11 juin 2007
Billom
Antiquity: Billom is located on the course of the Roman way which connects Lyon in Bordeaux and which passes by Clermont.
O C century: evangelization of the area by Saint-Austremoine and Saint-Juvénal
VIII E century: creation of the Saint-Cerneuf chapter. (Cerneuf….the new stag? hold, the druids are not far once again!)
X E century: creation of the second parish of the city: Saint-wolf
XIII E century: transformation of the school of the chapter into university. The university of Billom is the fourth of France, after Paris, Toulouse and Montpellier. It counted until two miles pupils. The city is surrounded by fortification. There remains about it of the pieces: the door of the butchers, the door of the castle.
XVI E century: Creation of the first college Jesuit in France (1558). Creation of the commercial court (one of the first in France). It will be confirmed by Charles IX in 1569 and Henry IV in 1594. It will be active until 1999.
XIX E
century: Arrived of the train in 1875. Creation in 1884 of the
preparatory military academy of the children reared by the army of
Billom (closed in 1963). 
But it is not the history of Billom which is the most outstanding
thing, but well the crypt under the furnace bridge of Cerneuf saint!
I was likely to be able to only visit it, foot-naked, open to all the vibrations. What a power! The well is there surely for some-thing, and the representations of dragons too. The wouivre is very strong in the corner.
And a statue of Michel Saint carrying the child in his arms, child
who appears to stop the arm avenger of the archangel towards the animal
with his feet. Animal which besides tries to attract the child with
him. Representation of the archangel trying to initiate a new heart
while seeking to withdraw it from the cheap instincts, or the initiated
child trying to retain the hand of the judge by wisdom, rectifying
without forcing? 
