Menat () is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Puy-de-Dôme Puy-de-Dôme (; oc, label=Auvergnat, lo Puèi de Doma or ''lo Puèi Domat'') is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in the centre of France. In 2019, it had a population of 662,152.department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. It is in the heart of the valley of

Sioule The Sioule (; oc, Siula) is a long river in central France, a left tributary of the river Allier. Its source is near the village of Orcival, north of Mont-Dore, in the Massif Central. The Sioule has cut a deep gorge, especially in its upper ...

. Its neighboring municipalities are

Saint-Éloy-les-Mines Saint-Éloy-les-Mines (; Auvergnat: ''Sant Alòi de las Minas'') is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. Geography The river Bouble flows north-northeastward through the commune. Population See also *Commun ...

, Youx, Moureuille, Servant, Pouzol,

Neuf-Église Neuf-Église () is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France. See also *Communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department The following is a list of the 464 communes of the Puy-de-Dôme department of France. Intercommunal ...

, Ayat-sur-Sioule, and Saint-Rémy-de-Blot.

Locations

The Menat Abbey ( fr) is an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

in the village of Menat. It is one of the oldest

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

foundations in Auvergne. The Pont de Menat ( fr) is a medieval bridge connecting Menat to adjacent Saint-Rémy-de-Blot.

Gastronomy

The pâté aux pommes de terre and, the "pain des Combrailles" are specialties of the region.

Fossils

Menat is the site of a

lagerstätte A Lagerstätte (, from ''Lager'' 'storage, lair' '' Stätte'' 'place'; plural ''Lagerstätten'') is a sedimentary deposit that exhibits extraordinary fossils with exceptional preservation—sometimes including preserved soft tissues. These f ...

dating to 56 million years ago. Many fossils have been discovered extracted from the shales. A dedicated museum was inaugurated in 1980 and housed in the former abbey castle (now town hall).

Paleocene The Paleocene, ( ) or Palaeocene, is a geological epoch that lasted from about 66 to 56 million years ago (mya). It is the first epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name is a combination of the Ancient Greek ''pal ...

bird fossils have been discovered in Menat, including Halcyornithidae, Messelasturidae, and relatives of Songziidae.