Mauriac

Mauriac lies in the uplands of Upper Auvergne. Its Benedictine monastery of Saint-Pierre was established in the early ninth century on lands belonging to the abbey of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif at Sens. The priory held property in Mauriac and the surrounding region, and its church and monastic buildings helped shape the town.

During the Wars of Religion, Huguenots took Mauriac in 1574, and the monastery suffered disruption. A Jesuit college was established in 1564, among the early institutions of its kind in Auvergne. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Mauriac became a seat of public institutions serving the northern part of the region.