Castrum Bigorra

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The Castrum Bigorra is a Gallo-Roman fortification in the commune of Saint-Lézer in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in southwestern France .

history

The hilltop above the commune of Saint-Lézer was inhabited as early as the Bronze Age (3rd millennium BC). It dominates the Adour Valley , offered an excellent view of the entire area and, appropriately fortified, could be well defended.

At the beginning of the Iron Age (between 750 and 650 BC), Celtiberians from the Bigerriones tribe built an oppidum at this point . A little over seven hectares in size, the oppidum was surrounded by walls and moats.

After the Germanic tribes of the Vandals , Alans and Suebi devastated the area in 407 AD, the Gallo-Romans built a fortress at the same place, the Castrum Bigorra. A 940 m long wall with towers enclosed a square several hectares in size. The castrum served to protect the population of the nearby Vicus (today Vic-en-Bigorre ) and surrounding towns, for example Tarbes (today the capital of the Hautes-Pyrénées department ).

Up until the early Middle Ages , the Castrum Bigorra was the main town of Bigorre . In the 6th century, coins were still struck here. The Count of Bigorre built a medieval castle on part of the site . A monastery was founded below the walls , which in the 11th century was subordinated to the Abbot of Cluny as the priory of Saint-Lézer .

Over the centuries, landslides have moved the walls of Castrum Bigorra and brought them to collapse. Their remains can be viewed on an archaeological trail. The association “Les amis de la Bigorra” has equipped this path with information boards and maintains it.

Archaeological development

  • 1881: Prosper Roch, teacher in Saint-Lézer, summarizes his chance discoveries in a small brochure for his students.
  • 1890: Norbert Rosapelly and Xavier de Cardaillac carry out the first excavations and publish La cité de Bigorre
  • from 1956: Roland Coquerel (1909–1991) begins systematic excavations and reports on it in over 200 publications.
  • since 2002: A team of Christian Darles (École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Toulouse) and Alain Badie (Institut des Recherches sur l'Architecture Antique du CRNS) carried out excavations and compiled an archaeological atlas of the Castrum Bigorra.

literature

  • Coquerel, Roland: Castrum Bigorra (Saint-Lézer) - Trente-cinq ans de recherches archéologiques. Société Ramond, Bagnères-de-Bigorre, 1993.
  • Daniel Schaad, Christian Servelle: La cité de Tarbes et le castrum Bigorra-Saint-Lézer. In: Aquitania 14, 1996, pp. 73-104.
  • Castrum Bigorra St.-Lézer - Mémoire cachée des Pyrénées - Une ballade archéologique. Communauté de commune Vic-Montaner, 2013.

Web links

Coordinates: 43 ° 22 ′ 23.9 ″  N , 0 ° 1 ′ 44 ″  E