PUY-EN-VELAY
Le Puy, the city with the enormous statue of Maria made out of bronze, the capital of the Verveine liqueur and the holy “Black Madonna”.
PUY-EN-VELAY
Le Puy, the city with the enormous statue of Maria made out of bronze, the capital of the Verveine liqueur and the holy “Black Madonna”. Le Puy is a nice city to visit with a lot of interesting things to see and visit.
View over Puy-en-Velay
Place du Plot
Le Puy is one of the oldest cities in France together with Chartres, where Marian Devotion has developed since the Middle Ages. Traditionally Le Puy is a pilgrimage and a departure point for the pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostella.
The cathedral Notre Dame is one of buildings on the list of the world cultural heritages, it’s a very impressive building. The Black Madonna is in this church, the interior has Byzantine influences and the facades are coloured lava with mosaic decorations.
Rock Corneille
Panorama of Puy-en-Velay
You can look everywhere around the cathedral for parts of the episcopal complex. The statue of the Notre-Dame de France (22.70m) made from bronze canons from the Krim war stands high above the city, the long climb to the statue is rewarded with a beautiful view over the surroundings of Le Puy and on the city itself.
You can see the volcanic origin of the territory very clear, such as the lava-cone on which the statue is placed, on the north-side of the statue there’s the Rocher Corneille, on which there’s another church, Chapel Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe build. For everyone who climbed the 82 meter high lava-cone by the 268 steps stairs, the visit to this beautiful Roman chapel from the 10th century is a great reward and certainly worth doing for.
The cathedral and statue
The statue dominating the town
Notre-Dame du France
If you don’t want to climb the Roche Corneille you can visit the small but pleasant streets of the old town, Place du Plot which is full of colourful houses is certainly worth a visit, from there if you follow Rue Pannesac you come across a lot of old and beautiful renaissance buildings which present very clearly the richness of the old habitants.
Town center
Town center in full colours
If you want another great view of Le Puy you can on the way back take the D590 to Espaly-Saint-Marcel and climb Rocher Saint-Joseph, from the highest terrace there you’ve got a terrific view on the city.
You can visit this site for more information about Le Puy-en-Velay. http://www.lepuyenvelay.fr/.
Rock Saint-Joseph
Rock Saint-Joseph with castle
Panorama from Rock Saint-Joseph
