

The city is approximately the same distance from Clermont-Ferrand (125 km ) and Lyon (135 km). Trains from the Lyon station "Part Die" and from the main station Clermont-Ferrand go to the city 3-5 times a day (the journey time is about 2 hours). To get there by car on the highway is also easy.

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Entertainment, excursions and attractions Le Puy-en-Velay

The town of Le Puy-en-Velay looks like from the side more than peculiarly due to the strange and bizarre natural landscape. The rocky valley in which it is located is literally pitted with solitary cliffs of varying degrees of steepness, often as if growing on level ground. And on the territory of the city itself, similar cliffs of volcanic rock are three. On each one is one of the most famous religious, cultural and historical sites of Le Puy-en-Velay.

The first and probably the most important object to visit in Le Puy-en-Velay is the church of St. Michel on the cliff d 'Aegil . Chapel of St. Michael - one of the most ancient in the whole country . But not even this is so noteworthy in it The . Chapel is built on a free-standing steep rock of volcanic origin, and it should be climbed to a height of 85 m . For this, 268 steps are hollowed out in a steep cliff, but this climb is not easy for everyone . По compared with the city's cathedral, the chapel looks sternly and ascetically, and its view against the sky, just outside the city center, gives the panorama of the city an original drama .

The church was built in 962 g . in honor of the successful completion of the first pilgrimage along the way of St. James in Santiago de Compostella . This pilgrimage journey was undertaken by the local bishop . His success made Le Puy-en-Velay for many years one of the four starting points for those who decided later to repeat the way of the saint to Spain . Belfry Younger than the chapel itself for a couple of centuries; around the same time the church was added with porticoes and galleries . The exterior was decorated with new frescoes, and the old ones were restored . Moreover, as it turned out in 1955 . during the restoration of the chapel, precious icons and ecclesiastical utensils - today everyone can admire the finds .

The second monumental landmark of the city and also directly related to religion is, of course, the cathedral . The view of Notre Dame is a good contrast with the chapel of Saint-Michel: this is not the usual medieval eye French Gothic and not even the Romanesque church . The closest architectural style of the cathedral would be the term "Mavro-Byzantine", but in general the elements of all the above-mentioned architectural styles are mixed, from the 5th to the 15th century . The basis of the current building is the construction of the first half of the 12th century . Supposedly, the atypical appearance was given to the cathedral just because of the campaigns to the Holy Land: the religious leader of the First Crusade was a bishop from Le Puy .

The climb here is not too steep, and the ladder to the main entrance in the central nave is enough Very wide, so that everyone can reach the cathedral . Once inside Cornelia, where Notre-Dame stands, you need to climb 60 steps to the central arch . In the center of the cathedral stands a sculpture depicting St. James, and near it - the door that served as a symbolic passage to the beginning of the pilgrimage route . Together with the 12th-century cloister built during the reign of the Carolingians and the Romanesque seven-storey belltower, the cathedral in 1998 . was declared a part of the World Heritage by UNESCO .

And, finally, the third Christian shrine Le Puy-en-Velay is a giant statue of the Virgin with a baby that towers over the city in a picturesque and almost unapproachable cliff, the highest of all. The sculpture was cast from 213 Russian cannons, which were captured during the Crimean War, in the Battle of Sevastopol. The author of the rose statue was the sculptor Jean-Marie Bonnassier, and the grand opening of the monument took place in 1860 and gathered 120,000 spectators.

The city itself is not so large and sympathetic enough to spend a few days pleasantly after the " mandatory program "of the tourist. Other attractions of Le Puy - is, for example, a small octagonal chapel Saint-Clair at the entrance to the old part of the city, built in the 12th century. On the square of the old Town Hall stands a tall and quite impressive cross of the 15th century, and here you can see a pseudo-gothic fountain of the 19th century.

The center of secular, tourist and gastronomic life of the town can be considered a square with a fountain of Crozatier. And the museum of the same name in a beautiful building in the garden of Henri Wiene, that in the southern part of the city, has a serious collection of art objects and archaeological finds in the region of Velé and the Upper Loire. On Rafael street there is an exhibition center and a museum at the school of lace making, where workshops for children and adults are held. Those who wish can visit the local brewery and the distillery where the famous "Verwaine" is made.

And three miles north of Le Puy is the castle of Polignac, one of the most important feudal possessions of the surrounding area, which is a fortress on a mighty rock. A bit to the south, near Solignac, is the picturesque Boma cascade, a waterfall in a shady green valley.

Cuisine Le Puy-en-Velay

The town is famous for two special gastronomic specialties. Firstly, it is a local variety of green lentils, very shallow and almost black in color. In its composition, there is a lot of protein and few carbohydrates, for which it is particularly valued. Lentils go to soups and as a garnish to goose, duck and sausages, and its name is protected by geographical origin. The second local delicacy is the green liqueur "Verwaine" with the aroma of verbena.