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The Bobbin Lace Education Centre was set up in 1974. Its two main missions are to pass on the tradition and practice of bobbin lace-making and to preserve the lace heritage.
The earliest records of lace-making in Velay date from the 16th century. The art briefly declined in the 17th century, after the Toulouse Parliament prohibited it. The Jesuit Jean-François Régis helped to revive lace-making and today is the patron saint of lacemakers.
Over time, the Centre has acquired an international reputation. Its correspondence courses are followed all over the world, making it a reference in the field.
A themed exhibition is organised in the exhibition rooms each year. https://www.lepuyenvelay-tourisme.co.uk/monuments-puy-en-velay/centre-denseignement-de-la-dentelle-aux-fuseaux/
The Puy-en-Velay Cathedral, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1998, ranks as the 2nd favorite monument of the French in the show presented on France 2 by Stéphane Bern in 2015.
After a first church built in the fifth century, the cathedral was built on Mount Anis. In the twelfth century, the influx of pilgrims led to sit four spans above a vaulted porch, to compensate for the slope of Mount Anis. The entrance was made by a staircase which opened in the middle of the central nave.
In the nineteenth century, the building was considerably transformed, but the six cupolas and beautiful painted decorations were preserved. From 1994 to 1999, an overall restoration allowed the restoration of the central staircase closed in the eighteenth century, the repair of interior facing and the winding of the organ with its double-sided buffet of the seventeenth century.
A new altar was placed at the crossing of the transept, while the altar of the "pilgrims", against the wall, carries the "Black Virgin" who replaced the primitive statue, burned to the Revolution. https://www.lepuyenvelay-tourisme.fr/monuments-puy-en-velay/cathedrale-notre-dame/