Pont-du-Château (; ; literally 'Bridge of the Castle') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France. Geography Located 15 km from Clermont-Ferrand (15 minutes by car), Pont-du-Château lies at the crossroad of motorways connecting Paris to Barcelona and Lyon to Bordeaux. Pont-du-Château joined the Clermont commune on 1 January 2004. Since then, Pont-du-Château has had a large territory of more than 30,000 square meters and 283,000 inhabitants. Sights The castle: Burned in 1580 following an epidemic of plague, the castle was rebuilt in the middle of the 17th century on the initiative of Guillaume de Montboissier Beaufort-Canillac, with financial help from his friend Cardinal Mazarin. Museum: place de l'Aire. The museum recalls the life of boatmen and other Castelpontins, through many objects, models and documents. The museum is open every day in July and August. History Origins Three boroughs were born in Carolingian times, although precise dates are uncertain. In the west, Paulhat: during the Roman peace large Gallo-Roman farms existed in the large marsh known as Limagne, Redon, Picou, Tourette Chazal, but in the Carolingian era the village of Paulhat grew at the foot of the cliffs of Littes and Ruchon The village of Machal beneath the Puy de Mur volcano, dating from the paleolithic era, disappeared during the Norman invasions. But the Sainte Martine church appeared on the fortified hillock, surrounded by a village whose activities related to the river Allier. In a period frequently troubled by Viking incursions, a stone keep appeared on the riverside cliffs. Louis Le Gros laid siege to it in 1122 and destroyed it. Medieval city Guy de Dampierre seized the town in 1212 on behalf of Philip II of France, which made the city a Crown possession. In the 13th century it became a true citadel the "old castle" enclosed by a single wall. Philippe Auguste made it a garrison city, equipping it with two new walls with towers, doors, ramparts which one guesses in the plan of the old city. Two churches enriched this inheritance: Ste Martine, a Romanesque building built over several centuries beginning in the 13th century, since restored with its original paintings; Notre Dame de Paulhat, which disappeared from the marsh about 1356 and was rebuilt west of the fortifications in 1384, and again destroyed. In the 16th century, with the Renaissance, it saw a resurgence of Auvergnat Romanesque architecture. Traditional city Since the