Orthez

Orthez
region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Pau
Canton	Orthez et Terres des Gaves et du Sel
Community association	Lacq-Orthez
Coordinates	43 ° 29 ′ N , 0 ° 46 ′ W Coordinates: 43 ° 29 ′ N , 0 ° 46 ′ W
height	38-185 m
surface	45.86 km 2
Residents	10,449 (January 1, 2017)
Population density	228 inhabitants / km 2
Post Code	64300
INSEE code	64430
Website	Orthez
	; Orthez - Pont Vieux with bridge tower

Orthez ( Occitan town ) is a southwestern French city and a municipality in the district Pau with 10,449 inhabitants (at January 1, 2017) in the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques in the region Nouvelle-Aquitaine (before 2016: Aquitaine ).

Location and climate

Orthez is located on the Gave de Pau river in the north of the historic province of Béarn at an altitude of about 75 m . The cities of Pau and Bayonne are just under 50 km southeast and 75 km west, respectively. The climate is temperate; the abundant rain (approx. 1040 mm / year) falls over the year.

Population development

year	1800	1851	1901	1954	1999	2016
Residents	6,738	6,948	6.365	6,713	10.121	10,627

Despite the rural exodus - triggered by the phylloxera crisis in viticulture at the end of the 19th and first half of the 20th century - the number of inhabitants of the community hardly increased at first. It was not until the 1960s that the mechanization of agriculture led to a lack of jobs in rural areas, which triggered a significant population surge in the small town. The town of Sainte-Suzanne , which has around 1000 inhabitants, also belongs to the municipality .

economy

The city is located in the middle of an intensively used agricultural area; the place belongs to the wine-growing region Béarn . Small traders, craftsmen and service companies of all kinds have settled in the city itself. In 1951, a large natural gas deposit was discovered under Lacq, about 15 km to the south-east , which had been exploited since the 1960s and had an economic impact on the entire region.

history

Orthez came into being in the 11th or 12th century from the merger of two smaller settlement cores that were close together and controlled the movement of goods on the river. In 1242 Gaston VII Moncade , the vice count ( vicomte ) of Béarn, made Orthez his residence. Possibly on his suggestion, the medieval bridge was built, which is still the symbol of the city today. From the 13th to the 15th centuries, the city was the residence of the Vice Counts of Béarn. Gaston Fébus , one of the most important personalities of the French Middle Ages, was born in 1331 in the count's castle. Despite the relocation of the count's residence to Pau in 1466, Orthez remained an important trading post in the hinterland of the port of Bayonne. In the 16th century, Jeanne d'Albret , the Protestant mother of the later King Henry IV , settled temporarily in Orthez; here she moved the Académie protestante du Béarn in 1566 , which was promoted to university by her son in 1583 . Trade with England and Northern Europe also flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries.

During the French Revolution, Orthez was the capital of a district , and since February 17, 1800, an arrondissement . The arrondissement was dissolved on September 10, 1926, the cantons were assigned to the arrondissements of Oloron and Pau .

In 2017 Orthez was awarded the honorary title “ Reformation City of Europe ” by the Community of Evangelical Churches in Europe .

Attractions

Orthez - Église St-Pierre

Orthez - Église St-Pierre , Triumphal Arch

The Eglise Saint-Pierre is first mentioned after the year 1260, but the existence of a previous building is likely. Gaston VII. Moncade is also considered the client for the new building. Are preserved in its original state of Vierungs - and choir area ; the nave (nef) was raised in the 16th century and received the current bell tower (clocher) in the 19th century . The church building was recognized as a monument historique in 2012 .
Located on a hill (butte) and surrounded by a moat, Château Moncade was built in 1242 or shortly thereafter; today only the one in 15./16. Century spiked former keep ( donjon ) received. The castle ruins were classified as a monument historique as early as 1840 .
The Vigne de Moncade is a vineyard that was only laid out in 1991 on the flank of the castle hill and is a reminder of the town's long winemaking tradition.
The old bridge (Pont Vieux) dates from the 13th century; However, it only got its current appearance under Gaston Fébus in the 14th century. Originally it had two towers, today it is spanned by three asymmetrical arches, in the middle of which is the fortified bridge tower , the Gave. The tower has largely withstood the onslaught of the Protestant troops of Montgomery (1569) during the Huguenot Wars and that of the troops of the Duke of Wellington (1814) during the Napoleonic Wars ; Nevertheless, a thorough restoration took place in the 19th century. The bridge has been recognized as a monument historique since 1875 .
The Hôtel de la Lune , built in the 13th or 14th century, is a representative and at the same time well-fortified building belonging to a wealthy family; it is said to have housed the chronicler Jean Froissart in 1388 . The two cross-frame windows are pretty .
The mother of the future King Henry IV spent some time in the 16th century Maison Jeanne d'Albret during an epidemic that was rampant in Pau. The stair tower on the outside is common for representative buildings of this time . In the garden there is a pigeon house (pigeonnier) .
Parts of the Maison Batcave date from the 13th / 14th centuries. Century; other components were added later.
The one-room Protestant church (temple) was built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in neoclassical style.
The Arènes du Pesqué are a sports facility with an attached park that was built in 1927.

Hotel de la Lune
Maison Batcave
Maison Jeanne d'Albret
Tour Moncade

Sainte-Suzanne

Built between the 16th and 19th centuries and privately owned, Château de Gebäude is located in a wood on the western outskirts. It has been recognized as a Monument historique since 2005 .

Personalities

Gaston III. (1331-1391), the most famous gentleman of the former county of Foix in southern France
Pierre Viret (1511–1571), reformer and teacher at the Orthez Academy
Eugène Casalis (1812-1891), missionary and linguist
Paul Reclus (1847-1914), surgeon
Jean-Louis Curtis (1917–1995), writer
Francis Planté (1839-1934), pianist
Joël Suhubiette (* 1962), conductor
Sylvain Darrifourcq (* 1979), drummer
Paul Lay (* 1984), jazz musician