Menat, Puy-de-Dôme
Menat () is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France. It is in the heart of the valley of Sioule. Its neighboring municipalities are Saint-Éloy-les-Mines, Youx, Moureuille, Servant, Pouzol, Neuf-Église, Ayat-sur-Sioule, and Saint-Rémy-de-Blot. Locations. The Menat Abbey () is an abbey in the village of Menat. It is one of the oldest monastic foundations in Auvergne. The Pont de Menat () 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 a unique paleontological site in Europe which testifies to 56 million years of plant and animal life, well before the appearance of man. 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 bird fossils have been discovered in Menat, including Halcyornithidae, Messelasturidae, and relatives of Songziidae.