It was at the end of the 9th century that the construction work on the Abbey of Aurillac began, under the orders of Géraud d'Aurillac who gave it its name. Important cultural center of the Middle Ages, it had at the time about a hundred outbuildings and other possessions, including about forty priories in Auvergne and Spain.
Following the death of its founder, the abbey was subsequently the scene of many miracles, thus leading to an important development of the site with the arrival of pilgrims or the multiplication of donations. Enlarged for the first time in the 10th century, the Abbey of Saint-Géraud d'Aurillac subsequently underwent a second expansion campaign at the end of the 11th century.
Destroyed after the French Revolution, the abbey unveiled its ruins in 2013, during an archaeological excavation campaign. Ten times larger than Cluny, according to archaeologists, the site continues to be studied and is not accessible to the public.