City: In the French region of Auvergne
lies the city of Clermont-Ferrand. There are no less than
149,000 inhabitants (2011) living here .
The city of Clermont-Ferrand was founded under the name Augusto
Nemetum. It was built on the central hill where the cathedral
now stands. The history of this city goes back a long way.
There was probably Celtic habitation here by the 4th century
BC. In 52 BC, not far from this place was the battle of Gergovia
where Julius Caesar was defeated by the Gallic leader Vercingetorix.
The city was a Gallo-Roman city of approximately 15,000 to
30,000 inhabitants, the largest city in Roman Gaul. The town
was plundered many times by invading Visigoths in the 5th
century. Also the Vikings plundered it during the 9th century.
In 842, it started to be called by the name Clairmont. The
long struggle between the secular and spiritual rulers in
1120 led to the foundation of the town Montferrand, by the
Count of Auvergne, opposite the Episcopal Clairmont.
The current city was created by the merger of the two ancient
cities Clairmont and Montferrand. This merger occurred on
April 15, 1630.
Building: Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption
de Clermont.
The characteristic cathedral has two towers that are 92.5
meters high. The building was erected in the Gothic style,
built with black lava rocks. A first cathedral was built in
the 5th century. This was destroyed in 760 by Pepin the Short,
after which a second construction took place between 764 and
768. This building was also destroyed, this time by the Vikings
in 916. A third cathedral, this time in Romanesque style was
built and inaugurated in 946. In 1248 it was decided to build
the present cathedral.
God's name: In this cathedral are large candlesticks.
On one of them is beautifully written the divine name in Hebrew:
YHWH.
