Pont-du-Château (; ; literally 'Bridge of the Castle') is a commune in the

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2021, it had a population of 662,285.department in

Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (; AURA) or ; or ; . is a Regions of France, region in southeast-central France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions; it resulted from the merger of Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes. The new region came into e ...

in central

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

Located 15 km from

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, , ; or simply ; ) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population of 147,284 (2020). Its metropolitan area () had 504,157 inhabitants at the 2018 ...

(15 minutes by car), Pont-du-Château lies at the crossroad of motorways connecting

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

and

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. Pont-du-Château joined the Clermont commune on 1 January 2004. Since then, Pont-du-Château has had a large territory of more than 30,000 square meters and 283,000 inhabitants.

Sights

* The castle: Burned in 1580 following an epidemic of plague, the castle was rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century on the initiative of Guillaume de Montboissier Beaufort-Canillac, with financial help from his friend

Cardinal Mazarin Jules Mazarin (born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino or Mazarini; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661), from 1641 known as Cardinal Mazarin, was an Italian Catholic prelate, diplomat and politician who served as the chief minister to the Kings of France Lou ...

. * Museum: place de l'Aire. The museum recalls the life of boatmen and other Castelpontins, through many objects, models and documents. The museum is open every day in July and August.

History

Origins

Three boroughs were born in

Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty ( ; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid c ...

times, although precise dates are uncertain. *In the west, Paulhat: during the Roman peace large Gallo-Roman farms existed in the large marsh known as

Limagne The Limagne (; ) is a large plain in the Auvergne, Auvergne region of France in the valley of the Allier (river), Allier river, on the edge of the Massif Central. It mainly lies within the ''departments of France, départements'' of Puy-de-Dôme, ...

, Redon, Picou, Tourette Chazal, but in the Carolingian era the village of Paulhat grew at the foot of the cliffs of Littes and Ruchon *The village of Machal beneath the Puy de Mur volcano, dating from the

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

era, disappeared during the Norman invasions. But the Sainte Martine church appeared on the fortified hillock, surrounded by a village whose activities related to the river

Allier Allier ( , , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region that borders Cher (department), Cher to the west, Nièvre to the north, Saône-et-Loire and Loire (department), Loire to the east, Pu ...

. *In a period frequently troubled by Viking incursions, a stone

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

appeared on the riverside cliffs. Louis Le Gros laid siege to it in 1122 and destroyed it.

Medieval city

Guy de Dampierre seized the town in 1212 on behalf of

Philip II of France Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...

, which made the city a Crown possession. In the 13th century it became a true citadel the "old castle" enclosed by a single wall. Philippe Auguste made it a garrison city, equipping it with two new walls with towers, doors, ramparts which one guesses in the plan of the old city. Two churches enriched this inheritance: * Ste Martine, a Romanesque building built over several centuries beginning in the 13th century, since restored with its original paintings; * Notre Dame de Paulhat, which disappeared from the marsh about 1356 and was rebuilt west of the fortifications in 1384, and again destroyed. In the 16th century, with the Renaissance, it saw a resurgence of Auvergnat Romanesque architecture.

Traditional city

Since the old castle had been destroyed in a fire, Guillaume de Montboissier Beaufort-Canilhac, lieutenant general of the Army of Italy built the current castle in 1654 with financial help from his friend Mazarin, on his return to Auvergne covered with honors by Louis XIV. Facing the Allier valley, the castle is in late Louis XIII and early Louis XIV architectural style, with its northern frontage crowned by a terrace and its broad southern terrace overlooking French gardens.

18th century

Philippe-Claude de Montboissier Beaufort-Canilhac after 1750 undertook major renovations to the castle: vast stables to the west, sculptures and facings of Volvic stone on the northern frontage of the principal masonry and interior decoration with woodwork and ceiling paintings in the French style, for example. In the same time period, between 1765 and 1773, Mr. de Régemorte designed a new stone

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

, which built Raimbaux father and wire, a bridge that to this day remains indestructible in spite of the significant floods of the

, and which made possible the royal road 89 between Lyon and Bordeaux. For nearly 150 years people had crossed the river on a ferry.

19th century

Pont-du-Château then had five ports: Vortille, Palisses, Bouères, Borde St Aventin and the port of Amont, which was the only port built on the Allier between Brioude and Moulins. The opening of the channel of Briare in 1642, the disappearance of the pélières in 1790, the coal mining of ground of Brewed protected by Colbert, the keen demand of fir trees by the masts of the fleet of Louis XIV, a wine extremely appreciated in the capital, of the hemp of good quality for gréement of the sailing ships, the reputation of papers of Auvergne and even passion of the architects for Volvic stone, and it was more than 3000 fir plantations which each year descended the Allier, an incredible increase of the river navigation, a noisy harbour city of life, populated high marines colors. The advent of the railroad in 1865 quelled inland shipping.

Population

Transportation

* Plane: Ten minutes from the Clermont-Auvergne airport. Twenty French cities are served daily including six flights daily for Paris, four to

Orly Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius". Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the c ...

and two to

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

. There are also flights to four European cities: Amsterdam, Geneva, Milan and Turin. * Train: at Clermont-Ferrand eight trains go to Paris daily (and one nightly). Daily connections go to

and

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. The SNCF makes it possible to travel from Pont-du-Château to Clermont-Ferrand in eight minutes. * Bus: Member of Clermont the Community, the commune integrates the Perimeter of the Urban transport, the service road drunk is thus accessible with a transport document T2C. The various tariffs and schedules are accessible on Pont-du-Château is at the crossroads of the regional parks of Auvergne. A few minutes away by car lies the regional natural reserves of the Volcanos of Auvergne and of Livradois-Drill.

Partner cities

* Sainte-Marie,

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada

References

External links

City website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pont-Du-Chateau Communes of Puy-de-Dôme