The South of France-East Half Part 20

+Le Puy+,

pop. 20,000, from 2000 to 2250 ft. above the sea, between the rivers Borne and Dolezon, affluents of the Loire, 2 m. from the town.

_Hotels:_ Amba.s.sadeurs; Europe; Nord. To visit Le Puy, the best plan is to begin with the Cathedral. From the high side of the Place de Breuil, at the N.W. corner, ascend by the streets St. Gilles, Chenebouterie, and Raphael, to the Place des Tables, with a stone pinnacle fountain in the centre. From this ascend by the R. des Tables to the flight of 40 steps, leading up to the tetrastyle portico in front of the church. Forty-one more steps lead up through this portico to the portal of the west facade of the church, built up in the 18th cent., and having against it an altar to Mary. The oblong flat stone at the base of the table of the altar belonged to a dolmen which stood on this hill from the earliest times, and is called the "Pierre aux fievres," from its once supposed power of curing of fever those who lay upon it.

From this altar a flight of 27 steps ascends to the left, to the cloisters, while the flight to the right of 32 steps ascends to one of the two south side entrances into the church. The other south side entrance, called the Porte du Fort, 12th cent., presents an extraordinary composition of the florid Byzantine style. On one side of it is the square belfry in 5 stages, commenced in the 11th cent., on the other is the bishop's palace, and in front a small terrace. At the north side of the church is the Porte St. Jean, 12th cent., preceded by an arch of 28 ft. span. The cloisters are in the form of an oblong square, with 9 arches on the long sides, and five on the short, supported on square piers with attached colonnettes. The south side is the earliest, beginning of the 10th cent., and the western the most recent. The church, built in 550, received a succession of alterations up to 1427, when it was injured by an earthquake. In 1846 it was repaired and restored. The interior consists of eight square compartments, each, excepting the 7th, covered with a dome resting on four ma.s.sive piers. Above the 7th rises an octagonal lantern tower.

Under it is the high altar, with a replica of the miracle-working image,[1] brought from Cairo in 1251, and presented to the church of Le Puy by Saint Louis in 1254, but destroyed in the Revolution of 1793, when, according to the marble tablet on the pier of this compartment, 20 priests of the diocese were executed at the same time by the same party. On the south wall a large picture represents a numerous concourse of church and civic dignitaries carrying in procession the original image to make it stay the plague, which raged in Le Puy in 1660. The picture opposite represents the Consuls of Le Puy, attired in red, thanking the image for its protection. In the sacristy is the Theodulfe Bible, 9th cent. Near the north portal is the baptistery of +St. Jean+, built in the 4th cent, on the foundations of a Roman edifice.

[Footnote 1: The original image was of cedar, with the face, both of it and of the child, painted black. It was 2 ft. 3 in. high, and weighed 25 lbs. The form was rudely carved, stiff and Egyptian like, and the members of both were swathed in two plies of linen.]

[Headnote: NOTRE DAME DE FRANCE.]

From Saint Jean commences the ascent of the Rocher Corneille, a ma.s.s of volcanic breccia, which forms the summit of Mount Podium. On the top is the image of +Notre Dame de France+, 433 ft. above the Hotel de Ville, and 2478 ft. above the sea. It was unveiled on the 27th September 1860, was made from 213 cannons taken at Sebastopol, is 52 ft. high, and weighs 2165 cwt. The foot is 6 ft. long, the hands 5 ft., and the hair 22 ft. The circ.u.mference of the head of the child, J. C., is 14 ft. In the interior of the image a spiral stair of 90 steps leads up to the shoulders, whence an iron ladder of 16 steps extends to the crown of her head. From little openings in this colossal figure are most enchanting views. From the orifice in her right side is seen (2 m. N.W.) the village of Polignac, likewise on a hill 2645 ft. above the sea, cl.u.s.tering round its old castle.

Immediately below is the Aiguilhe, and to the left, 1 m. S.E., Ours Mons.

On a projecting part of the rock is, in a kneeling posture, looking up to Notre Dame de France, the figure of Bishop Morlhon, b. 1799, d.

1861, one of the princ.i.p.al promoters of the statue. Bonna.s.sieux is the sculptor of both of them.

[Headnote: AIGUILHE.]

Behind the Rocher Corneille rises the isolated volcanic rock called the +Aiguilhe+, 265 ft. high, 518 ft. in circ.u.mference at the base, 45 at the top, and ascended by 266 steps. Fee, 5 sous. On the summit is the chapel of St. Michael, commenced in 962 by Bishop G.o.descalk, and consecrated in 984. The present building dates princ.i.p.ally from the end of the 11th and the beginning of the 12th cent.; restored and repaired in 1850. Originally the interior of it as well as of the cathedral was covered with mural paintings. The views are superb.

Near the foot of the rock, and adjoining the Mairie of Aiguilhe, is an octagonal baptistery, 12th cent., called the Temple of Diana. Near the post office, in the Boulevard St. Louis, is the lower part of a tower which belonged to the town gate Pannessac. The church, at a little distance below, is St. Laurent, 14th cent. In the chapel to the left of the high altar is the grave and mausoleum of the chivalrous Duguesclin, who died on the 17th July 1380, while besieging the fortress of Chateauneuf-le-Randon, between Langogne and Mende.

[Headnote: MUSeE.]

In a large new building in the public garden off the Place de Breuil is the +Musee+, open on Sundays and feast days from 2 to 5. Everything is distinctly labelled. On the ground-floor in the hall to the left are architectural relics from Roman buildings in and about Le Puy. The best fragments belonged to the temple which stood on the site now occupied by the baptistery of Saint Jean. In the hall to the right is a miscellaneous collection of Egyptian, Celtic, and Roman antiquities, mixed up with a few articles belonging to the Middle Ages.

[Headnote: PICTURE GALLERY. OURS MONS.]

Upstairs is the +Picture Gallery+. In the centre room are portraits of the most celebrated natives of Le Puy, and a very good copy of part of the "Danse Macabre," dance of death, in the church of Chaise-Dieu.

Among the portraits are Charles Crozatier, born 1795, died at Paris 1853, the munificent contributor to the museum of this his native town. In the right-hand hall the best paintings, chiefly belonging to the Flemish school, are in the low row, such as Begyer, d. 1664; Caravaggio; Coypel, d. 1707; Franck, d. 1616; Heem, d. 1694; Lippi, d.

1469; Maes, d. 1693; Mieris, 1747; Mierveld, 1641; Poussin, 1695; Rigaud, 1743; Terburg, 1681; Tyr, 1868; Weenix, 1719. In the adjoining small room is a complete collection of the minerals belonging to the Haute-Loire. In the left room among other pictures are: Annunciation, Tintoretto, 1594; Mdlle. de Valois, Mignard, 1695; Mary Stuart, F.

Clouet, 1572; Henriette-Marie de France, wife of Charles I. of England, Van der Werf, 1722; Landscape, Hobbema, 1669; Concert, Teniers (vieux); Portrait of Girl, J. B. Santerre, 1717. In the next room are specimens of the lace, blond and guipure, worked by the females inhabiting the towns and villages among the mountains of Ardeche and the Haute-Loire, of which articles Le Puy is the great emporium. The specimens and sample books are in cases. In the centre case are specimens from Alencon, Binche, Brussels, Cevennes mountains, Malines, Russia, Valenciennes, and Venice; the Corsage with lace tr.i.m.m.i.n.g of the gown Marie Louise wore on the day she was married to Napoleon I.; also some of her ribbons.

1 m. S.E. from Le Puy is +Ours Mons+, 2463 ft. above the sea, and 180 ft. above the plain. The prospect from the top is considered by Mr.

Scrope most remarkable; "exhibiting in one view a vast theatre of volcanic formation, in great variety of aspect, containing igneous products of various natures, belonging to different epochs."

LE PUY TO LANGOGNE BY PRADELLES. (Map, p. 46.)

+Le Puy+, 2045 ft., +to Langogne+, 2940 ft. above the sea, 26 m. S. by coach, along an admirably-constructed road, over a high, cold, treeless tableland, whose culminating point, 3900 ft., is about a mile south from the hamlet of La Sauvetat, 6 m. N. from Pradelles. 8 m.

from Le Puy is Montagnac, on the Cagne, 3123 ft. From this hamlet a road diverges 8 m. S.W. to Cayres, 3727 ft. above the sea, pop. 1450.

_Inn:_ Du-Lac-du-Bouchet. A lace and cheese-making village, about 1 m. by a good road from the extinct crater of +Le Bouchet+, 231 ft.

higher, than Cayres, now a lake of 222 acres and 92 ft. deep. It is very similar to Lake Issarles, near Beage (which see p. 85). After Montagnac the coach arrives at Costaros, 3510 ft., 12 m. S., where the horses are changed. Then Sauvetat, 16 m. from Le Puy, pop. 300, and afterwards Pradelles, 3771 ft., pop. 2000, with two small inns, 21 m.

from Le Puy and 5 m. from Langogne. The coach stops at Langogne railway station, where the omnibus of the Cheval Blanc awaits pa.s.sengers. Pradelles is 24 m. S. from Le Monastier by St.

Paul-de-Tartas, and 2 m. from Les Sallettes (see map, p. 46).

+Pradelles to Mayres+, 18 m. S.E., char-a-banc, 20 to 25 frs., by a good but a high and exposed road, pa.s.sing Peyrebelle (p. 95), La Narce, 8 m., pop. 900, the Col Chavade, 4170 ft. above the sea, near the source of the Ardeche, whence the road descends rapidly, pa.s.sing above the hamlet of Astet. This is not a good entrance into Ardeche.

From Le Puy a coach starts daily from near the post office for St.

Bonnet, Usson, and c.r.a.ponne, pop. 4000, directly N. from Le Puy, and 12 m. E. from Chaise-Dieu by stage-coach.

[Headnote: ESPALY. BORNE. DARSAC.]

LE PUY TO LANGEAC BY ST. GEORGES. (Map, p. 46.)

For geological excursions the railway between Le Puy to +Langeac+ by St. Georges d'Aurac is very useful. The culminating point of the line, 3658 ft, is in the tunnel between Darsac and Fix-St. Geneys. This railway crosses at right angles the Velay mountains, full of extinct volcanoes, extending from Chaise-Dieu to Pradelles.

+Le Puy to Langeac+, 36 m. W. by rail. The first part of the line traverses a most picturesque country among great basaltic cliffs. 1 m.

from Le Puy the train pa.s.ses the village of Espaly, and by the face of basaltic columns rising from the Borne and its little affluent the Riou-Pezeliou, in whose bed zircons and blue sapphires have been found. On the opposite side of the Borne is the great ma.s.s of basalt called the Croix de la Paille, with a display of prisms in three tiers, called les orgues d'Espaly. The village, pop. 2300, is built at the foot of a rock of volcanic breccia crowned by the scanty ruins of a castle built in 1260 by Guillaume de la Roue, bishop of Puy.

8 m. from Puy is +Borne+, 2535 ft. above the sea, pop. 390. A ramble in the ravine of Borne forms a pleasant and easy excursion from Le Puy. 5 m. E. from this station, or 3 m. W. from Le Puy, is Polignac, pa.s.sed by the train. The village, pop. 2500, with church of 11th cent., is at the foot of a rock of basaltic breccia crowned by the imposing ruins of a fortress dating from the 11th cent. A stair of 132 steps (ascent dangerous) leads up to the terrace of the Keep, 14th cent., commanding an extensive view.

13 m. W. from Le Puy is +Darsac+, 2914 ft. above the sea. A small hamlet, with a restaurant, the +station for Chaise-Dieu+, 13 m. N., fare 2 frs., and for Arlanc, 24 m. N., or 10 m. beyond Chaise-Dieu.

[Headnote: LA CHAISE-DIEU.]

The coach first pa.s.ses through Allegre, pop. 1700, a dirty little village, 5 m. N, on the side of Mont de Bar, 3583 ft. above the sea, with the ruins of a castle built in the 14th cent. Mont de Bar and Mont du Bouchet are the best specimens of extinct volcanoes in the Velay chain. From this the diligence, after having skirted for 8 m.

the high cold region of the Velay mountains, arrives at +La Chaise-Dieu+, 3576 ft. above the sea, pop. 2000. _Inns:_ Lion d'Or; Centre; Nord. A dirty, decaying village, in which its imposing church partic.i.p.ates. Robert, a scion of the ducal house of Aurillac, and canon of St. Julien in Brioude, obtained permission from the canons of N. D. du Pay to build a small house and oratory in the wildest and most inaccessible part of the forests on their domains, where he and his companions might lead a more austere life than in their monastery at Brioude. This house, built in 1043, by degrees attained the goodly proportions of a convent, which the peasants called La Chaise-Dieu, or Casa-Dei. Clement VI., formerly Roger de Beaufort, abbot of Chaise-Dieu, born in the village, commenced, shortly after his elevation to the papal throne, to build at his own expense a church on the site formerly occupied by the oratory of St. Robert. The work was continued and finished by his nephew, Gregory XI., in 1420, by whom are the facade with the two short ma.s.sive square towers, 128 ft. high, and the horse-shoe staircase of 41 steps. The tower, 30 ft. square and 110 high, attached to the S. point of the apse, was built by the abbot de Chanac to protect the church and convent, which he surrounded with a wall. The gateway, part of the wall, and part of the old convent, are just under the tower. Adjoining the remains of the abbey buildings are the cloisters, a parallelogram, 140 ft. by 77, of which only two sides remain. The long side has nine low, wide, ma.s.sive, mullioned and traceried unglazed windows, and the short side four.

The interior of the church is 301 ft. long, surrounded by 22 tall plain slender octagonal piers, from which springs the groining, which spreads itself over the stone-vaulted roof. The nave is 44 ft. wide, and the aisle on each side 15, all the three roofs being of the same height. The church is lighted by long narrow pointed windows, one between each two columns, excepting at the apsidal termination, where a triangular projection affords s.p.a.ce for three windows. The tracery has little depth, and is of the simplest design. The choir, 131 ft.

long, is separated from the nave by an ugly rood-loft. It contains 144 carved cedar-wood stalls, and above them on both sides 17 pieces of Arras tapestry, 16th cent., from designs by Taddeo Gaddi. In the centre is the mausoleum of Clement VI. His white marble effigy, with the hands folded and the papal Triregnum on the head, reclines on an altar table of black marble.

On the N. side of the screen of the choir, just behind the pulpit, is the "Danse Macabre," or dance of death, a favourite subject with artiste from the 12th to the 14th cent. The ironic grin and jocund gait of the skeleton death contrast vividly with the dismayed and demure expression of the great and mighty kings, priests, and warriors, young and old, gay and sedate, he marshals off, in the midst of their projects and plans, to the dark silent grave. Under it is the sadly mutilated mausoleum of Queen Edith of England, wife of the unfortunate Harold. Near it is the more perfect mausoleum of the last abbot of La Chaise-Dieu.

[Headnote: ARLANC.]

La Chaise-Dieu to Vichy by Arlanc and Ambert.

10 m. N. by coach from La Chaise-Dieu, 24 m. N. from Darsac, and 11 m. S. from Ambert-du-Puy, by a beautiful road, is +Arlanc+, pop.

4500, _Inn:_ H. des Princes, between the rivers Dore and Dolore, consisting of the Bourg with the parish church and the Ville, composed mostly of old houses. A great deal of lace and blond is made here.

[Headnote: AMBERT. FIX-ST. GENEYS.]

11 m. N. is the manufacturing town of Ambert, pop. 8000, 43 m. N. by rail from Vichy; whence the ascent is made, 3 hrs., of the culminating point of the Forez mountains, the Pierre-sur-Haute, 3882 ft. above the sea. 15 m. from Ambert, and 11 m. S. from Thiers, is Olliergues, pop.

2000, on a hill rising from the Dore. It contains an old bridge, some 13th cent. houses, and the ruins of a castle which belonged to the family of the Tour d'Auvergne. 13 m. farther N., or 8 m. S. from Thiers, is Courpiere, pop. 4000, on the Dore, with some old houses and the ruins of the castle of Courte-Serre. 61 m. N. from Darsac, or 36 m. N. from Ambert, is Thiers, south from Vichy. For Vichy see p. 358; Thiers, p. 367.

The next station west from Darsac by rail (see map, p. 46) is +Fix-St.

Geneys+, 18 m. from Le Puy, 3274 ft. above the sea, pop. 900. _Inn:_ H. des Voyageurs, situated on a tableland above the valley of the Sioule, covered on one side with firs. 2 m. farther is the station for the hamlet La Chaud, 2950 ft. above the sea, on the Sioule. 7 m.

farther is Rougeac, with a castle 1923 ft. above the sea.

[Headnote: ST. GEORGES-D'AURAC. MONISTROL.]

The most westerly station on the line is +St. Georges d'Aurac+, 1872 ft. above the sea, 86 m. W. from St. Etienne, and 32 from Le Puy.

58 m. N. by rail is Clermont, and 131 m. S. by rail is Nimes (see map, p. 26). Near the station is the inn Lombardin. The village, pop.

500, is 2 m. S.E. Other 2 m. E. is the chateau Chavagnac, the birthplace of General Lafayette. 5 m. W. is Voute-Chilhac, pop. 800, most picturesquely situated on a narrow peninsula formed by the Allier, opposite the mouth of the Avesne. The church was built in the 15th cent. by Jean de Bourbon, bishop of Le Puy. Pa.s.sengers going north change carriages at the station of St. Georges d'Aurac. 4 m.

S.W. from St. Georges, 90 W. from St. Etienne, and 36 from Le Puy, is +Langeac+, 1690 ft., 63 m. S. from Clermont, and 127 m. N. from Nimes. All the trains halt here. _Inns:_ H. Lombardin; Pascon. Their omnibuses await pa.s.sengers. Langeac, on the Allier, is a pleasant town near the station, situated in a vast plain. The parish church dates from the 15th cent. To the N.E. of the town, in the valley of Morange, is a coal-basin of 1450 acres. (Map, page 46.)