Billom, Lezoux, land of crops and ceramics

Even in the 19th century, Billom was dubbed “the town of markets”, as you could buy and sell anything there: from butter, eggs, cheeses, and every kind of livestock and poultry imaginable, to wood, clogs, grape harvest barrels, earthenware pots, hemp, wool yarn, and much much more. It was at that same time that hemp farming gradually gave way to pink garlic.

The Limagne plainland proved to be perfect for growing garlic, which thrived in the continental climate and local clay-limestone soil that produce the unique taste profile of Billom garlic. Billom garnered widespread recognition as a bastion of garlic farming, and it went beyond growing and cropping garlic to exploring and refining ways to preserve and package it.

The short jump from garlic fields to processors confers superior freshness and quality of a garlic that grows without artificial preservatives. This magical combination of conditions that enabled Billom to rise up as the capital of pink garlic, a title the town proudly holds to this day.

Lezoux has a (hi)story that stretches even further back in time.
The story of pottery in Lezoux dates back to the Gaulish-era, i.e. around the 1st century B.C., although archaeologists have so far found only one potters’ kiln dating to this period.
The arrival of the Romans marked a decisive turning point, making Lezoux a hotbed of industrial-scale pottery making, from tableware and cookware to terracotta forms used for buildings or as votive offerings for divinities.

One of the defining these creations was terra sigillata pottery, with its characteristic red–orange hue and relief decoration. These terra sigillata pieces, decorated with mythological scenes or floral designs, bore makers’ stamps—and more than 1,200 potters’ names have been catalogued, which is testimony to the importance of creator signatures. Lezoux’s much-prized and relatively luxury sigillata exported to every corner of the entire Roman Empire, from Great Britain to Poland, thanks to a well-established distribution network. Lezoux’s museum of ceramic arts holds some unique pieces that date from this period.

However, in the 19th century, Lezoux and the surrounding area was teeming with small studios and itinerant craftsmen, thus perpetuating local pottery-making tradition.
In recognition of Lezoux’s importance as a historical bastion of ceramic arts, in 2007 the Puy-de-Dôme département opened a council-funded ceramicware museum. Housed in the long-iconic Bompard firing and glazing works, the museum tells the centuries-long (his)story of potterymaking craft and innovation here in the region.