Aurillac, Cantal Département, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France

🇫🇷 Aurillac is the prefecture of the Cantal department, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France.

History It is thought that in the Gallic era the original site of the city was on the heights overlooking the current city at Saint-Jean-de-Dône ("Dône" from dunum) and, like most oppida, it was abandoned after the Roman conquest in favour of a new city established on the plain. With the return of instability in the Lower Roman Empire there was a movement towards Encastellation and a new fortified site was established in mid-slope between the former oppidum and the old Gallo-Roman city where the Chateau of Saint-Étienne is today.

The history of the city is really only known from 856, the year of the birth of Count Gerald of Aurillac at the castle where his father, also named Gerald, was lord. In 885 he founded a Benedictine monastery which later bore his name. It was in this monastery that Gerbert, the first French pope under the name of Sylvester II, studied.

The city was made in a Sauveté area which was located between four crosses and was founded in 898 by Gerald shortly after the abbey. The first urban area was circular and built close to the Abbey of Aurillac. Gerald died around 910 but his influence was such that over the centuries Gerald was always a baptismal name prevalent in the population of Aurillac and the surrounding area.

It was in the 13th century that municipal conflict began between consuls and abbots. After taking the Chateau of Saint-Étienne in 1255 and two negotiated agreements called the Peace of Aurillac, relations were normalised.

In the 13th and 14th centuries Aurillac withstood several sieges by the English and in the 16th century continued to suffer from civil and religious wars.

The influence of the abbey declined with its secularization and its implementation of orders.

In 1569 the city was delivered by treason to the Protestants: people were tortured and held to ransom and the Abbey was sacked. The library and archives were all burned.

Before the French Revolution Aurillac had a Présidial and carried the title of capital of the Haute-Auvergne. In 1790 on the creation of departments, after a period of alternating with Saint-Flour, Aurillac definitively became the capital of Cantal.

The arrival of the railway in 1866 accelerated the development of the city.

Geography Aurillac is at 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level and located at the foot of the Cantal mountains in a small sedimentary basin. The city is built on the banks of the Jordanne, a tributary of the Cère. It is 558 km (347 mi) south of Paris and 223 km (139 mi) north of Toulouse. Aurillac was part of a former Auvergne province called Haute-Auvergne and is only 20 km (12 mi) away from the heart of the Auvergne Volcano Park. Access to the commune is by numerous roads including the D922 from Naucelles in the north, the D17 from Saint-Simon in the north-east, Route nationale N122 from Polminhac in the east which continues to Sansac-de-Marmiesse in the south-west, the D920 to Arpajon-sur-Cère in the south-east, and the D18 to Ytrac in the west. Aurillac station, in the centre of town, lies on the Figeac-Arvant railway. It has rail connections to Clermont-Ferrand, Brive-la-Gaillarde and Toulouse. About 50% of the commune is urbanised with farmland to the east and west of the urban area.

Aurillac – Tronquières Airport is located in the south of the commune with its runway extending beyond the commune boundary. It is connected to Paris by two daily flights by the Air France subsidiary HOP!. The commune was awarded three flowers by the National Council of Towns and Villages in Bloom in the Competition of cities and villages in Bloom.

The Jordanne river flows through the heart of the commune from north to south where it joins the Cère just south of the commune.

Localities and districts • Boudieu on the N122, which is called the Route de Sansac-de-Marmiesse or de Toulouse, is a farm with a farm house from the 1900s and three farm buildings. • Boudieu-Bas on the N122 is a set of houses built in the 1960s with some buildings used commercially or for crafts. • Gueret on the N122 is a farm with two houses and two agricultural buildings. This hamlet is traversed by an old country road from a place formerly called Julien from which name for the SNCF Julien Bridge comes. The former Julien is towards the Chateau of Tronquières in the urban area on Avenue Charles de Gaulle opposite the Medico-Surgical Centre (CMC). This farm with its house and barn were absorbed by the city on the creation of a district in the 1970s until the mid 1980s. The agricultural buildings were demolished to make room for a shop. • La Sablère on the RN122 is a set of dwellings mostly from the 1980s. Originally there was a farm. This place spreads over two communes: Aurillac and Arpajon-sur-Cere with the majority of the buildings in Arpajon-sur-Cere. • Le Barra near the avenue Aristide Briand, also called the Ancienne route de Vic or the old N120. This is a farm and houses. • Les Quatre Chemins at the intersection of the D120 and the D922 on the borders of Aurillac, Naucelles, and Ytrac. It is a complex of commercial buildings and residences on the crossroads of the two former National highways. • Tronquières on an avenue. Originally it was a farm with a chateau but the chateau and outbuildings were demolished in 2011. Today it is a grouping of housing units specialising in housing assistance for the integration of disabled people (ADAPEI) and the airport. It is the reception area for travellers to the city and a former landfill and rubbish centre. Before the construction of the airport the meadows were areas for summer grazing for nearby farms such as the Boudieu farm.