Insider Saint-ÉtienneBy Emmanuel TresmontantBetween the Loire and the Rhône, this pioneering town of the industrial revolution captivates you with its design tradition (still very much alive) and also with its cultural life, scenery, accent and gastronomy... 39 miles from Lyon and 2 hours from the Gorges de l'Ardèche, Saint-Étienne enjoys a very rich environment that you should take time to explore. For instance, to the west, close to the Massif Central, you'll see the Plaine du Forez with its ancient volcanoes covered with vineyards, freshly restored 12th century churches and priories, the Gorges de la Loire where you can go canoeing and kayaking, sources (Badoit, Parot, Saint Alban.) and farms producing Fourme de Montbrison cheese. To the east, here are the 65,000 hectares of the Parc Naturel Régional du Pilat, created in 1974. Its roads, crossing scenery of forests, plains and granite rocks, will lead you to the famed vineyards of Côte-Rôtie and Condrieu steeply overlooking the Rhône. Saint-Étienne, design cityFirst French railroad (1827), first sewing machine (1830), first bicycle (1885), creation of the legendary Manufacture des Armes et Cycles Manufrance (1885). Saint-Étienne, until the second half of the 20th century, was one of the country's most important industrial centres. In 2000, it was graded a 'City of art and history' for its magnificently restored historic and industrial heritage, such as for example the 46,000 sq. m. of the Giron velvet factory laid out as an antique dealers village in the town centre, or the Puits Couriot mining site (closed in 1972) which invites visitors to plunge into the universe of the Mining Museum.  © E. Tresmontant/ViaMichelin But creation in Saint-Étienne is also expressed daily via industrial design, whether it be a matter of optics, mechanics or graphical creation. In the town planning field, Saint-Étienne, already well known for the Firminy Vert site (the largest architectural ensemble designed in Europe by Le Corbusier), has also won fame with the École stéphanoise d'aménagement which won for Saint-Étienne the first national urban planning prize in 1999. The Biennale internationale du design (Biennial International Design Show) attracts more than 120,000 vistors in a week. The site of the former Manufacture d'Armes et Cycles in Saint-Étienne has for its part been laid out afresh to receive the future Cité du Design. Like its huge Musée d'Art moderne (the biggest in France after Centre Georges-Pompidou) and its town centre now crossed by two tram lines, Saint-Étienne has become a light, open and contemporary city where it is pleasant to live! Pierre Petiot, one of the last arms engravers in Europe The inhabitants of Saint-Étienne have kept a deep-rooted love for precision craftmanship. This applies to Pierre Petiot, Meilleur Ouvrier de France 1982, whom we went to visit in his workshop in the Saint Roch district, the former district of gunsmiths.This passionate craftsman has been engaging for half a century in a craft that can be traced back to the time of François 1st: an arms engraver. His craft? Transforming arms entrusted to him into genuine gems! Chiselled, engraved, and gilt using extremely complex patterns, some guns leaving his workshop require absolute patience and are therefore sometimes worth several dozen thousand euros. Brejnev, the de Gaulle family, François de Grossouvre (the man in charge of 'presidential hunts' at the Élysée) had their guns engraved by Pierre Petiot. He also appears in the Guiness Book of Records for having engraved the world's smallest Hammerless gun.  © E. Tresmontant/ViaMichelin A walk in the historic town centreFar from the die-hard cliches (the mining past, deindustrialisation, feats of Les Verts in 1976.), Saint-Étienne has succeeded its reconversion. Its previously dark and noisy town centre has been restored and redesigned. With the creation of the second tram line in 1992 (the first had never ceased to operate since 1891), its arteries have begun to breath again. Evidence of this is provided by the very beautiful Avenue de la Libération whose modern style buildings recall, via their sculpted facades, the town's mining and industrial past. Street pavements have also been widened, like those of RueMichelet with its multitude of chic boutiques (Lyonnais come shopping here at weekend as prices are lower than in Lyon). The adjacent pedestrianised streets, like Rue Denis Escoffier, Rue des Martyrs de Vingre or Rue Pointe Cadet, have suddenly revealed the beauty of their old 17th century stones like the statue of Saint James of Compostela that can be seen here. However the emblem of the town is certainly the charming Muse of Massenet, a work by the sculptor Joseph Lamberton (1867-1943) which, at the centre of a little square, celebrates the memory of the local composer Massenet (1842-1912).  © E. Tresmontant/ViaMichelin The Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne: a mecca of regional cultural lifeBuilt on a green hill, the top of which affords a superb panorama over the entire city, the Opéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne is considered by specialists as the fourth most important opera in France (250 annual curtain raisings, 100,000 spectators and 10,000 subscribers). Visiting this institution gives the impression of entering a large 'factory' heaving with activity, with its symphonic orchestra practicing, its singers, dancers, team of costume makers and carpenters building the props of the next show. The highly effective acoustics were totally rethought after the criminal fire of 1998. The Opéra théâtre de Saint-Étienne shines on the international lyrical scene by highlighting a few little-known or forgotten pearls of the French repertory. For instance, apart from the 25 operas by Jules Massenet (of which today only Manon, Don Quijote and Thaïs are known in the best of cases), Saint-Étienne Opera was the only one to present this year a real masterpiece: the King of Ys by Édouard Lalo which attracted music lovers from all over the world.  © E. Tresmontant/ViaMichelin Musée d'Art et d'Industrie: all Saint-Étienne's living memory!Located in a town centre Second Empire building, the Art and Industry Museum can be visited passionately for hours on end... More than a dusty old museum, this splendid venue, whose layout was rethought by the architect and designer Jean-Michel Wilmotte, indeed plunges us into the history of Saint-Étienne whose workers' corporations (trimmings manufacturers, weavers and gunsmiths) were renowned throughout Europe for their knowhow (the best workers moreover had their own workshop at home). After the Empire, the trimmings trade developed tremendously with the invention of the Jacquard weaving loom, a magnificent wooden machine that museum attendants set in motion to the delight of visitors of all ages. The rooms devoted to the history of the bicycle (don't miss the 1891 Manufrance 'hirondelle' with its flowing curves!) weapons (3,000 items exhibited including the exceptional 'Idéal Éclair' hunting gun manufactured in Saint-Étienne in 1889) are also a pleasure to visit. A short excursion For a day out from Saint-Étienne, take the A72 motorway to Champdieu. This Medieval village located in the vicinity of Montbrison is the site of a superb fortified Romanesque church built for a Benedictine priory in the 12th century. Inside, you will marvel at the beauty of the frescoes typical of the Auvergnat Romanesque style. In the basement, under the chancel, the perfectly restored white stone crypt is also admirably harmonious with its little columns with sculpted capitals.  8 miles from here, the other site you absolutely must discover is the priory of Saint-Romain-le-Puy whose architecture bears witness to the artistic intensity of the years around year 1000 at the turning point between Carolingian art and Romanesque art. Located on an ancient volcano dominating all the plain, this pink granite priory shines in the sun and houses remains of frescoes painted between the 10th and 15th centuries. The vines planted on the slopes of the volcano produce a mineral white wine rivalling the best Condrieus! (see our gastronomy article). Further informationOpéra Théâtre de Saint-Étienne Jardin des plantes B.P. 237 42013 Saint-Étienne Cedex 2 Tel.: 04 77 47 83 40 Musée d'Art et d'Industrie 2, place Louis Comte 42 000 Saint-Étienne Tel.: 04 77 49 73 00 Pierre Petiot, arms engraver This Meilleur Ouvrier de France who works with his 'disciple' Laure Bonneton-Guillet only receives by appointment. 41, rue des Francs Maçons 42 100 Saint-Étienne Tel.: 04 77 37 21 07 Marc Zimmermann, master clockmaker This passionate master clockmaker does not merely repair old Louis XV clocks but also creates amazing spherical and flat clocks without figures, without hands and with an engine, that operate thanks to a ball bearing system... 26, rue Denis Escoffier 42 000 Saint-Étienne Tel.: 04 77 32 22 72 J'ai deux amours One of the pretty design and decoration shops in the pedestrianised town centre. You'll find a mix here of all materials and all styles from Art Deco to Pop Art. 1, rue Pointe Cadet 42 000 Saint-Étienne Tel.: 04 77 21 00 57  The 2007 Rugby World Cup in Saint-ÉtienneSaint-Étienne is one of the twelve towns that will host the Rugby World Cup matches taking place in France and the United Kingdom from 7 September to 20 October 2007. We will devote a dossier to this event in our magazine of 1 September, with a presentation of the various towns, focussing on the stadiums and challenges of the competition and giving must-visit addresses. Official site of the 2007 Rugby World Cup: |
Tourism and Gastronomy
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