RIOMS AND ITS VICINITIES

Riom
To browse Riom, tourist city in Auvergne par excellence, is to relive the big hours of this old regional capital (1212).its exceptional architectural heritage testifies a rich passes.
From the city of the Vth century - founded as said by holy Amable -nothing nearly remains. The city and its topography evolve during centuries: in the XIIIth century fortifications were erected that give the almost circular shape of the city center. Some doors subsist. This city of dress is endowed since the XIVth century with a belfry that will know several architectural modifications before becoming the present emblem of Riom: the Tower of the clock.
During the XIV century, the Duke of Berry influences the architectural and artistic development of Riom, that lead to the edification of the Ducal Palace and the Saint-chapel. The latter is sequenced «Historic «Monument since 1840.
The letter of Jeanne of bow to the Riomois in 1429 marks the beginning of one eventful century. Earthquakes and fires of the end of the XVth century destroyed houses with flaps of wood of the city; only one remains today. From then on, Riom, proud of flourishing activity witnessed many particular hotels ‘appearance and its famous House of Consuls. After the plague of 1631, the city endowed itself with numerous fountains to nourish its districts in water. Fortifications were demolished since 1739 to the profit of the planning of the tour of the city that, on the initiative of individuals, enriches itself in this period with vast hotels and renovated facades. Riom becomes under-prefecture in 1801. The appeal court gets settled in 1804 and started what one will call «the yard of the century» then: the construction of the Justice Palace in the site of the Ducal Palace (1824-1846). The trials of Léon Blum and men of the IIIth Republic, in 1942, mark strongly the legal history of the city.
Today the center-city of Riom is classified in protected sector and the cultural activity there is dense. The wealth of a shaped heritage during centuries, brought to Riom titles of art City in 1975, then the stamp City of art and history, in 1985 (16 classified monuments and 57 registered to the supplementary inventory).