a; boulevards
divide this part from more modern and spacious quarters, which adjoin
it. To the south lies the fine promenade known as the Jardin Lecoq.

The principal building is the cathedral, a Gothic edifice begun in the
13th century. It was not completed, however, till the 19th century, when
the west portal and towers and two bays of the nave were added,
according to the plans of Viollet-le-Duc. The fine stained glass of the
windows dates from the 13th to the 15th centuries. A monument of the
Crusades with a statue of Pope Urban II. stands in the Cathedral square.
The church of Notre-Dame du Port is a typical example of the Romanesque
style of Auvergne, dating chiefly from the 11th and 12th centuries. The
exterior of the choir, with its four radiating chapels, its jutting
cornices supported by modillions and columns with carved capitals, and
its mosaic decoration of black and white stones, is the most interesting
part of the exterior. The rest of the church comprises a narthex
surmounted by a tower, three naves and a transept, over which rises
another tower. There are several churches of minor importance in the
town. Among the old houses one, dating from the 16th century, was the
birthplace of Blaise Pascal, whose statue stands in a neighbouring
square. There is a statue of General Louis Charles Desaix de Veygoux in
the Place de Jaude. Montferrand has several interesting houses of the
15th and 16th centuries, and a church of the 13th, 14th and 15th
centuries.

Clermont-Ferrand is the seat of a bishopric and a prefecture and
headquarters of the XIII. army corps; it has tribunals of first instance
and of commerce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, an
exchange and a branch of the Bank of France. The town is the centre of
an educational division (_academie_), and has faculties of science and
of literature. It also has lycees and training colleges for both sexes,
ecclesiastical seminaries, a preparatory school of medicine and
pharmacy, schools of architecture, music, commerce and industry, museums
of art and antiquities and natural history and a library. A great
variety of industries is carried on, the chief being the manufacture of
semolina and other farinaceous foods, confectionery, preserved fruit and
jams, chemicals and rubber goods. Liqueurs, chicory, chocolate, candles,
hats, boots and shoes, and woollen and linen goods are also made, and
tanning is practised. Clermont is the chief market for th