AURILLAC
Street Theatre Festival
Established: 1986.
History: The Aurillac International Street Theatre Festival (Cantal) was created by French director Michel Crespin. From the third edition in 1988 onwards, a character with a surprised expression appeared on the festival poster: this illustration by Henri Galeron has since appeared on the posters for every edition. Since 1999, in the run-up to the festival, companies have been presenting their shows in certain municipalities in the department as part of the Préalables. In 2004, the association Éclat, which produces the festival, created Le Parapluie(The Umbrella), an international centre for artistic creation and research with the aim of promoting street theatre.
Characteristics: Aurillac is considered the largest European street theatre and arts festival, highly popular with both audiences who appreciate its openness and professionals, with hundreds of shows accessible free of charge in the open air or under the big top, performed by some 600 companies from all over the world. It takes place every year over four days, from the Wednesday following 15 August to Saturday. Attendance has grown to around 200,000 spectators over the four days of the festival, which will take place in 2026 from 20 to 23 August.
Château Saint-Étienne
Construction: 9th to 19th century.
Style: medieval and troubadour.
Characteristics: built on a 685-metre hill, Saint-Étienne Castle dominates the town. All that remains of the original castrum is a square tower, which is imposing in size. Three periods of construction can be distinguished: the 9th century at the base, the 12th century, and then the 14th century. The upper level dates from the 19th century, and a terrace has replaced the old 18th-century pavilion roof. Square in plan, the tower rose to a height of over thirty metres until 1747, when it was levelled. The entrance was through a door seven metres above the ground, like the tower of Saint-Simon, which also belonged to the abbey, and from there you descended to the ground floor via a ladder. The abbey had a network of other towers built on the same model, such as those at Naucelles and Faliès. The main building at the foot of the tower was destroyed by fire in 1868. A large building was rebuilt on the initiative of Louis-Furcy Grognier in the style of the Palais des Papes in Avignon. Indeed, upon rediscovering the local origins of Pope Sylvester II, a municipal subscription was launched to erect a statue of him, and the theme of the Palais des Papes became that of the architect Juste Lisch.
Current use: until 2023, Château Saint-Étienne was home to the Maison des Volcans museum and the Haute-Auvergne Centre for Environmental Study and Protection, which included a university research laboratory. The museum has closed pending the establishment of a new, more general museum. Since then, the château has hosted the Là haut la nuit festival in June. Listed as: Historic Monument since 2010. Site listed since 1974.
Saint-Géraud Abbey Church
Construction: 10th to 19th century.
Style: Romanesque
Characteristics: following the destruction of the Romanesque elements on several occasions, the last restoration in the 19th century completed the nave with three bays and a porch and rebuilt the bell tower from scratch. The current bell tower of the Abbey Church of Saint-Géraud is the tallest building in the town at 77 metres high.
History: Saint-Géraud Abbey in Aurillac is a former Benedictine abbey that served as a model for Cluny Abbey. It was founded before 885 by Count Géraud of Aurillac. The abbey was a leading intellectual centre in the Middle Ages. It also had more than a hundred dependencies and possessions, including some forty priories stretching from Auvergne to Spain and covering a dozen dioceses.
Current use: during renovation work in 2013, important remains were discovered, leading to a redevelopment of the site, which was inaugurated in September 2025.
Listed as: Historic Monument in 1920 and 1942.
Aurillac National Stud Farm
Construction: 1983
History: during Napoleon I's reorganisation of the stud farms in 1806, the Aurillac stud farm was established in the Visitation convent on Rue des Carmes. It was also at the beginning of the 19th century, in 1821, that the first races were organised in Aurillac. In 1973, the facilities on Rue des Carmes became increasingly cramped for the 47 stallions living there. As a result, a new stud farm was built in 1983 to the south of the town on a 17-hectare estate, handed over to the State by the department of Cantal, close to the racecourse and riding school, thus creating a 30-hectare equestrian centre on the outskirts of the town, to which a pony club was later added.
Prefecture of Cantal
Construction: 19th century.
Style: Neoclassical.
Characteristics: building constructed between 1800 and 1806 based on plans by engineer Lallié, then completed in 1814 by engineer Demets, representing the first prefecture built as such in France. Neoclassical in style, it consists of a pedimented avant-corps on the west façade and a rotunda, both decorated with Doric pilasters and a frieze with metopes. The interior of the rotunda houses an Empire-style salon with star-patterned parquet flooring and a stucco coffered dome.
Listed as: Historic Monument since 2004
LE LIORAN
Plomb du Cantal (1,855 m)
The highest point in the department and an iconic site in the Auvergne Volcanoes Regional Nature Park. Accessible by hiking along the GR 4 trail or by cable car, it offers an exceptional panorama of the peaks of the Massif Central: Puy Griou, Puy Mary, Puy de Sancy, etc. From the summit, there are enduro and mountain bike trails, a launch site for paragliders and various hiking trails.
Auvergne Agricultural Museum The Auvergne Agricultural Museum is housed in a 17th-century farmhouse in the heart of the pretty village of Coltines. Six exhibition rooms offer a fun and educational visit. "Winter" serves as an introduction, presenting the local architectural heritage and magnificent snow-covered landscapes. Visitors can then explore the interior of the Ostal de la Marissou (the house of little Marie), named after the last inhabitant of the premises, with its cantou fireplace and various objects found in farms of yesteryear. The tour continues with spring, then summer and autumn. Several tools, evidence of the know-how of yesteryear, are on display. At the end of the tour, films and a slideshow retracing peasant life are shown.
Maison du Buronnier
Pastoralism is an ancestral practice in these mountains, and the buron is the place where, during the summer, the buronniers live and make Cantal cheese. The Buron de Belles Aigues, which was in operation until the 1960s, has preserved all the rooms and tools that today enable this Cantal know-how to be passed on. Guided tours throughout the summer.
Saint-Pierre Church in Bredons
Construction: 11th century.
Characteristics: fortified, listed as a historic monument and boasting one of the most beautiful Romanesque porches, it has Italian-influenced stalls and woodwork, rich Baroque-style furnishings, including the high altar, which is one of the most majestic in the whole of Upper Auvergne.
History: the priory was founded in 1067 by Durand de Bredon, abbot of Moissac from 1048 to 1071. The first church was consecrated in 1095. The church has been the victim of numerous thefts, the most recent in 2002, when around fifty objects were stolen, including ten statues and a painting. They are believed to be in the hands of unscrupulous collectors. Distinguishing features: one of the few well-preserved Romanesque wooden reliquary statues still existing in France, from the rich treasure of the priory of Bredons, is kept at the Haute-Auvergne Museum in Saint-Flour (the statue was found in 1954 by a child from Bredons behind the high altar of the church, where it had been hidden several centuries earlier): a walnut reliquary statue, covered with polychrome decoration and metal plates in places, dating from the first half of the 12th century. It depicts St. Peter seated on a throne and dressed in a pleated tunic, blessing the faithful with his left hand, with two fingers raised.
Current destination: the church has been undergoing restoration work since 2021.
La Roche Percée
La Roche Percée is a cave and medieval troglodyte dwelling located on the cliffside above the hamlet of Fraisse-Haut (commune of Laveissière) in the Alagnon valley in Haute-Auvergne. This medieval troglodyte dwelling is divided into three levels, carved out of the rock and connected by staircases. Near the entrance is a hoodoo (a type of rock formation). The cave has been made safe by the municipality with iron railings, making it easier to explore the whole cave. It can be accessed either from the yellow PR trail starting from Fraisse-Haut (250 metres elevation gain) or from the GR 400 trail passing above and continuing on to the Way of St James. No documents have been found about it, but there are indications that it has been occupied since ancient times. It served as a hermitage during the Middle Ages, notably for St. Calupan. Finally, it served as a pastoral shelter for shepherds until the early 20th century, when two women occupied it.
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