Amid a sea of apricot-coloured roofs, this dark, double-pronged cathedral is an arresting sight. Many buildings and landmarks in Clermont-Ferrand owe architectural flourishes to volcanic stone: cobbled walkways and gushing city centre fountains all bear a distinctive pumice finish. But the cathedral, Clermont-Ferrand’s Gothic masterpiece, is made entirely from slabs of volcanic stone, from gurning gargoyles to the tips of its 108m-high twin turrets. Centuries of diligent craftwork – the cathedral was built from the 13th right up to the 19th century – were nearly brought to a destructive end when French Revolutionaries wanted to smash the church; only the offer of the cathedral as a revolutionary gathering place and landmark saved it from its fate.
