Montbrison.
At Givors-Canal passengers for stations on the west side of the Rhône change carriages. From Givors-Canal to St. Etienne the train passes towns with coal-mines and large smelting works and foundries. At [St. Etienne] (p. 346) a long halt is generally made. A little way up from the station will be found the steam tram, which, after traversing the best part of the town, returns to this terminus. 56½ m. W. from Lyons and 64½ m. E. from Clermont is [Montbrison] on the Vizezy, pop. 6700. Inn: H. Lion d’Or. An uninteresting town, whose public buildings occupy religious edifices, secularised after the revolution of 1793. Of these the most prominent is the Palais de Justice, in the convent and church of the nuns of “Sainte Marie.”
Behind the inn is the parish church of N. D. d’Esperance, founded in 1223, but recently repaired. The west portal (restored), with its heavy square tower and buttresses, was built in 1443 by order of Charles I. de Bourbon. The most interesting part is the five-sided apse, with in each side one long lancet window, and above it two small windows separated by an impost colonnette. To each corner is attached diagonally a long, narrow, slightly receding buttress. The church is 206 ft. long, and 62 ft. high from the pavement to the roof. At the E. end of the N. aisle is the mausoleum to Count “Fores and Niver, Guigo IV.,” who founded the church in MCCXXIII. Opposite is the monument to the jurist Vernato, d. MCCCLVIII.
Montbrison: Salle des Etats.
Fronting the E. end of the church is the [Salle des Etats] (house of Parliament) du Forez, built about the year 1300 by Jean I., Comte de Forez, and recently restored by the Duc de Persigny from plans by Violet-le-Duc. The name was afterwards changed into the Salle de la Diana (decana), from having been converted into the chapter-house of the church. It now contains the library of the Diana society, who also hold their meetings here. It is 64 ft. long, 26¼ ft. wide, and 26¼ ft. high. The roof is entirely covered with small painted representations of the escutcheons of the Counts of Forez, and of every family that has possessed land in the territory. The large end windows are modern
additions. The chimney-piece, though modern, occupies the place of the original one.
Less than ½ m. from the inn, by the Clermont road, is a cold mineral spring, containing bicarbonates of lime, magnesia, and soda, with free carbonic acid gas. It makes a refreshing drink, as well as a tonic and diuretic. A little farther, about a mile from the town, is the old untidy village of Moingt, with church 12th cent., and in front of it a ruined gateway and round tower 13th cent. Montbrison is 49¼ m. W. from Lyons by the Dombes railway. The Lyons terminus of the Dombes railway is the station of St. Paul ([p. 30]).
Between Montbrison and Thiers there is nothing remarkable till just after St. Remay, the station before Thiers, when the train passes by the gorge of the Durolle at an immense depth below. At this part the train traverses eight tunnels, and crosses the valley of the Durolle by a viaduct of seven arches. 24¼ m. E. from Clermont, 40½ m. W. from Montbrison, 60 m. W. from St. Etienne, and 96¾ m. W. from Lyons is
Thiers. Vertaizon. Billom.
[Thiers], pop. 16,500, at first a small hamlet beside a fortress (Tigernum castrum) and a chapel dedicated to St. Symphorien (see [p. 367]).