Issoire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Commune of Issoire | |
| Location | |
| Longitude | 03° 14' 59" E |
| Latitude | 45° 32' 42" N |
| Administration | |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Région | Auvergne |
| Département | Puy-de-Dôme (sous-préfecture) |
| Arrondissement | Issoire |
| Canton | Issoire (chief town) |
| Mayor | Pierre Pascallon (2001-2008) |
| Statistics | |
| Altitude | 360 m–560 m (avg. 386 m) |
| Land area¹ | 19.69 km² |
| Population² (1999) |
13,373 |
| Miscellaneous | |
| INSEE/Postal code | 63178/ 63500 |
| ¹ French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq. mi. or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
| ² Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel). | |
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Issoire is a town and commune of central France, capital of an arrondissement in the département of Puy-de-Dôme.
Contents |
[edit] Geography
Issoire is located on the Couze River, near its junction with the Allier, 40 km SSE of Clermont-Ferrand on the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway to Nîmes. Issoire is situated in the fertile plain of Limagne.
[edit] History
Issoire (Iciodurum) is said to have been founded by the Arverni, and in Roman times rose to some reputation for its schools. In the 5th century the Christian community established there by Stremonius in the 3rd century was overthrown by the fury of the Vandals.
During the religious wars of the Reformation, Issoire suffered very severely. Merle, the leader of the Protestants, captured the town in 1574, and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty. The Roman Catholics retook it in 1577, and the ferocity of their retaliation may be inferred from the inscription "Ici fut Issoire" ("Here was Issoire") carved on a pillar which was raised on the site of the town. In the contest between the Leaguers and Henry IV, Issoire sustained further sieges, and never wholly regained its early prosperity.
[edit] Sights
The church of Saint-Austremoine is built on the site of an older chapel raised over the tomb of St. Austremoine (Stremonius) affords an excellent specimen of the Romanesque architecture of Auvergne.
[edit] Twinnings
Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz, Germany, since 1971.
[edit] External links and reference
- Official town website
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
