Église Saint-Michel d'Aiguilhe

The small town of Aiguilhe, just north of the center of Le Puy-en-Velay, is built around an ancient volcanic cone that has been exposed by millions of years of erosion. On top of the cone is a church named for Saint Michel. The church has been there in one form or another since the first century.

The church of Saint Michel in Aiguilhe, seen from a parking lot in Le Puy.

The name Aiguilhe is a local term for a pointed summit, resembling a needle. The modern French word for needle is aiguille, pronounced roughly ay-GWEE-yuh. I believe that the two words are pronounced the same.