Page 339 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - France

Le Puy-en-Velay’s unusual skyline at sunset

THE MASSIF CENTRAL

The Massif Central is an area of strange, wild
beauty – a huge central plateau of ancient granite
and crystalline rock that embraces the dramatic
landscapes of the Auvergne, Limousin, Aveyron,
and Lozère regions. The Averni, of which Auvergne
was named after, was one of the most powerful
and wealthy Gallic tribes in all of Gaul and estab­
lished successful fortified communities here. The
Romans took advantage of the local therapeutic
springs in what would become Vichy, in the 1st
century BC. In the 10th century, steep volcanic
pinnacles were capped with Romanesque churches
and medieval homes at Le Puy­en­Velay, a prov­
incial city popular with pilgrims during the Middle
Ages. In 1527, Auvergne united with the French
crown, and 60 years later that unity was cemented
with the crowning of Henry IV, the first of the
Bourbons to be king of France. With the exception
of the Napoleoonic era, his direct descendants
ruled France until 1830, when Charles X was
deposed. The region’s many hot springs, at Vichy
and Aubusson, became popoular once again with
the wealthy in the 1860s. In 1907, local wine­
growers protested poor sales and, in an effort to
secure their own fortunes, began creating wine­
making cooperatives, which continue to flourish.
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