Hidden Auvergne: The Chastel Burial Complex
Sometimes it does one good to wander among the tombs. Autumn is preferable for such meditative ambles. One needs the wind, the fog, a spray-like rain, and — above all — a farrago of red, orange, and yellow leaves to set the imagination loose. Then the mind, temporarily unshackled from worldly cares and any sense […]
The Vampire Countess of Auvergne
She had in her service valets who were tasked with stealing children, whom she killed to drink their blood and stay eternally young… -Victor Favyé If, as I have often contended, Auvergne is the “Transylvania of France”, it must be the home of bloodthirsty hellbeasts, castled landscapes that howl on windy nights, and at least one […]
The Body Snatcher of Cournon
Body snatching is one of the oldest illicit businesses on Earth. In the Middle Ages, shrewd adventurers plundered out-of-the-way tombs and cemeteries for bones and passed off their spoils as the relics of saints. For centuries, they smuggled these “relics” to churches across Europe, raking in fortunes. Similarly roguish black marketeers also indulged in this kind […]
Family Holidays in Auvergne: A Visit to Port- Sainte-Marie
There’s really no defence against a merciless summer sun. Mortals though we are, we’ve learned how to find refuge in oases, places where tree canopies or rushing water have a mitigating and bewitching power, shielding us from the worst of the elements and offering — in the right moments — a glimpse of paradise. Since at […]
Count Montlosier: The Wizard of Auvergne
My life has been…full of events; yet no event, not even the Revolution, has left me with insights so precise and impressions so vivid as magnetism…I found myself producing by my will what, according to ordinary understanding, generally seems impossible… -François-Dominique, Count Montlosier When ambling along one of the many trails that start in Randanne […]
Auvergne Cuisine: An Interview with Chef Adrien Descouls
The landscape of Auvergne is marked by its medieval past and its volcanism, and the Tuscan-like hill town of Le Broc serves as a striking example of how these features often combine to make a bright, visual opera, playing out the melodramas of centuries before the eyes. While the town itself offers much to see […]
The Clermont-Ferrand Metropolitan Library Project: An Interview with Mayor Olivier Bianchi
“This library won’t be just another cultural facility — it will be a true catalyst for the city’s artistic and literary life.” -Olivier Bianchi, Mayor of Clermont-Ferrand For over half a decade, the most hotly-anticipated building project taking shape in Clermont-Ferrand has been the Clermont-Ferrand Metropolitan Library. All mindfully and aesthetically built libraries have a […]
Hidden Clermont-Ferrand: Carmes Cemetery
Gothic, airy, and romantic, Carmes Cemetery is undoubtedly the most beautiful and haunting park in Clermont-Ferrand.
Literary Notes on Auvergne Sculptures: The “Faun” of Ponteix
Those of you who know me know of my passion for fountain grotesques and mascarons, which I see as contemporary genii locorum (“spirits of the place”). When we look into their stony, goblinesque eyes, we are — if only for a moment — drawn upwards into the world of imagination. New thoughts then rush into […]
Occult Auvergne: A Werewolf in Puy-de-Dôme
What happens when you see a werewolf in Puy-de-Dôme? Here’s a fascinating account from a 19th-century travel memoir.
