Thiers, Puy-de-Dôme

Thiers
Thiers
	Saint-Genès church
	Thiers
	<templatestyles src="Template:Hidden begin/styles.css"/> Location within Auvergne region Thiers
	Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Puy-de-Dôme
Arrondissement	Thiers
Canton	Thiers
Intercommunality	Thiers
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Thierry Deglon
Area1	44.49 km2 (17.18 sq mi)
Population (2006)2	12,632
• Density	280/km2 (740/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	63430 / 63300
Elevation	283–793 m (928–2,602 ft); (avg. 439 m or 1,440 ft)
	1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Thiers (pronounced: [tjɛːʁ]) is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.

Thiers is built upon a hillside along the Durolle river valley. The steep elevation splits the town into distinct high town and low town areas, with historic half-timbered houses notable in the old quarter of high town.

The Hôtel du Pirou (15th century).

Economy

Thiers is famous for its knives, blades and cutlery industry. The town has a museum in the old quarter, portraying the history of knife-making. Further along the valley, the industrial heritage museum, l'Usine du May, opened in 2009. Modern factories include Forges Gorce who make blades for agricultural machinery from hedge trimmers to combine harvesters, part of McConnel Alamo group.^[1]