Historic sites: Tour of Aurillac’s historic center

Marianne commemorates the centenary of the French Revolution; she is also the symbol of the Republic, which takes care of its people by providing them with the necessary water.

Bounded by two statues – General Delzons (1883) to the south and Pope Gerbert (1851) to the north – the Gravier was one of Aurillac’s favorite promenades until the second half of the 20th century. The bandstand (1890) still stands at its center, and along the old canal, the Empire-style Prefecture.

Designed by David d’Angers, its base recounts three episodes in the life of Gerbert, future Pope Sylvester II: his childhood encounter with the monks of St-Géraud Abbey – Gerbert, now bishop, explains some of his inventions to an assembly of kings and scholars – Gerbert becomes history’s first French Pope in 999 in Rome.

An emblematic view of Aurillac. Château St-Etienne overlooks the St-Géraud district and the eponymous abbey church, surrounded by ramparts, parts of which have been integrated into the riverside housing development.

The last surviving building of its kind in Europe. It evokes the age-old importance of the cheese-making industry in Cantal.

The heart of the historic center, surrounded by medieval buildings such as the abbey hospital (12th c.) with its Latin inscription “Ecce Quies Hominum Domus” meaning “Here is a house of rest for Men”, accompanied by its serpentine basin.

The St-Géraud abbey church is one of the last remaining testimonies to the abbey founded by Count Géraud in the 9th century. It is in fact a skilful blend of styles and periods, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.

Significant archaeological finds have been unearthed, and the district is currently undergoing major restoration work.

Is associated with one of the most significant events of the revolutionary period in Aurillac, the arrest and execution of its owner in 1792; the carved brackets on the roof are unique in the town.

Situated at the junction between the “new town” and the abbey quarter, the Hôtel des Consuls was Aurillac’s Renaissance landmark building. Its coat of arms features three shells, a reminder of the brotherhood of Santiago de Compostela, and three fleurs de Lys, a gift from Charles VII on the occasion of the liberation of Orleans.

Housed in the former church of the Notre-Dame nuns’ convent, it then became an electoral hall until 1809, when it was transformed into an Italian-style theater following a fire in 1881. The rotunda is an early 20th-century addition and the only survivor of the 1999 fire.

Built in the Empire style on the site of the Notre-Dame parish church (late 13th c., demolished in 1798); round cobblestone markings on the floor recall the porch’s location.

Façades and storefronts bear witness to the tradesmen and craftsmen who helped develop this area. Knives, umbrellas, cheese, charcuterie… discover the Cantalien heritage through the century-old shops in the town center.

Built on the model of a Greek temple in Doric style, it is surrounded by two symmetrical buildings that originally housed the prison (still there today) and the gendarmerie. It replaced the Aurillac presidial court, located at 22 rue de la Coste since the 16th century.

Expresses a marginal trend in the symbolism of these memorials: pacifism. Two groups are represented: the grieving family of the missing soldier and the allegory of peace, holding back war with her hand.

Former chapel of the Cordeliers convent built around 1245, partly burnt down during the Wars of Religion, restored in the late 16th and early 17th centuries in an ogival style. The 14th-century chapter house, which houses the Black Madonna, is sometimes open in summer.