Place de Michel-de-l’Hospital à Clermont-Ferrand | Pays d’Art et d’Histoire

Place Michel-de-l’Hospital has existed since the Middle Ages. At the time, it was a vast open space at the foot of the 13th-century ramparts, known as the “Marché de las Madeyras”, meaning the market for timber, stakes and willow rods. From 1460 onwards, it hosted a market selling all kinds(…)

Place Michel-de-l’Hospital has existed since the Middle Ages. At the time, it was a vast open space at the foot of the 13th-century ramparts, known as the “Marché de las Madeyras”, meaning the market for timber, stakes and willow rods. From 1460 onwards, it hosted a market selling all kinds of timber. In the 17th century, it became known as “Place des Cercles”, referring to the sale of barrel hoops, and was enlarged following the demolition of the city walls.

In 1820, the municipality named it Place Michel-de-l’Hospital, in honour of Michel de L’Hospital, a jurist born near Aigueperse, in the Puy-de-Dôme département. Chancellor of France from 1560 to 1568, he was known for his spirit of tolerance and his efforts to ease religious tensions during the French Wars of Religion. He also played a major role in simplifying the administration of justice.

Since 1921, the sculpture L’Esprit et la Matière (Spirit and Matter), by sculptor Auguste Carli (1868–1930), has stood at the centre of the square. Made of white marble, it depicts the struggle between matter, embodied by the human body, and the spirit, symbolised by an angel, in a secular reinterpretation of the biblical struggle between Jacob and the Angel.

At No. 9 on the square stands an Art Deco building designed in 1935–1936 by Clermont-based architect Jean Bosser (1902–1984). It has been awarded the Architecture Contemporaine Remarquable (Remarkable Contemporary Architecture) label, as has the former cinema in the rear courtyard.

Below the square, La Jetée is home to Sauve qui peut le court métrage, the organisation responsible for the International Short Film Festival. Its name refers to the short film La Jetée, directed by Chris Marker in 1962.