Remodelled by architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte in the former Palace of Art, this museum houses a genuine conservatory of regional know-how. A modern layout enhances the exceptional collections that illustrate the town's creativity. The museum contains ..

This huge museum boasts one of the finest public collections of 20C modern and contemporary art in France, just behind that of the Pompidou Centre in Paris. Admire canvases by Pierre Soulages and Jean Dubuffet, works by American abstract artists, Ger..

A watershed at Chabouret Pass (1 363m), Mont Pilat rises between the Loire and the Rhône Valleys. The Regional Park created in 1974 covers some 160 000 acres of varied landscapes. Towards the Rhône, the orchards and vineyards (such as the famous Côte..

This old mine (which operated from 1913 to 1973) produced up to 3000 tons of coal a day and employed 1500 miners. Today it plays host to the industry and mining museum and has many reconstructed galleries ( atmosphere, noise and machinery ), and to ..

Distinguished by its semicircular dome, the planetarium uses cutting-edge technology to provide the most amazing and informative shows about the Universe. The central device is an astronomic simulator which can calculate and project the movements of ..

This square is very lively right from the first fine days of the year with its music stand and its plane tree shaded esplanade.

Opposite you at the foot of the statue of Sacré-Coeur, looking down the famous Grand-Rue, you have a view over the whole of the town. To your extreme right Rochetaille crowns the town up high. Near the television mast you will see the Ondaine corrido..

This is an attractive 16C facade adorned with Renaissance medallions.

At the corner of this old St Etienne street and of the Rue des Martyrs-des-Vingré, there is a ramshackle building from the middle of the 18C decorated with a statue which is representative of Forez area town architecture with its Genoas in four tiled..

This Church, the only example of Gothic architecture in the town, was built in the 15C, in sandstone from Forez. Inside there is an attractive polychromatic Entombment. The chancel in Gothic flamboyant style dates from the 15C.

This square formerly the heart of the town marks the site of the old 15C north rampart.

There is a map here dating from 1258 which gives the first mention of the name St Etienne. There are plans and engravings illustrating the history of the town. There is also a recreation of the first railway line ever opened in France. This was in Ma..

5 Caryatids decorate the facade of this 16C house.

This main road parallel to the Rue Gambetta has some examples of the architecture of the 1930s at Nos 34,36,42 and no.44 there is an impressive reinforced concrete building.

From the alleys or better still the terrace of the Culture house, there is a typical view over St Etienne. The town nestles in the hollow of the Furan Basin, dominated by the Sainte Barbe Hill and further on by two slopes partly covered in vegetation..

Who does not remember with atouch of nostalgiathose antiquated catalogues with hand drawn picturesof the most unlikely objects which created an al ;most insatiable desire to have them ? Created by Léon Lamaizière in 1893 the buildings of the famous f..