Cathedral of Clermont-Ferrand

Hello everyone,

My name is Shane and along with my partner Vincent, we are going to introduce you to a cathedral in Clermont-Ferrand, called “Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption de Clermont”. Vincent and I are both “newbies” here in Clermont-Ferrand but we both agree that this Cathedral caught our attention when we came here.

We wanted to introduce this cathedral in this project because it is one of the most representative buildings of Clermont-Ferrand. It’s also well-known by the Catholic community as one of the steps of the Saint-Jacques of Compostela pilgrimage. As this pilgrimage is very famous throughout Europe, this cathedral can be seen as an important European cultural reference

Well first of all, it is huge and it also stands out amongst the buildings around it because of its height. Moreover the Cathedral was built entirely in black lava stone and its two towers are 108 meters high which makes the whole structure rather impressive.

The cathedral has been knocked down and rebuilt several times since the 5^th Century, but the structure as we know it today, was designed in 1248 by an architect named Jean Deschamps, and then went through a lot of different renovations and modifications that led us to our current cathedral.

It’s a roman-gothic cathedral and remains as a French national monument. Once you enter, brace yourself because the inside is as captivating as the outside. It’s better to come when the sun is still out, because there are magnificent stain glasses in different colors almost everywhere including the ceiling. As you can imagine, the colors are reflected on the floor as if it was painted.

There are also murals that are as captivating as the stain glass windows. We could go on forever describing this Cathedral but we will only mention a few to not spoil the surprise when you come here yourselves. You can go up 250 stairs in order to reach the top. It is tiring however; your effort will be rewarded with a breath-taking view of Clermont-Ferrand. As a plus, you won’t feel cold anymore in this weather after going up all those steps.         

We hope you enjoyed this little post on the Cathedral here at Clermont-Ferrand and that you have also felt its beauty as we did.

Vincent and Shane