Place de Jaude

Place de Jaude is the main square of Clermont-Ferrand and the point where the city's old and modern layers meet. It is a large, open space, almost a rectangle, and it lies between the old town on its hill and the nineteenth-century districts that spread out toward the university and the railway. The tramway passes through it, shops and cafés line its sides, and people cross it all day on their way to work or to meet friends, so it is a good place to watch the city go by.

Two statues stand in the square, and between them they tell part of the local story. The equestrian statue of Vercingétorix, by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, shows the Gaulish chief on a rearing horse with a raised sword. It was unveiled in 1903. Vercingétorix was born in this region of Auvergne and defeated Julius Caesar at the battle of Gergovia, near Clermont, in 52 BC, before being beaten at Alesia, so the monument celebrates a local hero who became a national symbol. The other statue shows General Desaix, a native of the Auvergne who fell at the battle of Marengo in 1800 and is honoured as one of Napoleon's best generals; it was made by the sculptor Nanteuil.

The buildings round the square show different periods. The church of Saint-Pierre-des-Minimes, a seventeenth-century building with a later dome, stands at one corner. A nineteenth-century theatre rises on the site of an old cloth market, and Les Galeries de Jaude, a department store of the early twentieth century, adds a commercial note. The recent redesign made the square more open and gave a place to the tramway, so the space combines historic monuments with the modern city.

From the square it is a short walk to the older parts of Clermont-Ferrand. The Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption, built of dark volcanic stone from the nearby quarries, dominates the old town, and its black walls are one of the city's signatures. The Quartier de la Boucherie, a historic district, and the Marché Central give a taste of local life, and the Musée d'Art Roger-Quilliot houses the main collection of fine art. On clear days, the chain of extinct volcanoes, including the Puy de Dôme, can be seen on the western skyline, and the Volcan des Dômes can be reached by public transport or on a day trip.

The square is free to visit and open at all times. It suits anyone starting a day in the city, as a meeting point, a shopping stop or a place to sit with a coffee. Cafés and shops around it keep ordinary hours.