- Issoire
French commune
nomcommune=Issoire
| région=Auvergne
département=Puy-de-Dôme
("sous-préfecture ")| arrondissement=Issoire
canton= Issoire (chief town)
insee=63178 |cp=63500 |maire=Jacques Magne
mandat=2008 -2014
intercomm=
longitude=3.24972222222
latitude=45.545
alt moy=386 m|alt mini=360 m|alt maxi=560 m
hectares=1,969 |km²=19.69|sans=13,373
date-sans=1999
dens=
date-dens=1999Issoire ( _oc. Suire) is a town and commune of central
France , capital of an arrondissement in the "département" ofPuy-de-Dôme .Geography
Issoire is located on the
Couze River, near its junction with the Allier, 40 km SSE ofClermont-Ferrand on the Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée railway toNîmes . Issoire is situated in one of the fertile plains of the Petites Limagnes -- basins that follow the Allier River from its source in the Massif Central to the Grande Limagne north of Clermont-Ferrand and on to the Loire.History
Issoire ("Iciodurum") is said to have been founded by the
Arverni , and in Roman times rose to some reputation for its schools. In the 5th century the Christian community established there byStremonius in the 3rd century was overthrown by the fury of theVandals .During the religious wars of the
Reformation , Issoire suffered very severely. Merle, the leader of the Protestants, captured the town in1574 , and treated the inhabitants with great cruelty. The Roman Catholics retook it in1577 , and the ferocity of their retaliation may be inferred from the inscription "Ici fut Issoire" ("Here was Issoire") carved on a pillar which was raised on the site of the town. In the contest between the Leaguers and Henry IV, Issoire sustained further sieges, and never wholly regained its early prosperity.Economy
Voxan motorcycles are manufactured at Issoire.ights
The church of Saint-Austremoine is built on the site of an older chapel raised over the tomb of St. Austremoine (Stremonius) affords an excellent specimen of the
Romanesque architecture of Auvergne.Twinnings
*flagicon|Germany
Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz ,Germany , since 1971.External links and reference
* [http://www.issoire.fr/ Official town website]
*1911
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