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Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Pau (French pronunciation: ​[po], Occitan pronunciation: [paw]) is a commune overlooking the Pyrenees, and prefecture of the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.[3]

Pau
From top, left to right: The Boulevard des Pyrénées and the Pic du Midi d'Ossau; Pic du Midi de Bigorre and Palais Beaumont; Château de Pau
Location of Pau
Pau
Pau
Coordinates: 43°18′N 0°22′W / 43.30°N 0.37°W / 43.30; -0.37Coordinates: 43°18′N 0°22′W / 43.30°N 0.37°W / 43.30; -0.37
CountryFrance
RegionNouvelle-Aquitaine
DepartmentPyrénées-Atlantiques
ArrondissementPau
CantonPau-1, 2, 3 and 4
IntercommunalityCA Pau Béarn Pyrénées
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) François Bayrou[1] (MoDem)
Area
1
31.51 km2 (12.17 sq mi)
Population
 (Jan. 2019)[2]
75,627
 • Density2,400/km2 (6,200/sq mi)
Demonym(s)Palois, paloise (French)
Paulin, paulina
Paulès, paulèsa
(Béarnese)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
64445 /64000
Elevation165–245 m (541–804 ft)
(avg. 178 m or 584 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

The city is located in the heart of the former sovereign principality of Béarn, of which it was the capital from 1464. Pau lies on the Gave de Pau, and is located 100 kilometres (62 mi) from the Atlantic Ocean and 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Spain. This position gives it a striking panorama across the mountain range of the Pyrenees, especially from its landmark "Boulevard des Pyrénées", as well as the hillsides of Jurançon. According to Alphonse de Lamartine, "Pau has the world's most beautiful view of the earth just as Naples has the most beautiful view of the sea."

The site has been occupied since at least the Gallo-Roman era.[note 1] However the first references to Pau as a settlement only occur in the first half of the 12th century.[note 2] The town developed from the construction of its castle, likely from the 11th century by the Viscounts of Béarn, to protect the ford which was a strategic point providing access to the Bearn valleys and to Spain. The city takes its name from the stockade (pau in Béarnese) which surrounded the original castle.

Pau became the capital of Béarn in 1464 and the seat of the Kings of Navarre in 1512 after the capture of Pamplona by the Kingdom of Castile. Pau became a leading political and intellectual centre under the reign of Henry d'Albret. With the end of Béarnaise independence in 1620, Pau lost its influence but remained at the head of a largely autonomous province. It was home to the Parliament of Navarre and Béarn during the Revolution, when it was dismantled to create the Department of Basses-Pyrénées. The Belle Époque marked a resurgence for the Béarnaise capital with a massive influx of wealthy foreign tourists, who came to spend the winter to take advantage of the benefits of Pau's climate. It was at this time that Pau became one of the world capitals of the nascent aerospace industry under the influence of the Wright brothers.[6]

With the decline of tourism during the 20th century, Pau's economy gradually shifted towards the aviation industry and then to petrochemicals with the discovery of the Lacq gas field in 1951. The Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, founded in 1972, accounts for a large student population. The city plays a leading role for Béarn but also for a wide segment of the Adour area. Pau's heritage extends over several centuries, its diversity and its quality allowed it to obtain the label of City of Art and History in 2011.

The name of its people is Palois in French, and paulin in Occitan. The motto of Pau is in Latin: Urbis palladium et gentis ("protective of the city and its people").

Geography

Location

 
The château and the Pont du XIV-juillet [14 July Bridge] seen from the banks of the Gave de Pau

Pau is 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the Atlantic Ocean and 50 km (31 miles) from the border with Spain on the Pyrenees. The frontier is crossed by the col du Somport (1,631 metres (5,351 feet)) and the col du Pourtalet (1,794 m (5,886 ft)). Access to the crossings partly accounts for Pau's strategic importance.

Pau is located 200 km (124 mi) west of Toulouse, 30 km (19 mi) from Tarbes and Lourdes, 25 km (16 mi) from Oloron. The conglomeration of Bayonne-Anglet-Biarritz is at 110 km (68 mi), Bordeaux 190 km (118 mi).

Communal boundaries

Access

Pau is served by the Pau Pyrénées Airport 10 km (6 mi) away. Limited scheduled flights serve Amsterdam, London, Southampton, Dublin, Lyon and Paris.

A TGV rail line runs to Paris and from Bayonne to Toulouse. The A64 autoroute goes to the east. The A65 autoroute was opened in December 2010, linking Pau with Bordeaux and the Dordogne. The city is connected to Spain through the Somport tunnel and the Col du Pourtalet.

Hydrography

The city, located at an average altitude of 200 metres (660 ft), is crossed by the Gave de Pau, where a ford gave passage to the Pyrenees. Gave is the name given to a torrent in the Pyrenees. The Gave de Pau, which becomes a torrent when mountain snow melts, takes its source in the Cirque de Gavarnie and is the main tributary of the Adour, into which it empties after 175 kilometres (109 mi). The crossing was used for pasturage for sheep in the high meadows. The old route is now a hiking path, GR 65, that runs 60 km (37 mi) south to the border.

The lands of the commune are also watered by the Luy de Béarn, a tributary the Luy, and by its tributaries, the Aïgue Longue and the Uzan, as well as the Soust, the Herrère, the Ousse and the Ousse des Bois, tributaries of the Gave de Pau. The Aygue Longue is in turn joined the territory of Pau by the Bruscos and the Lata streams, just as the Ousse is joined by the Merdé stream. The Lau Creek that feeds the Canal du Moulin, meanwhile is also present in the municipality.

Climate

Pau features wet mild winters, with warm, mild summers that are drier. Its geographical location, not far from the Pyrenees, gives the city a contrasting, warm oceanic climate. Temperatures colder than −10 °C (14.0 °F) are rare and those below −15 °C (5.0 °F) are exceptional. Temperatures reached lows of −15 °C (5.0 °F) in February 1956 and −17.5 °C (0.5 °F) in January 1985. Snow falls about 3 days per year (0.45 metres (18 in) in 1987), from November to March.

In summer, the maximum temperatures are of the order of 20 to 30 °C (68.0 to 86.0 °F), and temperatures above 35 °C (95.0 °F) are reached very rarely. During some days of winter, the foehn, a warm wind, can raise the temperature over 20 °C (68.0 °F). As soon as the wind stops, snow can fall.

Rainfall is high, of the order of 1,100 millimetres (43 in) per year (compared to 650 millimetres (26 in) in Paris, 900 millimetres (35 in) in Bordeaux, and 650 millimetres (26 in) in Toulouse). Sunshine averages around 1850 hours per year, or a little less than its neighbour of the Hautes-Pyrénées, Tarbes, which averages 1940 hours of sunshine per year. Fog is infrequent and does not persist much beyond noon. The lack of wind especially characterizes the climate of the Pau region. Strong winds are very rare, in general, winds are very low or zero.

This climate has helped Pau to become, at the end of the 19th century, a winter resort spot popular with the English, Russian and Brazilian bourgeoisie.[citation needed] In 1842 a British doctor, Alexander Taylor, attributed healing 'sedative' virtues to the Pau climate.

This mild and rather wet climate, is also an enhancement to the gardens, parks and public spaces of the city, and for plants from more exotic regions such as Chinese windmill palm (Trachycarpus fortunei), originating in the Chinese mountains, but also for giant sequoias (Sequoiadendron giganteum) and laurel magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) of American origin.

Town Sunshine
 
(hours/yr)
Rain
 
(mm/yr)
Snow
 
(days/yr)
Storm
 
(days/yr)
Fog
 
(days/yr)
National average 1,973 770 14 22 40
Pau 1,880 1,068.8 5.1 26.1 34.5[8]
Paris 1,661 637 12 18 10
Nice 2,724 767 1 29 1
Strasbourg 1,693 665 29 29 56
Brest 1,605 1,211 7 12 75


Climate data for Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques (1981–2010 averages, extremes 1921–present)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 24.5
(76.1)
27.8
(82.0)
31.0
(87.8)
30.8
(87.4)
34.1
(93.4)
38.1
(100.6)
39.2
(102.6)
39.9
(103.8)
38.9
(102.0)
34.0
(93.2)
27.1
(80.8)
27.2
(81.0)
39.9
(103.8)
Average high °C (°F) 11.0
(51.8)
12.2
(54.0)
15.2
(59.4)
16.8
(62.2)
20.5
(68.9)
23.6
(74.5)
25.8
(78.4)
25.9
(78.6)
23.8
(74.8)
19.8
(67.6)
14.3
(57.7)
11.6
(52.9)
18.4
(65.1)
Daily mean °C (°F) 6.5
(43.7)
7.3
(45.1)
10.0
(50.0)
11.9
(53.4)
15.6
(60.1)
18.7
(65.7)
20.6
(69.1)
20.7
(69.3)
18.2
(64.8)
14.7
(58.5)
9.8
(49.6)
7.2
(45.0)
13.5
(56.3)
Average low °C (°F) 2.1
(35.8)
2.5
(36.5)
4.8
(40.6)
6.9
(44.4)
10.7
(51.3)
13.8
(56.8)
15.5
(59.9)
15.5
(59.9)
12.6
(54.7)
9.6
(49.3)
5.3
(41.5)
2.7
(36.9)
8.5
(47.3)
Record low °C (°F) −14.8
(5.4)
−15.0
(5.0)
−8.9
(16.0)
−6.0
(21.2)
−1.3
(29.7)
3.6
(38.5)
5.3
(41.5)
5.4
(41.7)
−1.0
(30.2)
−4.2
(24.4)
−9.6
(14.7)
−12.6
(9.3)
−15.0
(5.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 94.4
(3.72)
83.3
(3.28)
85.9
(3.38)
112.4
(4.43)
98.8
(3.89)
77.2
(3.04)
56.7
(2.23)
67.5
(2.66)
78.9
(3.11)
99.7
(3.93)
116.9
(4.60)
98.2
(3.87)
1,069.9
(42.12)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 11.5 10.3 10.4 13.1 12.8 9.7 7.9 8.3 8.5 11.1 10.9 11.0 125.4
Average relative humidity (%) 83 80 77 78 78 78 78 80 80 83 83 84 80.2
Mean monthly sunshine hours 104.8 121.1 164.6 165.6 185.8 195.7 207.8 203.7 183.8 143.9 104.6 95.9 1,877.2
Source 1: Météo France[9][10][11]
Source 2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity, 1961–1990)[12]

History

Toponymy

 
The location of Pau is shown on this map of the historical and cultural area of Gascony.

The origin of the name is uncertain. One tradition suggests it is a derivation of pal (fr. pieu), from the palisade around the original château. Another is that the name refers to a ford across the river administered by the church, the pious. According to Michel Grosclaude[13] and other onomasticians, more recent research suggests the pre-Indo-European root for a rockface was *pal or *bal, and that the name refers to Pau's position at the foot of the mountains. The palisade or pal, from the Latin palum, also has the same ancient basis but it is not under this meaning that formed the name of Pau, this can be compared to the Col de Pau in the Aspe Valley (1,942 metres (6,371 ft), Lescun) which has nothing to do with the city. Its name in the Béarnese dialect is Pau.

The name of the town was recorded in the 12th century. The inhabitants of the city are known as paulins in Occitan, and palois in French. Their motto is Urbis palladium et gentis.

 
The footpath west from the Château

Origins

Before the 10th century, there are no traces to date of occupation of the site on which the city is now built. The city was built on a site with very special qualities. The Gave de Pau, which descends from the Pyrenees, was a river which was fairly difficult to cross, and for a distance of approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi), only three fords existed: from Nay to the east, from Orthez to the west and that of Pau, strategically located between the two. The northern extremity of a plateau, formed to a point, overlooks this ford of almost 80 metres (260 ft). In summary, it is an ideal natural location to control the passage and the arrivals from the Pyrenees, and a small monitoring station was built around the year 1000, a fort surrounded by a simple palisade.

The site was fortified in the 11th century[14] to control the ford across the Gave de Pau. It was built on the north bank, equidistant from Lescar, seat of the bishops, and from Morlaàs.

Until the 12th century, this fort was consolidated and some houses were combined there, together, in a small hamlet. The lords of Béarn then granted the status of viguerie (a small administrative district in the Middle Ages) to this new village which continued to expand gently. In Bearnese, the palisade was called Paü. Historians agree to this being the origin of the name of the city.

In the 13th century, new recognition of the importance and the expansion of Pau, which had become the town of Castelnau, with a bailli appointed by the viscounts of Béarn. At this time, the English settled in the southwest, while the sovereignty of Béarn passed to the powerful family of the counts of Foix. The allegiance of these going, according to the political interests of the moment, to the King of England and the Kingdom of France.

Gaston Fébus (descendant of the counts of Foix and one of the first iconic figures of Béarn), who was very attached to the independence of his small country. He began his major work to reinforce the strongholds of Béarn, including the Château of Pau where he finally settled.

Pau was made the capital of Béarn in 1464, instead of Orthez. During the early 16th century, the Château de Pau became the residence of the Kings of Navarre, who were also viscounts of Béarn.

Pau is the only city in Europe in which two founders of royal dynasties were born: Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, born in 1553, and Charles XIV John of Sweden of the House of Bernadotte, born in 1763.[citation needed]

History

Middle Ages

Pau was a castelnau founded at an unknown date, in the second half of the 11th or the very beginning of the 12th century,[15] to control a fording of the Gave de Pau which was used for the passage of the shepherds in transhumance between the mountains of Ossau and pasture of the plain of the Pont-Long. A castle was built, overlooking the north bank, at equal distance from Lescar, seat of the bishops, and from Morlaàs, capital of the Viscounts of Béarn.

In 1188, Gaston VI assembled his cour majour there, predecessor of the conseil souverain and roughly equivalent to the House of Lords. Gaston VII added a third tower in the 13th century. Gaston Fébus (Gaston III of Foix and Gaston X of Béarn) added a brick donjon (keep), known as la tour Billère [the Tower of Billère].

16th–18th century

 
The Béarnese flag, floating in the Pyrénées

In 1464, Gaston IV of Foix-Béarn, after he married the Infanta Eleanor of Aragon, transferred his Court of Orthez to Pau.[16] Pau thus became the fourth historic capital of Béarn, after Lescar, Morlaàs and Orthez. The city had a municipal charter; fairs took place, like the Béarn states. He transformed the curtain walls of his castle home.

In 1512, it became the capital of the Kings of Navarre, who were refugees north of the Pyrenees, after the capture of Pamplona by the Spaniards. In 1520, it had a sovereign council and a chamber of accounts.

In 1527, Henri d'Albret, King of Navarre and sovereign viscountcy of Béarn, married Marguerite of Angoulême, sister of Francis I of France: She transformed the château in the Renaissance style and created its gardens.

In 1553, his daughter, Jeanne d'Albret, gave birth to Henry III of Navarre by singing a song of Béarn to the Virgin Mary, so that the future Henry IV was "neither fearful nor balked." She had crossed into France to ensure her son would be born there. The baby's lips were moistened with the local Jurançon wine and rubbed with garlic shortly after birth. When Henry IV left Pau to become King of France, he remarked to local notables that he was not giving Béarn to France, but giving France to Béarn.

 
Parlement de Navarre

The troops of Charles IX took the city, but d'Albret took over in 1569. Catherine of Bourbon, sister of Henri IV, governed Béarn in his place.

In 1619, Pau revolted. Louis XIII occupied it and, after receiving the submission of the fortified town of Navarrenx, pronounced the attachment of Béarn and Navarre to France by the edict of 20 October 1620. It thus transformed the sovereign Council of Béarn in the Parliament of Navarre, joining the future courses of Pau and Saint-Palais.

Pau had a new enclosure in 1649, and then a university in 1722.

King Charles XIV of Sweden, the first royal Bernadotte, was born in Pau in the 18th century.

On 14 October 1790, it was declared, after Navarrenx, the new capital of the Department of Basses-Pyrénées. This status was removed on 11 October 1795 in favor of Oloron, then made permanent on 5 March 1796.

19th century

 
A panorama of the château and the Gave de Pau, around 1870

Napoleon expressed his interest and helped to save the château, which became a prison for a time. In 1838, Louis-Philippe did boldly restore it, to highlight the medieval and Renaissance character. Napoleon III added a double tower framing a false entry, to the West. He also added streets of Belle Époque architecture, before the fashion transferred to Biarritz.

After the July Monarchy, Pau became, between 1830 and 1914, had the most famous climate and sports resort in Western Europe.[citation needed] In 1842, the Scottish physician Alexander Taylor (1802–1879) advocated Pau for a winter cure. The success of his work was important and Pau became a holiday resort for the British. In 1876, there were 28,908 inhabitants of Pau. The English settled there and took advantage of the first golf on the continent, of fox hunting (Pau fox hunt), and held races at the Pont-Long Racecourse. From the 1870s the Boulevard du Midi was gradually extended to the east and west to form the current Boulevard des Pyrénées, the lavish Winter Palace – with a palmarium; and internationally renowned hotels, the Gassion and the France, which offered a majestic and luxurious setting for concerts and receptions to take place.

 
The tram factory at the start of the 20th century

From 1894, Pau was served by a network of horse tramways. A few years later, electric traction was commissioned by the Béarnaise Society of Urban Streetcars. The network consisted of three lines, with a length of 7 kilometres (4.3 mi). It disappeared in 1931. The town of Pau was also served by the Pau-Oloron-Mauléon railway (POM), whose main station was found at the Place de la République. Three lines served Monein, Pontacq and Lembeye. Steam traction was used on the network, which disappeared in December 1931.

While the upper town thrived because of the coming of the rich European tourists, the lower city specialised in industry. Many small structures gradually developed at the foot of the château, the production focused on textiles and the food industry. Many of them marked this industrial fabric, such as Courriades dyes,[17] the Heïd flour mill and the tram factory.[18]

Mary Todd Lincoln, the widow of the American president, also lived in Pau for several years in the late 1870s.[19]

20th century

At the beginning of the 20th century, Pau was still a resort town where European nobility spent the winter. Good English, American, Russian, Spanish or Prussian society met in the Béarnaise city. Many public amenities were from this period, including the Pau Funicular to connect the station to the upper town. Next to these public amenities, wealthy foreign visitors were building villas to improve the conditions of their stay. First built in the centre of town, these residences spread out more and more to enjoy the great outdoors and views of the Pyrenees.[citation needed] Between 1850 and 1910, many residences were thus built and still evoke the splendour of this period, today. This golden period of climate tourism in Pau stopped abruptly at the outbreak of World War I.

The first balloon flights took place in Pau in 1844 and the first flights by plane, from 1909, the year in which the Wright brothers transferred to Pau (on the moor of Pont-Long, in commune of Lescar). They had originally initiated a first aviation school at Le Mans (Sarthe Department), formed of three student pilots, who they were committed to train in France. Pau alone hosted seven global aircraft manufacturers until 1914 and became the world capital of aviation. The military aviation school, which trained the flying aces of World War I, then the fighter school of France, settled there. French aviators Thénault, Simon, Paul Codos, Georges Bellenger Bellenger, Garros, Nungesser, Guynemer, and the Béarnais aviators Artigau and Mace, among many others, and finally the American aviators Lufbery, Thaw, Chapman, Prince and the McConnell brothers, were among those who flew there.

Pau hosted the 18th régiment d'infanterie, 1st and 18th Parachute Chasseur Regimen (parachute regiment) who were stationed in the town. All participated in the various conflicts of the 20th century. The 18th RCP was dissolved in 1961, due to having contributed to the putsch of the generals of Algiers. It had previously participated in the May 1958 crisis which had ended the Fourth Republic. The 1st RCP remained in barracks in 1983 in Idron camp when one of its elements was struck in Beirut by the attack of the Drakkar building, which had 58 victims among its troops.

During World War II, the Continental Hotel collected many refugees, including Jews hounded by Vichy and the Nazis, even when the soldiers of the Wehrmacht requisitioned two floors of the hotel.[20]

From 1947, during the four mandates of Mayor Louis Sallenave, the town of Pau experienced strong growth. In 1957, exploitation of the Lacq gas field, discovered in 1951, gave new momentum to the region with the industrial development of Béarn and the Lacq area (SNPA, EDF, Pechiney and Rhône-Poulenc being the most important employers),[citation needed] the population of the town doubled in 20 years. Major infrastructure projects were carried out, such as the construction of several schools representing more than 100 classes, creation of the Pau-Uzein airport in 1955 (now the Pau Pyrénées Airport) to modernise the old Pau-Pont-Long airfield (in the commune of Lescar), creation of social housing (all of the Ousse des Bois in 1961, and Dufau Terrace from 1962), creation of the exhibition centre, the University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour and construction of a second bridge over the River Gave in Jurançon. A vast town planning scheme allowed the extension of the commune to the north through the coulée verte [green corridor]. The configuration of the city shortly moved from the end of the 1960s. The fame and prestige of the city increased thanks to the conference of the Indochinese States from June to November 1950,[21] visits of Heads of State such as president Charles de Gaulle in February 1959 and the first Secretary of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, travelling in Lacq in 1960.

André Labarrère, mayor from 1971 to 2006, worked towards a first step of the beautification of the city. Within its recent mandates, on the outskirts, the university was expanding and the Pau-Pyrénées was one of the first in France to develop a fibre-optic network, infrastructure offering a very high-speed internet access both to individuals and companies. New facilities were created, including sports, such as the Zénith de Pau}, the Palais des Sports, the Jaï Alaï, and the artificial whitewater arena. The city acquired an important centre of health. The racecourse and the airport (depending on CCI) were renovated. The centre of town also saw significant upheavals with the rehabilitation of the Palais Beaumont and the construction of a new private commercial centre named Centre Bosquet. Pau finally embarked on the pedestrianisation of its centre with the reconfiguration of its bus network, the renovation of the Place Clemenceau, the central square of Pau, and the modernisation of the Palais des Pyrénées, a shopping centre in the city centre, near to the Place Clemenceau. New underground parking compensated for the removal of 400 parking spaces on the surface; also two underground car parks gained redesigned access.[citation needed] Finally, a media library was created in 2012 in the Les Halles quarter.

21st century

In 2008, at the end of a bitter political struggle, which included François Bayrou, Martine Lignières-Cassou became mayor of Pau. During this term, she included the rebuilding of the water stadium and making the Rue Joffre pedestrian. She also allowed the realisation of the City of the Pyrénées which brought different associations related to Pyreneeism into one place.

In 2014, François Bayrou became mayor, after standing against David Habib in the election. Bayrou was clearly ahead in the second round of voting.

Heraldry

 
  • According to Paul Raymond (archivist) in his Topographical dictionary of the Béarn-Basque country (p. 133) Pau arms are blazoned:
    • Azure to a fence of three argent footed pales, surmounted by a peacock spreading its tail or, accompanied at point and inside two cows facing and crowned the same; the chief also or charged with a natural tortoise shell surmounted by a Royal Crown closed azure enhanced of or, accompanied by the letter capital H dexter and sinister with the Roman numeral IV also azure
 
  • Remarks
    • These arms are "rebus" canting arms (pau means "Palisade" in Bearnese), and of "approximation" form (the peacock said as pavon or pau [paw]).
    • The Viscount of Foix-Béarn on who Pau depended, his arms are inspired by the three pales of Foix and the two cows of Béarn.
    • In the blazon, the expression (with...) "the Roman numeral IV" is improper (IV is a number consisting of two Roman numerals) best would be: (with...) "of an IV in Roman numerals."
 
  • According to Malte-Brun in The Illustrated France from 1882, they are blazoned:
    • Azure three pales and drawsheets of argent gathered by a fess of the same, middle pale surmounted with a peacock spreading its tail at chief, and two cows faced argent at point.
  • Remarks
    • The chief, added in 1829, is not mentioned in his Illustrated France which dates back to 1882.
    • Cows here are not crowned, so more resemble those of the arms of the Lords of Béarn, also not crowned.
    • The peacock is not of specified colour. It was probably "au naturel". Found sometimes emblazoned thus for the current coat of arms.
 
  • According to Paul Raymond in his Topographical dictionary Béarn-Basque country (p. 133) the old arms were
    • Argent three pales of gules with a peacock spreading its tail the same perched on the middle.
  • According to Gaston of Breuille (of Pau, 1896) notes the ancient arms granted in 1482, by François-Phoebus, King of Navarre, were:
    • Argent, three pales of gules, the peacock spreading its tail azure perched on the middle.
  • Remarks:
    • These blazons are certainly incomplete or defective, because it is unclear how a peacock (or whatever it is) could be placed on a pale that by definition goes to the top of the shield. The contradiction for the peacock colour is secondary ("De gules" – "of the same" as the pales – for Raymond or "Azure" for Du Breuille)
    • However A. Fourcade in his Picturesque and historic album of the Pyrenees (p. 9) described, in layman's terms, these arms: three pales, on one of which, namely the middle one is perched a peacock spreading its tail. granted by François-Phoebus (but in 1442 this time!)
    • It seems that in fact it is not "pal-pièce honorable" [pale-honorable part], but a "pieux" [pious] furniture, which already foreshadows the color, the pale drawsheets formed at the foot which make up the barrier of the present coat of arms.

Politics and administration

Fourth city in Nouvelle-Aquitaine (after Bordeaux, Limoges and Poitiers), Pau is the prefecture of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the chief town of four cantons:[22]

Municipal administration

Below is the sharing of seats on the Pau City Council:[23]

Group President Seats Status
MoDemUDIUMP François Bayrou 40 majority
PS David Habib 9 opposition

Political trends and results

2014 municipal elections in Pyrénées-Atlantiques [fr]

List of mayors

List of mayors of Pau [fr]

 
Hôtel de ville de Pau [fr]
List of mayors of Pau
Start End Name Party Other details
1947 1971 Louis Sallenave [fr] Centre right No dual mandate
1971 2006 André Labarrère [fr] PS Deputy from 1967 to 1968, then from 1973 to 2001,
Senator from 2001 to 2006,
President of the Communauté d'agglomération de Pau-Pyrénées,
Minister from 1981 to 1986,
President of the Aquitaine Regional Council from 1979 to 1981,
Vice-president of the National Assembly from 1973 to 1974,
President of the Eco-Mayors Association from 1989 to 1999
2006 2008 Yves Urieta [fr] PS President of the Communauté d'agglomération de Pau-Pyrénées
2008 2014 Martine Lignières-Cassou PS Deputy of the first constituency of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
President of the Communauté d'agglomération de Pau-Pyrénées
2014 In progress François Bayrou MoDem President de la Communauté d'agglomération Pau Béarn Pyrénées
Former Minister of National Education
former President of the General Council

André Labarrère died of cancer on 16 May 2006. He was succeeded by Yves Urieta, elected by the municipal council on 30 May 2006. In the meantime, the interim was ensured by Martine Lignières-Cassou, First Assistant and Deputy of the First Constituency of Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

Intercommunality

 
The Hotel de France, headquarters of the metropolitan area

The town of Pau is part of five intercommunal structures:[24]

  • The Communauté d'agglomération Pau Béarn Pyrénées
  • The Union of the Ousse basin water development
  • The Trade Union of Energy of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques
  • The Intercommunal Association of the recreation centres of Narcastet
  • The Intercommunal Association of Defence against flooding of the Gave de Pau

Pau hosts the headquarters of ten intercommunal groups:

  • Public local management agency
  • The Communauté d'agglomération Pau Béarn Pyrénées
  • The Trade Union of energy of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques
  • The Intercommunity Association of defence against flooding of the Gave de Pau
  • The Aeropolis Joint Union
  • The Joint Union of Studies of the Pau-Oloron road link
  • The Joint Union of Pau Urban Transport – doors of the Pyrenees
  • The Joint Union of the basin of the Gave de Pau
  • The Joint Union of Greater Pau
  • The Joint Union for the treatment of household and similar waste of the east basin

International relations

Pau is twinned with:[25]

Population and society

Demographics

Pau and the agglomeration population

The communal population of Pau amounts to 81,166 inhabitants, according to the 2010 census (legal populations of 1 January 2013). The Communauté d 'agglomération of Pau Béarn Pyrénées has about 170,000 inhabitants.

The towns of Billère, Lons and Lescar are the first three communes in the agglomeration after Pau (they have approximately 35,000 inhabitants combined).

Demographic evolution

In 2017, the commune had 77,130 inhabitants.

Historical population
YearPop.±%
17938,756—    
18008,465−3.3%
18069,293+9.8%
182111,444+23.1%
183111,285−1.4%
183612,607+11.7%
184113,841+9.8%
184616,170+16.8%
185116,196+0.2%
185618,671+15.3%
186121,881+17.2%
186624,563+12.3%
187227,300+11.1%
187628,908+5.9%
YearPop.±%
188129,971+3.7%
188630,624+2.2%
189133,111+8.1%
189633,012−0.3%
190134,268+3.8%
190635,044+2.3%
191137,149+6.0%
192135,665−4.0%
192637,711+5.7%
193138,962+3.3%
193640,451+3.8%
194646,158+14.1%
195448,320+4.7%
196259,937+24.0%
YearPop.±%
196874,005+23.5%
197583,498+12.8%
198283,790+0.3%
199082,157−1.9%
199978,732−4.2%
200683,903+6.6%
200784,978+1.3%
201179,798−6.1%
201278,506−1.6%
201577,215−1.6%
201677,251+0.0%
201777,130−0.2%
201876,275−1.1%
From 1962 to 1999: Population without double counting; for the years following: municipal population.
Source: Ldh/EHESS/Cassini until 1999[26] and INSEE[27]

The urban unit [fr] had 197,611 inhabitants in 2010 and 240,898 inhabitants in 2011. Pau is the most populous city of the Department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, and the fourth of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region after Bordeaux, Limoges and Poitiers.

Education

Kindergartens and primary schools

  • Public school groups
  • Groupe scolaire Henri IV
  • Groupe scolaire Trianon
  • Groupe scolaire Stanislas-Lavigne
  • Groupe scolaire Nandina-Park
  • Groupe scolaire Les Fleurs
  • Groupe scolaire Gaston-Phœbus
  • Groupe scolaire du Buisson
  • Groupe scolaire Maréchal-Bosquet
  • Groupe scolaire des Lilas
  • Groupe scolaire de l'Hippodrome (K)
  • Groupe scolaire Lapuyade
  • Groupe scolaire Jean-Sarrailh
  • Groupe scolaire Bouillerce
  • Groupe scolaire des Quatre coins du monde
  • Groupe scolaire Pierre et Marie-Curie
  • Groupe scolaire Marancy
  • Groupe scolaire Léon-Say
  • Groupe scolaire Guillemin-Les-Lauriers
  • Groupe scolaire Marca
  • Private schools
  • École Sainte-Ursule (K / P)
  • École Joyeux Béarn (K / P)
  • École Saint-Maur (K / P)
  • École Saint-François d'Assise (K / P)
  • École Saint-Dominique (K / P)
  • École Immaculée-Conception – Beau-Frêne (K / P)
  • Escòla Calandreta (K / P)
  • International School of Béarn (Morlaas) (K / P)
  • École Montessori de Pau, French-English bilingual school (K / P)
  • Schools of "Travelling people"
  • École des Voyageurs (P)

Legend: K: Kindergarten / P: Primary school

Secondary

  • Public colleges
    • Collège Clermont (S)
    • Collège Jeanne d'Albret (S)
    • Collège Marguerite de Navarre (S)
  • Private colleges
    • Collège Immaculée Conception – Beau Frêne (S / T)
    • Collège Saint-Dominique (S / T)
    • Collègi Calandreta de Gasconha (S)
    • Collège Sainte-Ursule
    • Collège Saint-Maur

Legend: S: Secondary College / T: Technical college

  • Private high schools
    • Lycée Immaculée Conception – Beau Frêne (G / V)
    • Lycée Saint-Dominique

Legend: G: General education high school / V: Vocational high school

Higher education

University

The city of Pau has a long academic tradition, as a university was established in Pau in 1722. Pau now has the second largest student population in Aquitaine. The city has 17,000 students and 3,900 researchers. It has a multidisciplinary university (law, economics, sciences, social sciences and humanities), an IUT [fr], an IAE [fr], several engineering schools, business schools and art schools.

The University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour (UPPA) had 11,200 students, in May 2012, spread across five sites: Pau, Anglet, Bayonne, Mont-de-Marsan (Landes) and Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées). Its location exceeds the strict framework of the Academy of Bordeaux and overlaps somewhat with that of the Academy of Toulouse. The University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour had 25 laboratories and 650 researchers in 2007.

The university group and Pyrénées Oceanes Research Campus unites the Groupe ESC Pau, five schools of engineers (ENIT Tarbes, ENSGTI, CY Tech, ESTIA Bidart-Bayonne, ISA BTP), the Institute of Business Administration [fr] (IAE) and the University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour (UPPA), with 15,000 students. The Pyrénées Oceanes Campus takes a European dimension and will soon join the University of Aragon, the University of Pamplona and several Spanish business and engineering schools. Philippe Lafontaine, Director of the ESC Pau is the University President.

Colleges and other institutions

  • Groupe ESC Pau: School of Management created in 1962, the Groupe ESC Pau has 1,400 students and 4,700 former students. In addition to Pau, it is present in Paris, in India (Bangalore, MATS School campus) and has offices in Brazil (Recife), and in the United States in Washington. Group ESC Pau is part of the Conférence des Grandes écoles and shapes future executives and business leaders. The diploma of the ESC Pau is of master grade (BAC+5) and recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Group ESC Pau is AFAQ ISO 9001 certified and accredited EPAS (international accreditation of the EFMD) since 2006.
  • École supérieure d'art des Pyrénées (ESA of the Pyrénées): School of art and graphic design, the ESA of the Pyrénées is located at 25 Rue René Cassin.
  • National School of music and dance (DMNT): DMNT de Pau is located in the former convent of the Servicers and has (1,200 students.
  • School of Airborne Troops (ETAP): reference school of the Army, it trains all French paratroopers.
  • Centre national professionnel des commerces de sport (NCPC): A training centre specialising in sport trade occupations. The centre depends on the ICC Pau Béarn.
  • Institut d'administration des entreprises des Pays de l'Adour [fr] (IAE): Member of the network of the IAEs, the IAE de Pau offers professional and research masters and doctorates.
  • Institut de formation supérieure à l'action commerciale (IFSAC). Institute of higher education in the commercial action.
  • Institut de promotion commerciale (IPC). Institute of sales promotion.
  • Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (CNAM).
  • School of engineering of CFAI Adour (centre of training for apprentices of industry in Adour)
  • Centre for training and development for extended communications.
  • École supérieure d'informatique [fr] (EXIA).
  • Centre for industrial studies (CESI).
  • Institute of nursing training (IFSI).
  • Pierre Bourdieu Institute of social work Pau – Pyrénées (ITS): ITS de Pau was renamed in 2006 as ITS Pierre Bourdieu, in homage to the Pau sociologist and offers training in medical fields.
  • School of teaching and education [fr] of Aquitaine (attached to the University Bordeaux IV).
  • Institut National Formation Recherche Éducation Permanente (INFREP).
  • Various economic, literary and scientific preparatory classes for Louis Barthou and Saint-Cricq high schools.
  • Institut universitaire de technologie des Pays de l'Adour [fr]: departments GTE and STID.

Research centres

The university has 34 teams of research including 11 teams associated with the CNRS and INRA team. Some groups of public or private research teams:

  • The Institute for Research on Companies and Development (IRSAM)
  • The IRMAPE, the Centre for Research in Management and on the organisation of the Groupe ESC Pau
  • The Institute of Environmental Biology Aquitaine South (IBEAS)
  • Psychosensory Properties of Materials (2psm) founded by the École des mines of Alès and the University of Pau.
  • The Environment and Materials Multidisciplinary Research Institute (IPREM), comprising four teams of CNRS. The new building was inaugurated in 2006 on the Heliparc technopole.
  • The Ecole des Mines de Paris, which has a drilling test centre within the Helioparc technopole (heir to the drilling bench designed by the NFSS then ELF Aquitaine teams in 1970–1997), for the design and optimization of cutting tools
  • The Multidisciplinary Institute for Applied Research in the field of petroleum engineering (IPRA)
  • The French Petroleum Institute (IFP) office of partnership with PME-PMI
  • The Jean-Feger Scientific and Technical Centre, centre for research and development of TotalEnergies (formerly ELF Aquitaine (exploration and production sector), main place of oil research in Europe, bringing together more than 2,000 people including 800 researchers.)
  • (C.R.A.J. – EA 1929), federative structure which is made up of most of the faculty members of private law of the UPPA around several research units: Jurisprudence Observatory (O.D.J.), the Centre of Comparative Law on Family and People (O.F.A.P), Research Unit in Obligational Law and Affairs (Brussels) and the Research Unit of Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences (Jean Pinatel Criminal Sciences Unit / U.J.P.).

The centre is the home of master students of private law, and doctoral students in private law in partnership with the graduate school SSH 481.

  • Training Institute in Music Pedagogy: IFPM Robert Kaddouch [fr]
  • Centre for Research in Pedagogy. Training of music teachers and teaching of the Kaddouch pedagogy [fr] applied to all matters. The Kaddouch pedagogy is in collaboration with the Sorbonne, Paris 5, research unit of the GINDEV headed by Professor Olivier Houdé.

Health

Hospitals

  • The Centre Hospitalier [fr] de Pau is composed of three home centres arranged as follows:
    • The François Mitterrand Hospital
    • The Hauterive Centre, including the functional rehabilitation service, care and medical rehabilitation unit and the nuclear medicine service, among others
    • The Jean-Vignalou Centre, intended for Gerontology
  • A specialised facility, Centre Hospitalier des Pyrénées, situated on Avenue du Général-Leclerc, is a public establishment of mental health.

Paramedical training institutes

  • The Institute of training of health (IFCS) provides the training of healthcare managers, nursing sector
  • Training in nursing Institute [fr] (IFSI) and the Institute for training of the caregivers (IFAS)
  • The centre for continuing education of health professionals (CFCPS)

Private clinics and centres

The Centre Hospitalier de Pau has contributed to the establishment of an important centre of health by enabling the consolidation of different private institutions close to the hospital area:

  • The Jeunes Chênes [Young Oaks]: establishment of care and rehabilitation (access from the Boulevard de l'Europe)
  • The Polyclinic of Navarre, Boulevard Hauterive
  • The Princess Clinic, Boulevard Hauterive
  • The Béarnais Nest, Boulevard Hauterive

It also hosts the site of the French Establishment of Blood (145, Avenue de Buros).

The Marzet Polyclinic, situated on Boulevard Alsace-Lorraine, was bought by the Polyclinic of Navarre in 2013. The new arrangement has 400 beds and employs nearly 700 people.[28]

Gastronomy

Pau, became the historic capital of Béarn in 1464, offering the gastronomic specialities of the southwest and typical Béarnese or Palois dishes:

  • Garbure, a comforting soup made from cabbage, beans, confit of goose, ham or bacon
  • The confit, breast and other dishes derived from duck or goose
  • The ventrèche, slice of dried pork belly, eaten plain or accompanied by a fried egg
  • The broye, thick and salty boiled maize flour, with added whey or goose fat, consumed as fried slices from the pan, or cubes with coffee with milk
  • The trinxat, a local mountain dish consisting of mashed cabbage and potatoes mixed in smoked bacon, which is fried
  • The palombe, regional name for wood pigeon, a migratory bird that crosses the southwest region, cooked in a sauce or roasted
  • The poule au pot [fr], a sort of stew in which a stuffed chicken is boiled
  • Ham known as "de Bayonne" is in fact a Béarnese ham, made from the pigs of the Aspe and Ossau Valleys. This ham was historically salted at Salies-de-Béarn then exported via the Adour River from the port of Bayonne, from where the incorrect name of jambon de Bayonne [Bayonne ham] arose. Today, the bulk of Bayonne ham is made in Bearn. Pork, and in particular the black pig, was introduced in the Basque country in the 1960s to deal with a serious agricultural crisis
  • The Pyrenean Cheese [fr], the mountain sheep's milk, whom the best known is the Ossau-Iraty (AOC). This cheese can be enjoyed especially with cherry jam, which is the renowned black cherry jam from Itxassou
  • The greuil(h), annealed whey from sheep, eaten cold and plain, often sweet and elongated with a bit of coffee or salted (the ricotta equivalent)
  • The Coucougnettes du Vert Galant, hazelnut coated with a thin layer of chocolate all in almond paste, elected best sweet in France in 2000
  • The gâteau à la broche (or Gâteau of the Pyrenees, or Rock of the Pyrenees), monumental pyramidal cake, usually cooked for weddings. It is slowly built by accumulation of layers of a dough rich in eggs, registered on a spindle turning over a fire, so that the bright yellow crust is bristling with many points or nipples
  • Merveilles, crispy fritters traditionally made for Mardi Gras, from a thick paste of wheat flour, eggs, sugar and fat, stretched to a roll, cut and then fried
  • Honey from the hillsides of Jurançon and Saint-Faust. Béarn is one of the premier honey regions. It is used in sauces, desserts and joined with duck produce (duck breast with honey)
  • Jurançon, a dry white wine, renowned as mellow
  • Madiran wine
  • The Béarn wine, a light red wine whose vineyards are located to the west of Béarn
  • Pacherenc [fr] wine, a sweet white wine produced high on the borders of Gers and Hautes-Pyrénées

Restaurants and bars

Pau has more than 160 restaurants, found in the historic city center (Château, Hédas), and beyond. The Béarnaise capital has several quarters which are particularly animated at night, including the quarters of the triangle, the Boulevard des Pyrénées and also Rue des Orphelines.

Culture

The town of Pau is marked by a strong cultural identity, with the presence of a French-Occitan bilingual school (calandreta Paulina) (90 students) in Pau and one in the metropolitan area in Lescar (60 students), by a living practice of Béarnese and the success of the Occitan cultural groups. The city has, however, received foreign influences of major importance (English, Spanish, Russian, Brazilian) and remains very open to the outside with a large English student community, along with the presence of Dutch, Portuguese, Spaniards and Moroccans. Near Dax, Bayonne and Biarritz, the Pau people have a love of city ferias. The bandas, bodegas (drinking places with typical animation) and Béarnese singing groups are numerous including Nadau, Lo Cèu de Pau and Balaguera. Since 2005, the city hosts the festival Hestiv'oc which is the grand festival of Occitania. The University of Pau, Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, also often hosts concerts and cultural events.

The Association of the Palois and Béarnese in Paris, La Garbure, was founded around 1890 by a Béarnese pharmacist who went to the capital to open a shop on Boulevard Haussmann. The history of this association, which has never had official status, is transmitted only orally. However, the original spirit remains the same. The "expatriates" meet two or three times a year in a friendly atmosphere to speak of the country around a good meal. Without issue, and without political dimension, although politicians like Louis Barthou, François Bayrou and others have never neglected this "sounding board" which also brings together celebrities from entertainment, from information and from gastronomy.

Language

The Béarnese state language, before 1789, was a Gascon dialect of Occitan. For the anecdote, there is an English-Béarnese dictionary for the use of the British who were vacationing in Pau. One theory of the origin of the word caddie was that it was formed at Pau Golf Club (Billère) from the Béarnese capdèth.

The Ostau Bearnés is a Pau organization bringing together all who practice or teach the language.[29]

Centres and cultural facilities

 
The Zénith de Pau [fr]
 
The Palais Beaumont [fr]
  • The Zénith [fr]: Very modern with a capacity of 6,800 (or up to 4,500 seats), it hosts national and international artists in operas, concerts, cabarets, shows and circus on ice. It is located near the Palais des Sports, on Boulevard Cami Salié.
  • The André Labarrère Intercommunal Library, on Place Marguerite Laborde, is the work of architect Daniel Rubin, and opened its doors in June 2012. It was intended as the bridgehead of a network of ten libraries in the Pau-Pyrenees agglomeration. A sober architecture, block compact glass and steel and occupying less than 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft), the ground space revolves around a huge interior with a 17 metres (56 ft)-high atrium serving 3 floors: 5,400 square metres (58,000 sq ft), 184,000 documents (including 14,000 CDs and 7,000 DVDs) and 400 titles of journals are thus made available to all. A 120-seat auditorium, an exhibition hall of 198 square metres (2,130 sq ft), the news space or Interlude Space has also been built within the structure. Originally laid down on a section of Beaumont Park as part of a project by architect Zaha Hadid (Priktzer 2004 Award winner), financial and technical constraints changed the views of the mayor in early 2007 and finally brought the media library to a part of the site occupied by the Henry-IV School.
  • The Palais Beaumont [fr], auditorium, home of the Symphony Orchestra of Pau-Pays de Béarn. The congress centre is part of the grouping of the HCCE (Historic Conference Centres of Europe).
  • The Parc des expositions de Pau [fr]: Located to the west of the city, straddling Pau and Billère, it welcomes 450,000 visitors and 200 events per year.
  • The Méga CGR Cinema located next to the university is equipped with 12 digital and 3D screens. The multiplex offers a large and public programming.
  • The CGR Saint-Louis Cinema in the city centre is equipped with 7 digital rooms. Renovated in October 2012, it offers intermediate programming between arthouse and trials and commercial movies, including several movies per week operated both in VF (French version) and OVFST (original version subtitled French).
  • The Le Méliès Cinema: Housed in a former church, this arthouse and trial cinema offers a rich and diverse programming with three labels; "young audiences", "research and discovery" and "heritage and directory". It has two rooms (306 and 100 seats). The cinema offers thematic evenings and events in partnership with various cultural actors (Cin'es'pace, a summer at the movies, etc.) and organises a festival every year (the International Festival of Film of Pau).
  • Les Abattoirs [The Slaughterhouses]: Is an intercommunal cultural hub (PCI) at Billère: The old slaughterhouse was renovated into cultural centre of modern art, Le Bel Ordinaire, the centre houses a concert hall, l'Ampli, exhibition halls, a theatre stage and recording studios. Public cultural facilities, the PCI puts support for contemporary art and the territorial cultural cooperation at the heart of its missions. One of the specifics of the project is to enable cultural structures, associations, artists and inhabitants to join the project, so that they can be involved in its development and its implementation.
  • The Centrifuge: The Centrifuge is the cultural service of the University of Pau and Pays de l'Adour but also a room for concerts, performances and an exhibition space located in the student home on the campus. Throughout the year, eclectic and quality international programming is offered.
  • The La Pépinière [Nursery] Socio-cultural centre.

Museums

 
Edgar Degas, Le Bureau du coton à la Nouvelle-Orléans (The cotton office in New Orleans), 1873, at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Pau
 
Entrance to the Musée Bernadotte [fr], on Rue Tran
  • National Museum of the Château de Pau: created in 1929 and housed in the castle in which was born the future Henry IV on 13 December 1553. Not only a genuine medieval fortress, but also a Renaissance palace and Royal residence, this museum located in the center of the city is one of the most visited national museums of France (average of 100,000 visitors per year).[citation needed] Visitors like to linger before the huge turtle shell, legendary birthplace of the good King Henry IV.[citation needed] Successive conservators are keen to bring together paintings, art objects and documents relating to the time of Henry IV. Inside, simple and warm decor with wood-panelled walls, enhanced with threads of gold, coffered ceilings and superb Gobelins tapestries, houses one of the finest collections of France. The dining room always surprises the visitors by its large table that can accommodate 100 guests while stunning works of art lining the major walls show colourfully.
  • Musée des beaux-arts de Pau [fr]: Inaugurated in 1864 under the initiative of Société béarnaise des amis des arts [Béarnaise society of friends of arts], this museum only housed a collection of twenty-five pieces, completed in 1872 by the donation of the Béarnais collector Louis La Caze. It was the first museum in 1878 to show a significant work by Degas, Le bureau du coton à la Nouvelle-Orléans [The cotton office in New Orleans]. It presents ancient and contemporary works from the 15th to the 20th century, with paintings of Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, English, French and Italian schools: Brueghel, Degas, El Greco, Guillaumin, Jordaens, Lhote, Morisot, Nattier, Ribera, Rubens, Van Loo, Zurbarán and regional artists Eugène Devéria (1805–1865) and Victor Galos (1828–1879). There is a large collection of sculptures of the 19th century, with works by Arp, Glioli and Lasserre. Of many fine art prints relating to the region, including the watercolour by Gustave Doré Cirque de Gavarnie, as well as contemporary works by Soto, Vasarely and the hyperrealistic Pau school artists, which complete the picture.
  • Musée Bernadotte [fr]: The modest home of a cooper that saw the birth and growth of Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, who became Marshal of France and King of Sweden in 1818 and founder of the current ruling family of that country. It contains a collection of works and objects relating to the history of this Béarnese person, it also has a realisation of classical living conditions of a family of the 18th century in Pau.
  • The Béarnese Museum: Its reopening to the public is not currently scheduled. There were collections of popular arts and traditional objects of Béarn: Fauna, flora, costumes, furniture and crafts (manufacture of the beret, sneakers and clogs, weaving, quarry).
  • Museum of paratroopers [fr]
  • Museum of the resistance and the deportation, located since 2007 in the Villa Lawrance (Germanic-style villa created in 1857 and which is also the current headquarters of the English Circle which perpetuates the British tradition)[30]
  • Pau, land of aviation, at the Palais Beaumont, a permanent exhibition that traces the history of aviation in Pau.

Exhibition spaces

 
The Pavillon des Arts [fr]
  • The Palais Beaumont [fr]
  • The Pavillon des Arts [fr]
  • The peristyle of the town hall [fr]
  • The André-Labarrère media library
  • The Nouste-Henric Hall
  • The Chapel of the Perseverance
  • The Cité des Pyrénées
  • The department hall

Theatres and orchestral formations

  • The Orchestra of Pau Pays de Béarn [fr] (OPPB), was conducted from 2002 by Fayçal Karoui. This symphonic orchestra sits in the Alfred de Vigny Auditorium of the Palais Beaumont, but also in France and abroad (Zaragoza, Nantes for La Folle Journée, Festival de La Roque-d'Anthéron, Ravenna, Venice, Paris for the Festival Présences [fr]). In 2012 the orchestra moved to Nantes, Bilbao, and Tokyo for "Les Folles Journées" of these three cities.
  • Two amateur orchestras: The Ossau and the EOP (Orchestral Ensemble of Pau)
  • The Théâtre Saint-Louis, historic theatre of Pau near the Place Royale [fr] and the city hall
  • The Saragosse Theatre, a subsidised dance-theatre Pau/Béarn with plural spaces in the Saragosse Quarter
  • The Tam-Tam Theatre
  • The Artscène Theatre
  • The Théâtre du Monte-Charge
  • The Bourbaki Theatre (it closed its doors in 2014)

The Comédie des Mutins in Lescar, in the Pau agglomeration, can be added to this list.

Festivals

 
The trial of Sent Pancard during the Carnival Biarnés

The city of Pau is home to many festivals throughout the year, including:

  • Carnival Biarnés[31]
  • Festival Hestiv'Oc,[32] a "festival of music and culture of the south" established in 2005
  • Festival CulturAmerica
  • Ciné Cité
  • L'Été à Pau [The summer in Pau]
  • Festival access(s), created in 2000 (electronic culture)[33]
  • Festival Amplitudes
  • Festival Beta Project
  • Festival Bulles d'Afrique
  • Festival de danses plurielles
  • Festival of the Caribbean
  • Festival of Portuguese-language Cinema
  • Gay and lesbian film festival
  • Board Game Festival of Pau[34]
  • Images Mountain Festival
  • Festival HIP HOP NON STOP (organised by the Gare-urbaine association)
  • Festival Regarder sur les Côtés [Look on the Sides]
  • Festival Le Brésil frappe à ta porte
  • Festival Mosaïka
  • Festival Pau ville Russe
  • Urban Session Festival
  • Festival Emmaüs Lescar-Pau [fr]
  • International festival of Film of Pau (1st edition in November 2010)
  • Rencontres Internationales de Danse-Rezodanse
  • Tremplin Salsa Festival: International competition of Salsa

Media

Print

The region is covered by three local newspapers dependent on Groupe Sud Ouest [fr]:

  • Sud Ouest, Béarn and Soule edition
  • La République des Pyrénées [fr], (the number one daily of the Béarn)
  • L'Éclair des Pyrénées

Television

Radio

  • France Bleu Béarn, which provides a national joint programme that reflects local programs of the stations in the regions
  • NRJ Pyrenees, national music radio with a time slot reserved for local programming (4pm to 8 pm) as well as flashes of morning information
  • Virgin Radio Pyrenees, national music radio with a time slot reserved for local programming (4pm to 8 pm) as well as flashes of morning information
  • RFM Béarn, national music radio with a time slot reserved for local programming (1pm to 5 pm) as well as flashes of morning information
  • Atomic, pop, rock and dance music programming (from September)[year needed]
  • 100% Radio [fr], general music programming and local information
  • Radio Inside, pop, rock and dance music programming.
  • RPO (Radio Pau Ousse)
  • Ràdio País [fr], community radio station dedicated to the Occitan culture
  • IMETS (Euro Info Pyrénées Métropole), community radio station dedicated to jazz music

Sport

Pau has many sports facilities and several high level sport clubs.

Clubs

  • Basketball: The professional club Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez accounts for nine titles as Champion of France (1986, 1987, 1992, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2004), six Cups of France (1991, 1992, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2007), three Tournament of "A"s (1991, 1992, 1993), a week of "A"s (1993) and a title of winner of the Korać Cup in 1984 (European Cup). In 2007, the club climbed into the European top 16. Its results at the end of the 2008–2009 season demoted it Pro B. After a reorganization of its capital, the club changed its name and became the Élan béarnais Pau-Lacq-Orthez (ÉBPLO). The following 2009–2010 season was totally successful with a first place in the regular season (meaning an immediate promotion to Pro-A) and a title of Champion of France of Pro-B won at Paris Bercy against CSP Limoges. Pau-Orthez play its home matches at the Palais des Sports de Pau and former players include Boris Diaw, Mickaël Piétrus and Johan Petro.
  • Rugby union: the Section Paloise, club created in 1902 is one of the oldest French rugby clubs. Pau has won three titles of Champion of France (1928, 1946 and 1964), three Cups of France (1939, 1952, 1997) and a European Challenge Cup (2000). Recently, the club participated in two semi-finals of the French Championship (1996, 2000) and a semi-final of the Heineken Cup (1998). The club appeared in the elite Top 16 which became the Top 14, until 2006. It is now in Pro D2, and reached the finals of accession for the Top 14 in 2012 and 2013. Two current French International players, Imanol Harinordoquy and Pau native Damien Traille, once played for the team.
  • Canoe-kayak: The Palois university club Pyrénées-Eaux-Vives (CUPPEV) has four champions of very high level: Patrice Estanguet, bronze medalist at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, Tony Estanguet, the younger brother of Patrice, triple Olympic champion in 2000, 2004 and 2012 and triple champion of the world (2006, 2009 and 2010), Fabien Lefèvre, double champion of the world (2002 and 2003) and twice medalist at the summer Olympics (2004 and 2008) and Julien Billaut champion of the world in 2006.
  • Fencing: Section Paloise [fr] is one of the most prestigious clubs in France.[citation needed] Since its creation, in the Quartier du Hédas [fr], many Olympic and world champions are from the club. Since 1959, the Section ensures the continuity of this Olympic discipline with its assets, three global medals, several places of finalists in the World Cup and 26 titles of Champion of France. Fencers are taught the six disciplines of épée, foil and sabre for men and for women, under the leadership of the fencing masters Alain Coicaud, Laurent Vicenty and Michel Salesse. The Section is classified first in clubs of the Southwest in all three weapons and among the best French clubs. The 2005–2006 season was an exceptional year which had several Pau competitors, led by Julien Médard, Gavin Lallement and Romain Miramon, winning national and international individual and team titles.
  • Football: Pau Football Club played in the Championnat National from 1998 to 2008 before suffering relegation. After an 8-year stint in the Championnat National 2 (fourth division) Pau FC were promoted back into the French third division in 2016. It hosted many players having completed a successful professional career thereafter. André-Pierre Gignac, Tino Costa, Aurélien Chedjou, Julien Escudé, Édouard Cissé and Xavier Gravelaine have all worn the colours of Pau FC during their career.
  • Athletics: CUP, Club Universitaire Palois (also called CUPau), founded on 29 August 1947.
  • Handball: Club Pau-Nousty (National 1).
  • American football: The Sphinx de Pau, club was created in 1998.
  • Baseball and Softball: The Pumas de Pau were Champions of France in 2004 and finalist in 2006.
  • Parkour: Association "Shock of Street – Pau Parkour"[35] created in 2010, affiliated with the Federation of Parkour.
  • Pyrénéa Sports[36] is a mountain club for mountaineering, rock climbing, hiking, mountain skiing and Alpine skiing and was created in 1939. it organizes the Pyrénéa,[37] the Pau triathlon at Gourette.
  • Aerial sports:
    • The Aéro-Club du Béarn, the oldest Aero-Club of France, was founded by Paul Tissandier in December 1908 to approve the flights that the Wright brothers were to perform in Pau. These transferred effectively to Pau from January 1909. The Wright flight school had initially opened at Le Mans in the summer of 1908.
    • The Pau Pyrénées Air Club (CHP), founded in 2004, is a club dedicated to aerobatics, it is located in the Pau Pyrénées airport sheds.
  • French Alpine Club: The section of Pau was created in 1886 for mountaineering, hiking, ski mountaineering, canyoning.
  • Parachuting: The region of Pau, renowned for its low exposure to the wind, is a centre of parachuting and the focus of several clubs. Pau has hosted several World Championships and is the seat of the ETAP.
  • Chess: Being one of the oldest clubs of chess, the Exchequer Henri IV, established in 1925, is the largest club of Aquitaine. It is also one of the 45 clubs to receive, until 2013, the label of trainer of clubs.

Facilities

 
The whitewater stadium
 
Palais des sports
  • The Stade du Hameau [Hamlet Stadium], a 13,966-seat stadium located to the east of the city, home to Section Paloise rugby and Pau PC. The stadium has two covered grandstands, a fitness room and a club house.
  • The Palais des Sports de Pau: With 7,856 seats, it is the 2nd largest hall in France after Bercy.[citation needed] The Élan Béarnais home, it has also served in Davis Cup events, at the handball World Championships, the official 1999 European Basketball Championship and the gymnastics Championship of France.
  • The Circuit de Pau-Ville, is a temporary motor racing circuit in the streets of the city and which hosts the Pau Grand Prix.
  • The whitewater stadium of Pau-Pyrénées opened in 2008. It is a man-made basin fed by the Gave de Pau. It welcomes in particular elite division of the team of France of kayak and the centre of hopefuls. It hosted a round of the World Cup in 2009 and 2012. It will host the canoe-kayak 2017 World Championships.[38]
  • The water stadium: This outdoor pool is housed two basins, which is "almost Olympic" (it lacked only a tiny centimetre to be approved),[citation needed] and a diving pool.
  • The rugby stadium of the Croix du Prince [fr], historic seat of Section Paloise, in which the youth teams play again today.
  • The equestrian field of Sers and the Pont-Long Racecourse [fr]: It is the second equestrian centre of France, behind Chantilly and before Maisons-Laffitte for steeplechase. It holds twenty-eight meetings of steeplechase and flat per year. The steeplechase course is one of the most formidable in Europe.[citation needed] The Sers training centre houses six hundred horses.
  • The Basque pelota Complex, inaugurated in 2006, is for Jai alai, a mur à gauche, a trinquet and an open place fronton. It is the largest Basque pelota facility in Europe (2,600 seats). This facility is known to be underemployed. The Amateur World Championships of Basque pelota (Basque sport) should have taken place there in 2006 and were held in 2010. Since May 2007, the converted trinquet has reopened to its original sport, real tennis, on Sundays.
  • Two golf courses are located near Pau: The Artiguelouve golf course and the Pau Golf Club, located in Billère. Created by Scots and laid out in 1856,[39] it was the first of the European continent and one of the oldest in the world. It offers an 18-hole course and its Victorian-style clubhouse features a restaurant and a bar with a British atmosphere.
  • The Plantier de Pau: For the game of Quilles de neuf [fr], an ancestor of bowling, to practice with a 6.2 kilograms (14 lb) ball and nine bowling pins of 96 centimetres (38 in).
  • The André-Lavie Stadium, stadium of Pau athletics and for the training of university sports teams. This site held the Interville competition between Pau and Saint Jean de Luz, on 13 August 2007.
  • The SUAPS climbing wall: The highest climbing wall of Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées, it is a top place of training for Pyrénéan climbers.

For amateur joggers the Gave de Pau river bank footpath is a most valued itinerary,[citation needed] which starts near the castle and passes along Pau's golf course heading west. Another spot is Pont-Long wood north of the town.

Events

Since 1930, Pau has become a mainstay of the Tour de France cycling race, thanks both to its geographical location and to its marvelous infrastructure. Pau hosted its 63rd stage in 2010, and only one other city besides Paris has done better. The 2010 Tour visited Pau on three occasions: First as a passing town, second time as a finish, and the third time as a departure town on the way to the Col du Tourmalet. Pau is behind Bordeaux as the town of the province to have had most stages in the history of the Tour. Pau will receive the Tour for the 67th time in 2015.[40]

Perhaps the highest-profile sporting event is the Étoiles de Pau ("Stars of Pau"). Held annually in October, it is one of only six annual competitions in eventing that receive the highest rating of CCI**** from equestrianism's world governing body, the FEI. It's also the only event of this level in France.

In 2008, between 11–23 August, Pau hosted the 83rd French Chess Championship. The men's event was won by Étienne Bacrot, on tie-break from Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, while the women's event resulted in a victory for Sophie Milliet. Thirty-six players took part. Pau was previously the Championship venue in 1943 and 1969.

 
The Féminine on the Boulevard des Pyrénées

Other events include:

  • Stages of France's canoeing Championships.
  • Marathon de Pau [fr], whose departure takes place every year from the Palais Beaumont.
  • The Féminine de Pau, walking race held twice per year from 2012.
  • International meeting of capoeira.
  • Dance international meetings organized by the Rezodanse association.
  • Frequent events such as the Davis Cup of tennis (four times), every November tennis ATP Challenger Tour, the World Championship of handball, the Championship of European nations of basketball, France's Gymnastics Championships, the Championships of France of parachute jumping.

Pau Grand Prix

 
Átila Abreu races his Mücke Motorsport Formula Three car on the Pau circuit in 2005
 
The Grand Prix Historique

Pau held the first race to be called a Grand Prix in 1901. After that the 1928 French Grand Prix was held in nearby Saint-Gaudens, Pau also wanted to arrange the race and in 1930 the French Grand Prix was held on a Le Mans-type track outside the city with Philippe Étancelin winning for Bugatti. Pau returned to the calendar in 1933 with a track in the town centre inspired by Monaco.

The track, 2,769 metres (1.721 mi) long, is winding and has remained largely unchanged. The first curve is the station hairpin. After that the road climbs on the Avenue Léon Say, alongside the stone viaduct that carries the Boulevard de Pyrenées, to Pont Oscar. A tunnel is followed by the narrow hairpin at the Louis Barthou high school that leads the track into the demanding Parc Beaumont section at the top of the town. After the Casino garden and another hairpin, the track winds back to the start along the Avenue Lacoste.

Pau traditionally opened the season but mid-February for the 1933 GP meant the race took place in a snowstorm with slush. After a one-year pause the race was back in 1935 with Tazio Nuvolari dominating in an Alfa Romeo P3 entered by Scuderia Ferrari. The 1936 race saw the only major victory for the Maserati V8-R1, driven by Ètancelin. In 1937 the race was part of the French sports car series with Jean-Pierre Wimille dominating, running three to four seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field. GP racing was back in 1938 and Pau became a test track for Mercedes-Benz before the Grandes Epreuves.

The 1938 race saw René Dreyfus' Delahaye sensationally beating the Mercedes-Benz team. In 1939 Mercedes wasn't to be taken by surprise, Hermann Lang leading the team to a double victory. After World War II Pau continued as a non-championship Formula One race until 1963. Thereafter the race was run to Formula Two rules until 1985, and thereafter by its replacement, Formula 3000. In 1999, the event again changed, with Formula Three cars racing. Finally, in 2007, the race became a round of the World Touring Car Championship.

The Grand Prix de Pau Historique is organized on the Circuit de Pau-Ville once a year, a week before or after the modern Grand Prix, this event brings together vehicles with animated racing of the past.

Economy

From the 1950s to the 1990s Pau depended on the production of natural gas and sulphur which were discovered nearby at Lacq. In the 21st century, the mainstays of the Béarn area are the oil business, the aerospace industry through the helicopter turboshaft engines manufacturer Turbomeca, tourism and agriculture. Pau was the birthplace of Elf Aquitaine, which has now become a part of TotalEnergies. Halliburton has an office in Pau.[41]

Pau is the second economic hub of Aquitaine, after Bordeaux. A university city, it has concentrated several industrial centres and centres of important research in the fields of petroleum engineering and geosciences, petrochemistry and chemistry, food, automotive, aeronautics and computer science.

Pau benefits from its central location in the region of the Pays de l'Adour and its location between two major areas of population: Bayonne/Anglet/Biarritz (160,000 inhabitants) and the area of Tarbes/Lourdes (110,000 inhabitants) and secondary, more diffuse, areas: South of Landes/Dax (90,000 inhabitants) and the areas of Auch (40,000 inhabitants), Orthez/Lacq (30,000 inhabitants) and Oloron (20,000 inhabitants).

The municipality is partially within the Ossau-Iraty AOC area.

  • Tertiary functions: administrative (prefecture, general council, etc.), cultural (university), judicial ( Court of Appeal), commercial.
  • Science Centre and technology Jean-Feger, of the oil group TotalEnergies (formerly Elf Aquitaine).
  • The Euralis [fr] Research Centre.
  • The Technopoles of Hélioparc, Pau Cité Multimédia and Pole E-Business southern Aquitaine (PEBA).
  • Aeronautical and space industry.
  • Electrical industry.
  • Food and wine industries.
  • Fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industry.
  • Computer science, NTIC.
  • Pau Broadband Country (fibre to the premises [fr]).
  • Business travel, seminars, congresses.

Industry

 
Arrius helicopter engine

Pau experienced an important economic boom based on the discovery of the giant deposit of natural gas in Lacq. Discovered in the 1950s (by engineer Jean Féger), it was then the largest terrestrial deposit of gas in Europe and helped France to be self-sufficient in gas for almost thirty years. The Société Nationale des Pétroles d'Aquitaine (SNPA) was born at Lacq in 1941, after merger with ELF in 1976 it became part of the Elf Aquitaine group, then Total during its integration into the Group TotalFinaElf (in Lacq, known now the SNEAP, Société Nationale Elf Aquitaine Production).[42] Oil and focussed businesses (Total Exploration Production France, TotalEnergies, Total infrastructure Gaz France (TIGF), Schlumberger, Halliburton) and chemical (Arkema, Air Liquide) settled in Pau or the surrounding area (in Lacq at the Chemparc chemical park but also in Pardies and Artix).

The scientific centre of Total in Pau is one research centre for exploration and production of gas and oil in Europe, more than 2,000 people, including 900 doctors and engineers in the geosciences, resulting from the merger of ELF Aquitaine and Total.[43] Research in the geosciences is also based on university partnerships/companies notably with the Federation of research applied to petroleum engineering (IPRA), consisting of teams of research CNRS/University of Pau and the Pays de l'Adour (UPPA) and Total (the IPRA represents 130 teachers, researchers and beneficiaries, an annual budget of 1.5 million euros and six scientific Masters). Research and engineering in the geosciences are also present through specialised companies (CGG, Paradigm Geophysical, TTI, VERITAS, etc.) implanted, for the most part, on the site of the Hélioparc technopole and specialised training centres (IFP Training, NExT-Schlumberger, Wellstaff, Baker Hughes, etc.).

The area of Pau-Lacq is also geared towards fine chemicals (Acetex, now closed) and new materials. High-tech composite materials and nanomaterials have gradually been developed in Béarn with the Carbon Fibre Company (SOFICAR) and the GRL (Group of research of Lacq), one of the main centres of research of ARKEMA.

Industry has also developed recently around new energy investments and other energies: Bio-fuels (manufacturing site of bioethanol from the AB Bioenergy France Company, €150M investment), biomass (cellulose) and the production of electricity from gas (production site of SNET, investment of €400M). One driver of uptake and CO2 sequestration process is also underway (industrial investment of €100M).

Ultimately, these activities for fine chemicals and specialties, will ensure the reconversion of the traditional activities of extraction from the Lacq area.

The entire energy complex (Chemparc) now represents 12,000 direct jobs.

Pau is part of the global competitiveness cluster of Aerospace Valley, in the aerospace sector, with Toulouse and Bordeaux. The aviation industry is represented by major industrial groups (Safran, Turbomeca, Messier Dowty, Examéca, MAP, etc.), and a significant number of subcontractors. With Biarritz/Bayonne (Dassault) and Tarbes (EADS Socata, Tarmac), the area of the Pays de l'Adour is strongly oriented towards aeronautics (12,000 jobs). These firms are involved on the Airbus programmes of A380/A300/A330/A320 (landing gear, carbon fibre, welding, aerostructures), Eurocopter (engines, machining parts), Boeing (landing gear) and Embraer. Pau also hosts the service centre of the French Army (ALAT) Tiger helicopters. The airport area in particular (aeropole Pau Pyrénées) is expanding and includes aeronautical and automotive subcontractors.

The pharmaceutical sector is growing and is represented by Pierre Fabre, Boiron, Sanofi and Finorga companies. A bio-health centre grouping of industrial pharmacy and biology was created in 2006 around the Pierre Fabre and DBI enterprises.

The Pau economy is also based on the agri-food industry in the fields of maize, processed products (dairy products, canning, meat) and the wine industry (Group Euralis [fr], Candia, Bongrain, 3A, Michaud and Miot). With 400 researchers, Pau is the first European research centre for maize-growing.

The electronics and electrical engineering sector also has several industrial sites in the Pau agglomeration (Legrand, Arelec, Aquitaine electronics, Siemens).

Services

Pau also concentrates the regional headquarters of many service companies as capital of the Pays de l'Adour region: The banking sector (CA Pyrénées Gascogne, Banque Pouyanne), insurance (MIF, MSA), construction (Groupe MAS, Cance) and business services (APR, YSA, Vitalicom).

ICT businesses have experienced an important development with the deployment of optical fibre in the agglomeration and the implantation of companies specialising in information technology, networks and image processing. The technopoles [technological hubs] of Helioparc (close to the University, 1,000 jobs), Pau Cité Multimédia (north of the town, 700 jobs) and the @LLEES (Villa Ridgway built in 1905, former headquarters of Elf) concentrate a large number of systems integration and computer engineering information technology consulting schools. Pau should, ultimately, be fully connected to a fibre optic network (Pau Broadband Country) of the agglomeration of Pau-Pyrénées communities which will allow a data transfer rate of 10 to 100 megabits per second (and 1 gigabit per second for some companies) and applications of types such as VoIP, online services and webTV. Pau is the third city in Europe, after Stockholm and Milan, to have developed a very high-speed fibre optic network. The project has cost 30 million euros and has been spread over five years. This network has encouraged the location of French and foreign companies to Pau, which are specialised in imaging, services or design online.

Pau combines all the functions and administrative headquarters of a regional agglomeration: General Council of Pyrénées-Atlantiques [fr], Court of Appeal for the departments under the purview of Pau (Pyrenees Atlantiques, Landes and Gers), the regional hospital, Chamber of commerce and industry of Pau Béarn [fr], Chamber of Trade of Pyrénées Atlantiques, Chamber of Agriculture of Pyrénées Atlantiques, SDIS 64, Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour. The Chamber of commerce and industry of Pau Béarn manages the Pau-Pyrénées airport, the Groupe ESC Pau, the consular hotel, the CNPC and the IPC de Pau.

In 2006, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Pau Béarn had 11,000 industrial and commercial companies registered as headquartered in Pau.

Pau is also a city of congress, symposia and business travelers with infrastructure allowing it to host national and international events. The Palais Beaumont [fr] Congress Centre, a casino, a park of exhibitions and 4-star hotels (Parc Beaumont Hotel, Villa Navarre Hotel) all help to provide this infrastructure.

The town of Pau is home to many corps of the army. The 5th regiment of combat helicopters [fr] (RHC), which was the first regiment of France to be equipped with the new Eurocopter Tiger, the school of airborne troops (ETAP), the staff of the special forces land brigade, its air component (DAOS), and the central military administrative archive (Bernadotte Barracks [fr]) office. The defence sector represents a little more than 2,000 direct jobs in Pau.

Tourism

 
The view from the Boulevard des Pyrénées

The town of Pau is located 45 minutes from the Pyrenees and its ski resorts. It is a holiday resort for tourists to the Pyrenees (hiking, climbing, skiing) and Spain. Located near the Basque and Landes coasts (an hour's drive), it is possible to practice water sports (surfing, diving, sailing, etc.).

Pau is the gateway to the five Béarnese valleys (the Ossau Valley, Vallée d'Aspe, Vallée de Barétous [fr], the Vallée de l'Ouzom [fr] and Vath-Vielha) that receives winter sports tourists (the ski resorts of Gourette, Artouste [fr], Le Somport [fr] and La Pierre Saint-Martin [fr]), spas (Eaux-Bonnes and Eaux-Chaudes) and green tourism (white-water sports, cultural and gastronomic tourism).

Its location at the foot of the Pyrenees gives Pau an exceptional panorama of the chain of the Pyrenees, in particular from the Boulevard des Pyrénées which is a long avenue of 1.8 kilometres (1.1 mi), facing the Pyrenees mountain range.

Pau is the most beautiful view of Earth from the world as Naples is the most beautiful view of sea.

— Said by Lamartine, of Pau's unique mountain panorama

Pau, a former royal town and capital of Béarn, is also a city of cultural tourism and important business (Congress, conferences, notably in the Palais Beaumont [fr]). The city, a former climatic health resort, also hosts a casino (the Casino de Pau).

The city is historically closely linked to the United Kingdom and remains popular with the British on holiday. The British discovered Pau and its climate, and left their imprint when Wellington left a garrison there in 1814.[39] He defeated Marshal Soult at Orthez (some 40 km (25 mi) to the north-west) on his way into France from Spain towards the end of the Peninsular War. Vacationing British began arriving before the railway established the Boulevard des Pyrenées. The first full 18-hole golf course in Europe,[44] created by people from Scotland, and in fact located at Billère, was laid out in 1856–1860 and is still in existence, and also a real tennis court. Spanish people are also very present in the city, as well as Portuguese and Moroccans (consulates of Spain and Portugal). The Germans and Dutch, attracted by the climate of Pau and its heritage, are also more and more numerous.

Transportation

Train

 
Gare SNCF de Pau (Pau SNCF railway station)

The railway station Gare de Pau offers connections to Bordeaux, Bayonne, Toulouse and Paris, and several regional destinations.

Two railway construction projects are under consideration: the extension and renovation of the line rail network France current online high-speed TGV from Bordeaux to Spain via the east of Landes (which would put Pau at about three hours from Paris) and the reopening of the cross-border link Pau-Canfranc (Spain) linking Pau to Zaragoza. La Croix du Prince station in the southern part of the town has rail connections to Oloron-Sainte-Marie and Bedous.

Airport

 
Pau-Pyrénées International Airport

The international airport of Pau-Pyrénées, located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to the north-west in the commune of Uzein, is connected directly to Paris Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly, as well as airports in Marseille, Lyon, London, Southampton and Amsterdam, among other destinations. In 2009, it recorded 690,000 passengers, a decrease of more than 15%, making it the third busiest airport in Aquitaine after Bordeaux and Biarritz airports.

Motorways

Funicular

The Funiculaire de Pau, opened in 1908, provides, free of charge, a link between the city centre and Boulevard des Pyrénées to the railway station in the valley. After a year of refurbishment to standard, service resumed on 25 November 2006. It carries an average of 500,000 passengers per year. It works every day and its hours are Monday to Saturday, from 6:45 am to 9:40 pm and Sunday from 1:30 pm to 8:50 pm.

Bus

 
The free shuttle bus, Coxitis, circles the city centre

The Société des Transports de agglomération Paloise (STAP) or IDELIS bus network,[46] operates 13 urban bus routes, serving Pau and the adjoining communes of Billère, Jurançon, Gelos, Mazères-Lezons, Lescar, Lons, Bizanos, Gan, Ousse, Sendets, Lée, Idron, Artigueloutan, Uzein, Morlaàs, Serres-Castet and Aressy. A free shuttle bus service, Coxitis, circles the city centre at brief intervals from early morning to early evening.

The main stops are at Pôle Bosquet and also at the markets, the Place de Verdun, the SNCF railway station and the Auchan shopping centre.

The connections between the departmental and regional routes are at the Pôle Bosquet, since August 2006:

  • Rue Mathieu-Lalanne
  • Boulevard Joseph-Barbanègre

The city is engaged in a Bus à haut niveau de service [Bus to high level of service] (BHNS) project for a first route, the railway station to the hospital. Work started towards the end of 2014.[47]

Heritage

Pau has a heritage which stretches from the 12th to the 21st century, which is represented through numerous sites and monuments, including the castle of Henri IV.[citation needed]

Religious monuments

Main Catholic churches

  • The Church of Saint-Martin is situated in the centre of the old town, on Rue Henri IV. It was designed according to the plans of the architect Émile Boeswillwald. The construction of the church, of neo-Gothic influence, began in the 1860s. Every Sunday, the automatic carillon of St. Martin peals the notes of Eine kleine Nachtmusik and the Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman", by Mozart.
  • The Church of Saint-Jacques, also of Gothic influence, regained its two spires in 2012. Following the ancient chapel of the convent of the Cordeliers, it was completed in 1867. Its spires had been removed in 2001, due to being weakened by a storm in 1999.
  • The Notre-Dame Church is capped by a monumental statue of the Virgin and child of Art Deco inspiration. The church was built in the first half of the 20th century, in continuity with the ancient church dedicated to the pilgrimage which came before.
  • The Church of Saint-Joseph was designed by the architect Jacques Laffillée [fr]. It was built in 1935. Neo-Byzantine style, it is recognizable because of its domes and its bell tower, which is 50 metres (160 ft) high and of reinforced cement.
  • St Peter's Church was built in 1970. It was designed by the Prix de Rome architect André Remondet [fr]. Largely covered with slates, it has married its modern structure with concrete buildings which surround it.

Outstanding Catholic chapels

 
The chapel of the Convent of Réparatrices
  • The former Convent of the Réparatrices, an imposing chapel, now houses the National School of Music and Dance and combines ancient and contemporary architecture.
  • The Chapel of Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague, classic architecture, accompanied by the establishment of a college of Jesuits (current Lycée Louis-Barthou). Begun in the 1660s, it was not completed until 1851.
  • The Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-bout-du-Pont, the former place of worship of the Ursulines de Pau, was built in 1872 and relocated in 1932. The Ursuline convent was, in fact, demolished to give space to the Palais des Pyrénées on the current Place Clemenceau [fr]. The chapel was dismantled stone by stone (each being numbered) and then rebuilt at its present location across the Gave de Pau.
  • The Chapel of the Château de Pau, visible from the main entrance, is adjacent to the brick keep.

Reformed, Anglican and Presbyterian churches

  • In the 16th century, slaughterhouses were constructed along with the Protestant temple of Pau [fr], the cagots worked on the two buildings.[48]
  • Responding to demand from English residents, Christ Church was built on the Rue Serviez from 1837 to 1841. Since then, it has become a Reformed temple.
  • Similarly, the Anglican Church of Saint Andrew was built in 1866. The rectory is known to be shaped according to local taste, the façade is dotted with pebbles from the Gave de Pau.
  • The Méliès Cinema was housed in a former place of worship, a Scottish Presbyterian Church.

Other religious buildings

Pau has a Russian Orthodox Church, a mosque, a synagogue and a number of smaller churches such as St-Jean-Baptiste, Sainte-Bernadette and Sainte-Thérèse.

Civil monuments

Until the 18th century

The Château de Pau dominates the Gave de Pau. Its two oldest towers date from the 12th century. The quadrangular tower of brick was raised by Sicard de Lordat in the 14th century. Thus constituted fortress was turned into a Renaissance palace by Marguerite d'Angoulême and then restored under Louis-Philippe and Napoleon III. In summary, the castle was fortress of the Viscounts of Béarn, Castle of Fébus, birthplace of the good King Henry IV (Nouste Enric) and royal residence in the Renaissance.

A first defensive tower desired below the castle by Gaston Fébus, then called the "Tour du Moulin" [tower of the mill] for a time, was built along a water channel operating the mill of the castle as early as the 15th century. The Tour de la Monnaie [Money Tower] was named according to Henri d'Albret who, in 1554, used it as a mint. Today containing a lift within, it was used for the coinage of money until the French Revolution.

Its small garden was tended by Marie Antoinette when she spent her summers in the city. Napoleon used it as a holiday home during his period in power. The château has been designated as a French historical monument and holds a collection of tapestries.

Close to the castle, the Parlement de Navarre [Parliament of Navarre], so named, saw its origins in the annexation of Béarn to the Crown of France under Louis XIII in 1620. Though, in fact, he established himself in a very old courthouse that had been built as early as 1585 in place of the house of the Bishop of Lescar. Burned down in 1716, it was rebuilt but quickly abandoned in favour of the current courthouse. The General Council settled there and it still holds its sessions.

Lycée Louis Barthou, originally a Jesuit college, was built in Louis XIII's appeal, probably between 1622 and 1645, for the restoration of Catholicism. It has illustrious alumni such as Lautréamont, Louis Barthou, Saint-John Perse, Pierre Bourdieu, Daniel Balavoine and Henri Emmanuelli.

The Birthplace of Bernadotte Museum is today of particular interest to Swedish tourists, it dates from the 18th century. Bernadotte was a French non-commissioned officer who was born in Pau and became a general of Napoleon and then King of Sweden under the name Charles XIV.

In the 19th century

 
The former Hotel de Gassion

Former grand hotels of the Belle Époque which were in direct competition, the Hotel de Gassion and the Hotel de France, are located on the Boulevard des Pyrénées. The Hotel de Gassion, located between the château and the Church of Saint-Martin, now houses apartments. The Hotel de France, located to the east of the Place Royale, now houses the services of the Communauté d'agglomération de Pau-Pyrénées and is the second decision-making centre in Pau.

The Palais Beaumont, originally referred to as the Palais d'Hiver [Winter Palace], was created at the end of the 19th century. Mixing architectural styles, it was repeatedly altered and was renovated from 1996, after half a century of neglect. It hosts a casino but is primarily a convention centre, a space for events such as seminars and fairs.

The funicular, which joins with the upper town, the historic centre, has carried travellers to and from the railway station, since 1908.

Municipal services settled in the current premises of the town hall in 1878. The building, located north of the Place Royale [fr], is actually a former theatre dating from 1862. The project to erect the Church of Saint-Louis, on the site, launched in 1685 and revived in 1788, was never successful. The former use of the building explains the statue of Thalia, muse of comedy starring to the front, which adorns its pediment.

The climate tourism which took over in Pau has left a set of prestigious villas as a legacy. Rich English, American and Russian tourists built villas to facilitate their stay during the winter. These buildings, English-style, were mainly built at the end of the 19th century. These villas now have various uses such as a charming hotel (Villa Navarre, an Anglo-Norman Manor built between 1865 and 1870),[49] a reception room (Villa Saint Basil's built in 1889), apartments (Palais Sorrento in 1888) and as a residence of the prefect (Villa Saint Helena) etc.

The current courthouse was built on the territory of the former convent of the Cordeliers. The Place de la Libération today participates in the majesty of a building whose façade is classically decorated with columns, themselves topped by a pediment in white marble. Its construction began in 1847.

The railway station, of Eiffel style, was inaugurated in 1871 below the city centre.

It was natural that a barracks was progressively built in Pau from 1825 to 1875, the prefectural town close to the border. The Bernadotte Barracks, which today contains the national archives of the army, thus welcomed two regiments as early as 1830. The current Place de Verdun [fr] which has become parking and was formerly known as Place Napoleon, was, in fact, an area of close exercises.

Of the 20th century to the present day

 
Palais des Pyrénées
  • Inaugurated in 2000 at the foot of the original Parliament of Navarre, the Hôtel du Département [Departmental Administrative Building], a building of glass on which some buildings of the Boulevard des Pyrénées are reflected, now includes all administrative services linked to it.
  • Renovated in 2007, the Bosquet Centre, is a shopping centre of contemporary architecture in the centre of town. Borrowing its name from Marshal Bosquet who has a nearby statue, it was built on the site of the former Hospital of Pau.
  • The Palais des Pyrénées [Palace of the Pyrenees], the second shopping centre in the heart of the city, has had a tumultuous history. In its current form, it seems to have regained its spirit of 1808, that of the "Passage of Napoleon", a commercial route which heralded the modern covered market of 1838, destroyed at the beginning of the 20th century. The Palais des Pyrenees from 1930, or the Palais du Commerce et des Fêtes [Palace of trade and celebrations], was an art-deco complex covered with shops but also theatres, a casino and even a mini golf course. Return to its original condition began in 1951 with the removal of the roofing over the central path, Pau people regained views of the Pyrenees. Four buildings were then raised. It was in 2006 which it appeared in its current form, proud of its canopies of glass and steel.
  • Since 1971, the Archives Départementales [Departmental Archives] have settled into two buildings, one of them of particularly atypical appearance due to its tiny triangular windows, which are designed to give the best protection to the preserved documents.
  • The Archives Communautaires de l'Agglomération de Pau-Pyrénées [Community Archives of the Agglomeration of Pau-Pyrénées] are grouped, since March 2011, in the buildings of the former tram factory (on the site of what was previously a gas plant, as evidenced by the high chimney).
  • The Faculté de Lettres et Sciences Humaines [Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences], and the Maison de l'Agriculture [House of Agriculture], with similar architectures dating from the start of the 1970s, break in their likeness as the first seems to humbly blend in with the vegetation, while the second seems to display a relative majesty.

Outstanding built-up areas

Town squares

  • Place Clémenceau [fr] and the Palais des Pyrénées, the market square and centre commercial-street. In the heart of the downtown area, this is the site of many public festivals, shopping, and a fountain.
  • Place d'Espagne [Spain Square]: Containing buildings of contemporary architecture as well as the Bosquet commercial centre
  • Place des sept cantons [Seven Cantons Square]: This square is joined to not seven but six streets
  • Place des États [States Square]: The crossroads of transhumance until the Renaissance era, in the area of the Château de Pau
  • Place Gramont [fr]: An architectural ensemble from the 18th century, with many summer terraces
  • Place Reine-Marguerite [fr] [Queen Marguerite Square]: bordered by arcades with pebbled arches, it once was the marketplace, and a gallows and wheel for executions once stood here
  • Place Royale [fr]: Created by Louis XIV, it was built in its present form with a statue of Henry IV during the reign of Louis Philippe. It includes the Pau Town Hall
  • Place de Verdun [fr]: A large square today occupied by ample free parking and bordered to the west by the Bernadotte military barracks
  • Place de la Libération: The Palace of Justice and the Santiago Church are in this square

Streets

  • The Boulevard des Pyrénées, created on the initiative of Napoleon I as a continuation of the Place Royale, is 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) long. The panoramic view from the boulevard extends beyond the hills of Gelos and Jurançon to include the Pic d'Anie at 2,504 metres (8,215 ft), the Pic du Midi de Bigorre at 2,865 metres (9,400 ft) which is topped with an astronomical observatory known worldwide for the quality of its solar and planetary photographs (NASA used it to prepare for the Apollo missions), the Midi d'Ossau at 2,884 metres (9,462 ft) is of volcanic nature and of distinctive and symbolic shape, as well as Balaïtous at 3,146 metres (10,322 ft) and the Vignemale at 3,298 metres (10,820 ft), the highest peak in the French Pyrenees. One of the peculiarities of this avenue overlooking the Pyrenees is the presence of plates of orientation, allowing an alignment with a lightning rod on a factory chimney below, for recognizing the great peaks of the mountain range.
  • The Rue du Maréchal-Joffre connects the Château Quarter to Place Clemenceau, it was first named Grande Rue and helped Pau to expand eastward at the end of the Middle Ages. The street assured freedom of movement for traffic as much as it helped to distribute the housing. The large houses of the parliamentarians and notables, from the different eras, can show their façades or give a more discreet entry to the rear of the houses. The revenue houses, smaller but just as numerous, punctuate the blocks with the succession of their bays. The merchant past is recalled by the presence of the arches of the Place de la Vieille-Halle (Place Reine-Marguerite). The Rue du Maréchal-Joffre is now fully paved and pedestrianised, after work undertaken between 2011 and 2012.

Typical districts

 
The Château Quarter in the rain
  • The Château Quarter: The historic quarter of Pau in the narrow old lanes, which gives the quarter a medieval appearance. There are very good restaurants.
  • The Hedås Quarter: An old quarter which was built in a ravine which previously crossed a stream, in the heart of the historic city.
  • The Trespoey Quarter: A very wooded area with many 19th century English-style villas. It is the area of the city of the more bourgeois, historically upmarket. The most prestigious hotels in the city are now here,[citation needed] such as the Villa Navarre and the Beaumont.

Environmental heritage

Parks and gardens

 
Parc Beaumont

Pau is also a green city, having more than 750 hectares (1,900 acres) occupied by green areas, with many rare and exotic species. Pau has been classed "4 flowers" by the Competition of Flowery Cities and Villages.[50] In some districts, for example Trespoey, the villas are bathed in vegetation. Pau is thus one of the European cities that have the most square meters of greenery per capita (80 square metres (860 sq ft) per capita):[citation needed]

  • Parc Beaumont with a lake, river and waterfall, many flower beds, a large rockery and a rose garden. The 12 hectares (30 acres) rugby ball-shaped park contains 110 species of trees. Some subjects are "notable" by their size, their age or their rarity such as Bald Cypress from Louisiana, Virginia persimmon and giant sequoia.
  • Parc Lawrence [fr], a park with old trees, which is home to one of the many 19th century English villas of Pau.
  • The National Domain of the Château de Pau, composed of a Renaissance garden with medicinal plants and a park. The large park has walking trails and plenty of open space, for outdoor activities in the middle of the city.
  • The Sentiers du Roy, connecting the upper town to the lower town
  • Johanto Gardens, at the bottom of the Boulevard des Pyrénées, with its many and strong Palm trees
  • Contemporary gardens of the Hôtel du Département, in the lower town
  • The banks of the Gave de Pau, at Billère and Jurançon, downstream from the Pont d'Espagne [bridge of Spain] and the Whitewater Arena.
  • Besson Square, near the Conservatoire of music and dance with including Sequoia sempervirens
  • The Kōfu Garden, a Japanese garden opened in 2005 with plans provided by the gardeners of the city of Kōfu
  • Parc en ciel [Park in the sky], opened in 2013 in the Hameau Quarter

Horizons Palois (Pau Horizons)

The notion of Horizons Palois refers to the desire to protect the major elements which structure the special view from Pau to its natural environment. The view from the heights of Pau includes the saligues of the Gave de Pau and the hillsides of Jurançon and finally the chain of the Pyrenees. Seventeen sites were registered in 1944 as Horizons Palois, in order to protect them from any construction or alteration that may deteriorate the extraordinary panorama which is particularly visible from the Boulevard des Pyrénées and the château. The city of Pau has committed several years of reflection to a candidacy of the Horizons to UNESCO World Heritage.[51] This would thus enhance the protection of the panorama, and also be an improvement with the renaming of this site to the general public.

Labels

Notable people

People born in Pau

 
Henry IV, King of France
 
Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, King of Sweden and Norway
 
Tony Estanguet, triple Olympic slalom champion

People who died in Pau

Others

 
The emir Abd el-Kader, Algerian political and military leader
  • The emir Abd el-Kader (1808–1883), was imprisoned in the castle of Pau in 1848
  • Mary Todd Lincoln (1818–1882), lived in Pau between 1876 and 1880. She was the widow of American President Abraham Lincoln.
  • Henry Russell (1834–1909), buried there
  • Isidore Ducasse, Comte de Lautréamont (1846–1870), (author of Les Chants de Maldoror) studied there
  • Louis Guédy [fr] (1847–1926), French painter, settled here during the end of the 19th century
  • Louis Barthou (1862–1934), politician, lived in Pau
  • Saint-John Perse (1887–1975), real name Alexis Saint-Léger lived here from 1899 to 1906, where he was a student at Lycée Louis-Barthou
  • Dornford Yates (1885–1960), pseudonym of the British novelist, Cecil William Mercer lived here from 1922 to 1940
  • Joseph Peyré (1892–1968), winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1935, native of Aydie, educated at the Lycée de Pau (1900–1907), taught there, and was lawyer for a time at the bar of Pau
  • Hubert Dubedout [fr] (1922–1986), Mayor of Grenoble between 1965 and 1983, lived there
  • Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002), sociologist, who studied there
  • Guy Debord (1931–1994), (author of The Society of the Spectacle) lived there in the 1940s
  • Djamila Boupacha (1938), FLN combatant, imprisoned there in 1962 shortly before Independence was reached in Algeria[54]
  • Henri Emmanuelli (1945), politician, studied there
  • François Bayrou (1951): municipal councillor of the city of Pau from 1983 to 1993 and then from 2008 to 2014, as well as president of the Conseil départemental des Pyrénées-Atlantiques [fr] from 1992 to 2001. Bayrou is the current Mayor of Pau, his birthplace was Bordères
  • Daniel Balavoine (1952–1986), native of Bizanos, studied there
  • Léopold Eyharts (1957), astronaut, studied there
  • Jean-Michel Aphatie [fr] (1958), reporter for Canal+ and RTL holds a master's degree from the Law University of Pau.
  • Frédéric Beigbeder (1965), spent part of his childhood in Pau, living in the Villa Navarra, the family home was sold in 2002[49]
  • Wilfrid Lupano [fr] (1971), comic book writer, lives in Pau
  • Léo Quievreux (1971), comic book writer, lives in Pau as of 2022[55]
  • Michaël Gregorio [fr] (1984), spent his childhood in Pau

Gallery

See also

Bibliography

  • Saupiquet, Dr Amédée (2004). Petite histoire de Pau [A short history of Pau] (in French). Éditions PyréMonde – Princi Negue. ISBN 2-84618-168-3.
  • Bouchard, Jean-Pierre (1988). Pau [Pau] (in French). Éditions Ouest-France [fr].
  • Issartel, Thierry; Bayrou, François; Bouchard, Jean-Pierre; et al. (2010). Henri IV, les clés d'un règne [Henry IV, the keys to a kingdom] (in French). Editions Gascogne.

Notes

  1. ^ "...of remains have been discovered in 1850 on the outskirts of the area ... the remains of an important building, villa or baths..."[4]
  2. ^ "...in an Act passed during the episcopate of Gui de Lons..."[5]

References

  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires". data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises (in French). 2 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2019". The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 29 December 2021.
  3. ^ INSEE commune file
  4. ^ Saupiquet, Amédée (2004). Negue, Princi (ed.). Petite histoire de Pau, la ville de Pau aux trois phases de son histoire. Pau. p. 14. ISBN 2-84618-168-3. 192. (BnF no FRBNF39913121)
  5. ^ Saupiquet, Amédée (2004). negue, Princi (ed.). Petite histoire de Pau, la ville de Pau aux trois phases de son histoire. Pau. p. 13. ISBN 2-84618-168-3. 192. (BnF no FRBNF39913121)
  6. ^ . aviation-memorial.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  7. ^ Paris, Nice, Strasbourg, Brest
  8. ^ "Normales climatiques 1981–2010 : Pau". www.lameteo.org. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  9. ^ "Données climatiques de la station de Pau" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  10. ^ "Climat Aquitaine" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  11. ^ (PDF). Fiche Climatologique: Statistiques 1981–2010 et records (in French). Meteo France. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.
  12. ^ (in French). Infoclimat. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 28 December 2015.
  13. ^ Michel Grosclaude, Dictionnaire toponymique des communes du Béarn, 2006, pg. 304
  14. ^ Histoire de Pau, pp. 11–15
  15. ^ Tucoo-Chala, Pierre (1989). Histoire de Pau. Toulouse: Éditions Privat. pp. 11–15. ISBN 2-7089-8238-9. collection Univers de la France.
  16. ^ "Béarn (Traditional province, France)". Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  17. ^ "La basse ville de Pau, toute une histoire à redécouvrir" [The lower town of Pau, a history to rediscover] (in French). Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  18. ^ "ANCIENNE USINE DE PRODUCTION ELECTRIQUE DES TRAMWAYS A PAU" [OLD FACTORY PRODUCTION ELECTRIC TRAMS PAU] (in French). Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  19. ^ Thomas F. Schwartz And Anne V. Shaughnessy. "Unpublished Mary Lincoln Letters". Historycooperative.org. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  20. ^ Jean Touyarot, L'Hôtel des ombres, Seuil, 2011, 220 p.
  21. ^ Voir l'explication des aboutissants de la conférence dans Hugues Tertrais, la piastre et le fusil. Le coût de la guerre d'Indochine, 1945–1954. Paris : ministère de l'Économie, des Finances et de l'Industrie, Comité pour l'histoire économique et financière de la France, 2002, p. 95-102
  22. ^ Décret n° 2014-248 du 25 février 2014 portant délimitation des cantons dans le département des Pyrénées-Atlantiques
  23. ^ "Résultat municipales Pau [élu publié]". linternaute.com.
  24. ^ . Cellule informatique préfecture 64. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  25. ^ "Les jumelages favorisent le rayonnement à l'international". pau.fr (in French). Pau. 31 July 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  26. ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Pau, EHESS. (in French)
  27. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  28. ^ "Pau: la clinique Marzet est rachetée par la polyclinique de Navarre" [Pau: The Marzet Clinic is bought by the Polyclinic of Navarre] (in French). Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  29. ^ "Ostau Bearnés". Retrieved 12 April 2015.
  30. ^ Louis Sallenave, Un siècle à Pau et en Béarn, Presse et éditions de l'Adour, p. 2000
  31. ^ "Carnaval Biarnes". Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  32. ^ "Hestiv'Oc". Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  33. ^ http://www.access.org[bare URL]
  34. ^ "Festival du Jeu de Société de Pau". Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  35. ^ "Bienvenue sur le site de Shock of Street, association de Parkour à Pau" [Welcome to Shock of Street, Parkour Association in Pau.] (in French). Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  36. ^ "PYRÉNÉA SPORTS" [PYRÉNÉA SPORTS] (in French). Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  37. ^ [LA PYRENEA TRIATHLON] (in French). Archived from the original on 8 March 2009.
  38. ^ [Pau-Pyrenees obtains 2017 world canoeing] (in French). Archived from the original on 16 April 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  39. ^ a b Horace A. Laffaye, The Evolution of Polo, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2009, p. 27
  40. ^ [Pau Base Camp of the Tour in the Pyrenees] (in French). Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  41. ^ Office Location. Halliburton. Retrieved 13 January 2009.
  42. ^ Roger Vincent Aiello, Dans les coulisses d'Elf Aquitaine, Éditions Le Manuscrit, 2010, p. 61
  43. ^ [The sector of energies and new materials] (in French). Archived from the original on 23 August 2007.
  44. ^ Graham Robb, The Discovery of France, Picador, London (2007), p.287
  45. ^ "Classement des autoroutes les plus chères de France" [Ranking of the most expensive highways in France] (in French). Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  46. ^ "Reseau-idelis.com". Reseau-idelis.com. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  47. ^ "Pau : coup d'envoi symbolique des travaux pour le bus " amélioré "" [Pau: Symbolic kick-off of the work for the 'improved' bus] (in French). Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  48. ^ Fay, H.-M.; Marcel, H.- (1910). Histoire de la lèpre en France. I. Lépreux et cagots du Sud-Ouest, notes historiques, médicales, philologiques, suivies de documents [History of leprosy in France. I. lepers and cagots in southwestern, medical and historical, philological, followed by documents] (in French). Paris: H. Champion.
  49. ^ a b Pays basque. Place Des Editeurs. 2013. p. 221.
  50. ^ "Les villes et villages fleuris – Pau" [Flowery towns and villages – Pau] (in French). Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  51. ^ "Le Boulevard des Pyrénées de Pau rêve d'Unesco" [The Boulevard des Pyrénées of Pau dreams of Unesco] (in French). Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  52. ^ [The flowery cities and villages] (in French). Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  53. ^ Nationale, Assemblée. "M. Roger-Gérard Schwartzenberg – Mandat clos – Val-de-Marne (3e circonscription) – Assemblée nationale". www2.assemblee-nationale.fr.
  54. ^ Simone de Beauvoir and Giséle Halimi, Djamila Boupacha: The Story of the Torture of a Young Algerian Girl Which Shocked Liberal French Opinion, trans. Peter Green, First American Edition (New York: The Macmillian Company, 1962)
  55. ^ "Léo Quievreux – Spécimens – Exhibition". Huberty & Breyne. 25 February 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.

External links

  • (in French) City Council official website
  • (in French) Atlas historique de Pau
  • "Pau" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
  • (in Chinese) Pau's Chinese Community website
  • (in English)

pyrénées, atlantiques, this, article, multiple, issues, please, help, improve, discuss, these, issues, talk, page, learn, when, remove, these, template, messages, this, article, require, cleanup, meet, wikipedia, quality, standards, specific, problem, multiple. This article has multiple issues Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page Learn how and when to remove these template messages This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia s quality standards The specific problem is Multiple areas need attention including syntax tone directory style content references and length Please help improve this article if you can April 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Pau Pyrenees Atlantiques news newspapers books scholar JSTOR October 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Learn how and when to remove this template message Pau French pronunciation po Occitan pronunciation paw is a commune overlooking the Pyrenees and prefecture of the department of Pyrenees Atlantiques region of Nouvelle Aquitaine France 3 PauPrefecture and communeFrom top left to right The Boulevard des Pyrenees and the Pic du Midi d Ossau Pic du Midi de Bigorre and Palais Beaumont Chateau de PauCoat of armsLocation of PauPauShow map of FrancePauShow map of Nouvelle AquitaineCoordinates 43 18 N 0 22 W 43 30 N 0 37 W 43 30 0 37 Coordinates 43 18 N 0 22 W 43 30 N 0 37 W 43 30 0 37CountryFranceRegionNouvelle AquitaineDepartmentPyrenees AtlantiquesArrondissementPauCantonPau 1 2 3 and 4IntercommunalityCA Pau Bearn PyreneesGovernment Mayor 2020 2026 Francois Bayrou 1 MoDem Area131 51 km2 12 17 sq mi Population Jan 2019 2 75 627 Density2 400 km2 6 200 sq mi Demonym s Palois paloise French Paulin paulinaPaules paulesa Bearnese Time zoneUTC 01 00 CET Summer DST UTC 02 00 CEST INSEE Postal code64445 64000Elevation165 245 m 541 804 ft avg 178 m or 584 ft 1 French Land Register data which excludes lakes ponds glaciers gt 1 km2 0 386 sq mi or 247 acres and river estuaries The city is located in the heart of the former sovereign principality of Bearn of which it was the capital from 1464 Pau lies on the Gave de Pau and is located 100 kilometres 62 mi from the Atlantic Ocean and 50 kilometres 31 mi from Spain This position gives it a striking panorama across the mountain range of the Pyrenees especially from its landmark Boulevard des Pyrenees as well as the hillsides of Jurancon According to Alphonse de Lamartine Pau has the world s most beautiful view of the earth just as Naples has the most beautiful view of the sea The site has been occupied since at least the Gallo Roman era note 1 However the first references to Pau as a settlement only occur in the first half of the 12th century note 2 The town developed from the construction of its castle likely from the 11th century by the Viscounts of Bearn to protect the ford which was a strategic point providing access to the Bearn valleys and to Spain The city takes its name from the stockade pau in Bearnese which surrounded the original castle Pau became the capital of Bearn in 1464 and the seat of the Kings of Navarre in 1512 after the capture of Pamplona by the Kingdom of Castile Pau became a leading political and intellectual centre under the reign of Henry d Albret With the end of Bearnaise independence in 1620 Pau lost its influence but remained at the head of a largely autonomous province It was home to the Parliament of Navarre and Bearn during the Revolution when it was dismantled to create the Department of Basses Pyrenees The Belle Epoque marked a resurgence for the Bearnaise capital with a massive influx of wealthy foreign tourists who came to spend the winter to take advantage of the benefits of Pau s climate It was at this time that Pau became one of the world capitals of the nascent aerospace industry under the influence of the Wright brothers 6 With the decline of tourism during the 20th century Pau s economy gradually shifted towards the aviation industry and then to petrochemicals with the discovery of the Lacq gas field in 1951 The Universite de Pau et des Pays de l Adour founded in 1972 accounts for a large student population The city plays a leading role for Bearn but also for a wide segment of the Adour area Pau s heritage extends over several centuries its diversity and its quality allowed it to obtain the label of City of Art and History in 2011 The name of its people is Palois in French and paulin in Occitan The motto of Pau is in Latin Urbis palladium et gentis protective of the city and its people Contents 1 Geography 1 1 Location 1 2 Communal boundaries 1 3 Access 1 4 Hydrography 1 5 Climate 2 History 2 1 Toponymy 2 2 Origins 2 3 History 2 3 1 Middle Ages 2 3 2 16th 18th century 2 3 3 19th century 2 3 4 20th century 2 3 5 21st century 2 4 Heraldry 3 Politics and administration 3 1 Municipal administration 3 2 Political trends and results 3 3 List of mayors 3 4 Intercommunality 3 5 International relations 4 Population and society 4 1 Demographics 4 1 1 Pau and the agglomeration population 4 1 2 Demographic evolution 5 Education 5 1 Kindergartens and primary schools 5 2 Secondary 5 3 Higher education 5 3 1 University 5 3 2 Colleges and other institutions 5 3 3 Research centres 6 Health 6 1 Hospitals 6 2 Paramedical training institutes 6 3 Private clinics and centres 7 Gastronomy 7 1 Restaurants and bars 8 Culture 8 1 Language 8 2 Centres and cultural facilities 8 3 Museums 8 4 Exhibition spaces 8 5 Theatres and orchestral formations 8 6 Festivals 9 Media 9 1 Print 9 2 Television 9 3 Radio 10 Sport 10 1 Clubs 10 2 Facilities 10 3 Events 10 3 1 Pau Grand Prix 11 Economy 11 1 Industry 11 2 Services 11 3 Tourism 12 Transportation 12 1 Train 12 2 Airport 12 3 Motorways 12 4 Funicular 12 5 Bus 13 Heritage 13 1 Religious monuments 13 1 1 Main Catholic churches 13 1 2 Outstanding Catholic chapels 13 1 3 Reformed Anglican and Presbyterian churches 13 1 4 Other religious buildings 13 2 Civil monuments 13 2 1 Until the 18th century 13 2 2 In the 19th century 13 2 3 Of the 20th century to the present day 13 3 Outstanding built up areas 13 3 1 Town squares 13 3 2 Streets 13 3 3 Typical districts 13 4 Environmental heritage 13 4 1 Parks and gardens 13 4 2 Horizons Palois Pau Horizons 14 Labels 15 Notable people 15 1 People born in Pau 15 2 People who died in Pau 15 3 Others 16 Gallery 17 See also 18 Bibliography 19 Notes 20 References 21 External linksGeography EditLocation Edit The chateau and the Pont du XIV juillet 14 July Bridge seen from the banks of the Gave de Pau Pau is 100 kilometres 62 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and 50 km 31 miles from the border with Spain on the Pyrenees The frontier is crossed by the col du Somport 1 631 metres 5 351 feet and the col du Pourtalet 1 794 m 5 886 ft Access to the crossings partly accounts for Pau s strategic importance Pau is located 200 km 124 mi west of Toulouse 30 km 19 mi from Tarbes and Lourdes 25 km 16 mi from Oloron The conglomeration of Bayonne Anglet Biarritz is at 110 km 68 mi Bordeaux 190 km 118 mi Communal boundaries Edit To the north Buros Montardon and Morlaas To the east Bizanos and Idron To the south Gelos and Jurancon To the west Lons and Billere Access Edit Pau is served by the Pau Pyrenees Airport 10 km 6 mi away Limited scheduled flights serve Amsterdam London Southampton Dublin Lyon and Paris A TGV rail line runs to Paris and from Bayonne to Toulouse The A64 autoroute goes to the east The A65 autoroute was opened in December 2010 linking Pau with Bordeaux and the Dordogne The city is connected to Spain through the Somport tunnel and the Col du Pourtalet Hydrography Edit The city located at an average altitude of 200 metres 660 ft is crossed by the Gave de Pau where a ford gave passage to the Pyrenees Gave is the name given to a torrent in the Pyrenees The Gave de Pau which becomes a torrent when mountain snow melts takes its source in the Cirque de Gavarnie and is the main tributary of the Adour into which it empties after 175 kilometres 109 mi The crossing was used for pasturage for sheep in the high meadows The old route is now a hiking path GR 65 that runs 60 km 37 mi south to the border The lands of the commune are also watered by the Luy de Bearn a tributary the Luy and by its tributaries the Aigue Longue and the Uzan as well as the Soust the Herrere the Ousse and the Ousse des Bois tributaries of the Gave de Pau The Aygue Longue is in turn joined the territory of Pau by the Bruscos and the Lata streams just as the Ousse is joined by the Merde stream The Lau Creek that feeds the Canal du Moulin meanwhile is also present in the municipality Climate Edit Pau features wet mild winters with warm mild summers that are drier Its geographical location not far from the Pyrenees gives the city a contrasting warm oceanic climate Temperatures colder than 10 C 14 0 F are rare and those below 15 C 5 0 F are exceptional Temperatures reached lows of 15 C 5 0 F in February 1956 and 17 5 C 0 5 F in January 1985 Snow falls about 3 days per year 0 45 metres 18 in in 1987 from November to March In summer the maximum temperatures are of the order of 20 to 30 C 68 0 to 86 0 F and temperatures above 35 C 95 0 F are reached very rarely During some days of winter the foehn a warm wind can raise the temperature over 20 C 68 0 F As soon as the wind stops snow can fall Rainfall is high of the order of 1 100 millimetres 43 in per year compared to 650 millimetres 26 in in Paris 900 millimetres 35 in in Bordeaux and 650 millimetres 26 in in Toulouse Sunshine averages around 1850 hours per year or a little less than its neighbour of the Hautes Pyrenees Tarbes which averages 1940 hours of sunshine per year Fog is infrequent and does not persist much beyond noon The lack of wind especially characterizes the climate of the Pau region Strong winds are very rare in general winds are very low or zero This climate has helped Pau to become at the end of the 19th century a winter resort spot popular with the English Russian and Brazilian bourgeoisie citation needed In 1842 a British doctor Alexander Taylor attributed healing sedative virtues to the Pau climate This mild and rather wet climate is also an enhancement to the gardens parks and public spaces of the city and for plants from more exotic regions such as Chinese windmill palm Trachycarpus fortunei originating in the Chinese mountains but also for giant sequoias Sequoiadendron giganteum and laurel magnolia Magnolia grandiflora of American origin Comparison of local Meteorological data with other cities in France 7 Town Sunshine hours yr Rain mm yr Snow days yr Storm days yr Fog days yr National average 1 973 770 14 22 40Pau 1 880 1 068 8 5 1 26 1 34 5 8 Paris 1 661 637 12 18 10Nice 2 724 767 1 29 1Strasbourg 1 693 665 29 29 56Brest 1 605 1 211 7 12 75 Climate data for Pau Pyrenees Atlantiques 1981 2010 averages extremes 1921 present Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 24 5 76 1 27 8 82 0 31 0 87 8 30 8 87 4 34 1 93 4 38 1 100 6 39 2 102 6 39 9 103 8 38 9 102 0 34 0 93 2 27 1 80 8 27 2 81 0 39 9 103 8 Average high C F 11 0 51 8 12 2 54 0 15 2 59 4 16 8 62 2 20 5 68 9 23 6 74 5 25 8 78 4 25 9 78 6 23 8 74 8 19 8 67 6 14 3 57 7 11 6 52 9 18 4 65 1 Daily mean C F 6 5 43 7 7 3 45 1 10 0 50 0 11 9 53 4 15 6 60 1 18 7 65 7 20 6 69 1 20 7 69 3 18 2 64 8 14 7 58 5 9 8 49 6 7 2 45 0 13 5 56 3 Average low C F 2 1 35 8 2 5 36 5 4 8 40 6 6 9 44 4 10 7 51 3 13 8 56 8 15 5 59 9 15 5 59 9 12 6 54 7 9 6 49 3 5 3 41 5 2 7 36 9 8 5 47 3 Record low C F 14 8 5 4 15 0 5 0 8 9 16 0 6 0 21 2 1 3 29 7 3 6 38 5 5 3 41 5 5 4 41 7 1 0 30 2 4 2 24 4 9 6 14 7 12 6 9 3 15 0 5 0 Average precipitation mm inches 94 4 3 72 83 3 3 28 85 9 3 38 112 4 4 43 98 8 3 89 77 2 3 04 56 7 2 23 67 5 2 66 78 9 3 11 99 7 3 93 116 9 4 60 98 2 3 87 1 069 9 42 12 Average precipitation days 1 0 mm 11 5 10 3 10 4 13 1 12 8 9 7 7 9 8 3 8 5 11 1 10 9 11 0 125 4Average relative humidity 83 80 77 78 78 78 78 80 80 83 83 84 80 2Mean monthly sunshine hours 104 8 121 1 164 6 165 6 185 8 195 7 207 8 203 7 183 8 143 9 104 6 95 9 1 877 2Source 1 Meteo France 9 10 11 Source 2 Infoclimat fr humidity 1961 1990 12 History EditToponymy Edit The location of Pau is shown on this map of the historical and cultural area of Gascony The origin of the name is uncertain One tradition suggests it is a derivation of pal fr pieu from the palisade around the original chateau Another is that the name refers to a ford across the river administered by the church the pious According to Michel Grosclaude 13 and other onomasticians more recent research suggests the pre Indo European root for a rockface was pal or bal and that the name refers to Pau s position at the foot of the mountains The palisade or pal from the Latin palum also has the same ancient basis but it is not under this meaning that formed the name of Pau this can be compared to the Col de Pau in the Aspe Valley 1 942 metres 6 371 ft Lescun which has nothing to do with the city Its name in the Bearnese dialect is Pau The name of the town was recorded in the 12th century The inhabitants of the city are known as paulins in Occitan and palois in French Their motto is Urbis palladium et gentis The footpath west from the Chateau Origins Edit Before the 10th century there are no traces to date of occupation of the site on which the city is now built The city was built on a site with very special qualities The Gave de Pau which descends from the Pyrenees was a river which was fairly difficult to cross and for a distance of approximately 50 kilometres 31 mi only three fords existed from Nay to the east from Orthez to the west and that of Pau strategically located between the two The northern extremity of a plateau formed to a point overlooks this ford of almost 80 metres 260 ft In summary it is an ideal natural location to control the passage and the arrivals from the Pyrenees and a small monitoring station was built around the year 1000 a fort surrounded by a simple palisade The site was fortified in the 11th century 14 to control the ford across the Gave de Pau It was built on the north bank equidistant from Lescar seat of the bishops and from Morlaas Until the 12th century this fort was consolidated and some houses were combined there together in a small hamlet The lords of Bearn then granted the status of viguerie a small administrative district in the Middle Ages to this new village which continued to expand gently In Bearnese the palisade was called Pau Historians agree to this being the origin of the name of the city In the 13th century new recognition of the importance and the expansion of Pau which had become the town of Castelnau with a bailli appointed by the viscounts of Bearn At this time the English settled in the southwest while the sovereignty of Bearn passed to the powerful family of the counts of Foix The allegiance of these going according to the political interests of the moment to the King of England and the Kingdom of France Gaston Febus descendant of the counts of Foix and one of the first iconic figures of Bearn who was very attached to the independence of his small country He began his major work to reinforce the strongholds of Bearn including the Chateau of Pau where he finally settled Pau was made the capital of Bearn in 1464 instead of Orthez During the early 16th century the Chateau de Pau became the residence of the Kings of Navarre who were also viscounts of Bearn Pau is the only city in Europe in which two founders of royal dynasties were born Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon born in 1553 and Charles XIV John of Sweden of the House of Bernadotte born in 1763 citation needed History Edit Middle Ages Edit Pau was a castelnau founded at an unknown date in the second half of the 11th or the very beginning of the 12th century 15 to control a fording of the Gave de Pau which was used for the passage of the shepherds in transhumance between the mountains of Ossau and pasture of the plain of the Pont Long A castle was built overlooking the north bank at equal distance from Lescar seat of the bishops and from Morlaas capital of the Viscounts of Bearn In 1188 Gaston VI assembled his cour majour there predecessor of the conseil souverain and roughly equivalent to the House of Lords Gaston VII added a third tower in the 13th century Gaston Febus Gaston III of Foix and Gaston X of Bearn added a brick donjon keep known as la tour Billere the Tower of Billere 16th 18th century Edit The Bearnese flag floating in the Pyrenees In 1464 Gaston IV of Foix Bearn after he married the Infanta Eleanor of Aragon transferred his Court of Orthez to Pau 16 Pau thus became the fourth historic capital of Bearn after Lescar Morlaas and Orthez The city had a municipal charter fairs took place like the Bearn states He transformed the curtain walls of his castle home In 1512 it became the capital of the Kings of Navarre who were refugees north of the Pyrenees after the capture of Pamplona by the Spaniards In 1520 it had a sovereign council and a chamber of accounts In 1527 Henri d Albret King of Navarre and sovereign viscountcy of Bearn married Marguerite of Angouleme sister of Francis I of France She transformed the chateau in the Renaissance style and created its gardens In 1553 his daughter Jeanne d Albret gave birth to Henry III of Navarre by singing a song of Bearn to the Virgin Mary so that the future Henry IV was neither fearful nor balked She had crossed into France to ensure her son would be born there The baby s lips were moistened with the local Jurancon wine and rubbed with garlic shortly after birth When Henry IV left Pau to become King of France he remarked to local notables that he was not giving Bearn to France but giving France to Bearn Parlement de Navarre The troops of Charles IX took the city but d Albret took over in 1569 Catherine of Bourbon sister of Henri IV governed Bearn in his place In 1619 Pau revolted Louis XIII occupied it and after receiving the submission of the fortified town of Navarrenx pronounced the attachment of Bearn and Navarre to France by the edict of 20 October 1620 It thus transformed the sovereign Council of Bearn in the Parliament of Navarre joining the future courses of Pau and Saint Palais Pau had a new enclosure in 1649 and then a university in 1722 King Charles XIV of Sweden the first royal Bernadotte was born in Pau in the 18th century On 14 October 1790 it was declared after Navarrenx the new capital of the Department of Basses Pyrenees This status was removed on 11 October 1795 in favor of Oloron then made permanent on 5 March 1796 19th century Edit A panorama of the chateau and the Gave de Pau around 1870 Napoleon expressed his interest and helped to save the chateau which became a prison for a time In 1838 Louis Philippe did boldly restore it to highlight the medieval and Renaissance character Napoleon III added a double tower framing a false entry to the West He also added streets of Belle Epoque architecture before the fashion transferred to Biarritz After the July Monarchy Pau became between 1830 and 1914 had the most famous climate and sports resort in Western Europe citation needed In 1842 the Scottish physician Alexander Taylor 1802 1879 advocated Pau for a winter cure The success of his work was important and Pau became a holiday resort for the British In 1876 there were 28 908 inhabitants of Pau The English settled there and took advantage of the first golf on the continent of fox hunting Pau fox hunt and held races at the Pont Long Racecourse From the 1870s the Boulevard du Midi was gradually extended to the east and west to form the current Boulevard des Pyrenees the lavish Winter Palace with a palmarium and internationally renowned hotels the Gassion and the France which offered a majestic and luxurious setting for concerts and receptions to take place The tram factory at the start of the 20th century From 1894 Pau was served by a network of horse tramways A few years later electric traction was commissioned by the Bearnaise Society of Urban Streetcars The network consisted of three lines with a length of 7 kilometres 4 3 mi It disappeared in 1931 The town of Pau was also served by the Pau Oloron Mauleon railway POM whose main station was found at the Place de la Republique Three lines served Monein Pontacq and Lembeye Steam traction was used on the network which disappeared in December 1931 While the upper town thrived because of the coming of the rich European tourists the lower city specialised in industry Many small structures gradually developed at the foot of the chateau the production focused on textiles and the food industry Many of them marked this industrial fabric such as Courriades dyes 17 the Heid flour mill and the tram factory 18 Mary Todd Lincoln the widow of the American president also lived in Pau for several years in the late 1870s 19 20th century Edit At the beginning of the 20th century Pau was still a resort town where European nobility spent the winter Good English American Russian Spanish or Prussian society met in the Bearnaise city Many public amenities were from this period including the Pau Funicular to connect the station to the upper town Next to these public amenities wealthy foreign visitors were building villas to improve the conditions of their stay First built in the centre of town these residences spread out more and more to enjoy the great outdoors and views of the Pyrenees citation needed Between 1850 and 1910 many residences were thus built and still evoke the splendour of this period today This golden period of climate tourism in Pau stopped abruptly at the outbreak of World War I Pau in the early 20th century Pau at the dawn of 20th century A tramcar of the Tramway de Pau on the Montee de la Gare at the start of the 20th century Rue de la Halle Neuve in 1904 A general view around 1910The first balloon flights took place in Pau in 1844 and the first flights by plane from 1909 the year in which the Wright brothers transferred to Pau on the moor of Pont Long in commune of Lescar They had originally initiated a first aviation school at Le Mans Sarthe Department formed of three student pilots who they were committed to train in France Pau alone hosted seven global aircraft manufacturers until 1914 and became the world capital of aviation The military aviation school which trained the flying aces of World War I then the fighter school of France settled there French aviators Thenault Simon Paul Codos Georges Bellenger Bellenger Garros Nungesser Guynemer and the Bearnais aviators Artigau and Mace among many others and finally the American aviators Lufbery Thaw Chapman Prince and the McConnell brothers were among those who flew there Pau hosted the 18th regiment d infanterie 1st and 18th Parachute Chasseur Regimen parachute regiment who were stationed in the town All participated in the various conflicts of the 20th century The 18th RCP was dissolved in 1961 due to having contributed to the putsch of the generals of Algiers It had previously participated in the May 1958 crisis which had ended the Fourth Republic The 1st RCP remained in barracks in 1983 in Idron camp when one of its elements was struck in Beirut by the attack of the Drakkar building which had 58 victims among its troops During World War II the Continental Hotel collected many refugees including Jews hounded by Vichy and the Nazis even when the soldiers of the Wehrmacht requisitioned two floors of the hotel 20 From 1947 during the four mandates of Mayor Louis Sallenave the town of Pau experienced strong growth In 1957 exploitation of the Lacq gas field discovered in 1951 gave new momentum to the region with the industrial development of Bearn and the Lacq area SNPA EDF Pechiney and Rhone Poulenc being the most important employers citation needed the population of the town doubled in 20 years Major infrastructure projects were carried out such as the construction of several schools representing more than 100 classes creation of the Pau Uzein airport in 1955 now the Pau Pyrenees Airport to modernise the old Pau Pont Long airfield in the commune of Lescar creation of social housing all of the Ousse des Bois in 1961 and Dufau Terrace from 1962 creation of the exhibition centre the University of Pau and Pays de l Adour and construction of a second bridge over the River Gave in Jurancon A vast town planning scheme allowed the extension of the commune to the north through the coulee verte green corridor The configuration of the city shortly moved from the end of the 1960s The fame and prestige of the city increased thanks to the conference of the Indochinese States from June to November 1950 21 visits of Heads of State such as president Charles de Gaulle in February 1959 and the first Secretary of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev travelling in Lacq in 1960 Andre Labarrere mayor from 1971 to 2006 worked towards a first step of the beautification of the city Within its recent mandates on the outskirts the university was expanding and the Pau Pyrenees was one of the first in France to develop a fibre optic network infrastructure offering a very high speed internet access both to individuals and companies New facilities were created including sports such as the Zenith de Pau the Palais des Sports the Jai Alai and the artificial whitewater arena The city acquired an important centre of health The racecourse and the airport depending on CCI were renovated The centre of town also saw significant upheavals with the rehabilitation of the Palais Beaumont and the construction of a new private commercial centre named Centre Bosquet Pau finally embarked on the pedestrianisation of its centre with the reconfiguration of its bus network the renovation of the Place Clemenceau the central square of Pau and the modernisation of the Palais des Pyrenees a shopping centre in the city centre near to the Place Clemenceau New underground parking compensated for the removal of 400 parking spaces on the surface also two underground car parks gained redesigned access citation needed Finally a media library was created in 2012 in the Les Halles quarter 21st century Edit In 2008 at the end of a bitter political struggle which included Francois Bayrou Martine Lignieres Cassou became mayor of Pau During this term she included the rebuilding of the water stadium and making the Rue Joffre pedestrian She also allowed the realisation of the City of the Pyrenees which brought different associations related to Pyreneeism into one place In 2014 Francois Bayrou became mayor after standing against David Habib in the election Bayrou was clearly ahead in the second round of voting Heraldry Edit According to Paul Raymond archivist in his Topographical dictionary of the Bearn Basque country p 133 Pau arms are blazoned Azure to a fence of three argent footed pales surmounted by a peacock spreading its tail or accompanied at point and inside two cows facing and crowned the same the chief also or charged with a natural tortoise shell surmounted by a Royal Crown closed azure enhanced of or accompanied by the letter capital H dexter and sinister with the Roman numeral IV also azure Remarks These arms are rebus canting arms pau means Palisade in Bearnese and of approximation form the peacock said as pavon or pau paw The Viscount of Foix Bearn on who Pau depended his arms are inspired by the three pales of Foix and the two cows of Bearn In the blazon the expression with the Roman numeral IV is improper IV is a number consisting of two Roman numerals best would be with of an IV in Roman numerals According to Malte Brun in The Illustrated France from 1882 they are blazoned Azure three pales and drawsheets of argent gathered by a fess of the same middle pale surmounted with a peacock spreading its tail at chief and two cows faced argent at point Remarks The chief added in 1829 is not mentioned in his Illustrated France which dates back to 1882 Cows here are not crowned so more resemble those of the arms of the Lords of Bearn also not crowned The peacock is not of specified colour It was probably au naturel Found sometimes emblazoned thus for the current coat of arms According to Paul Raymond in his Topographical dictionary Bearn Basque country p 133 the old arms were Argent three pales of gules with a peacock spreading its tail the same perched on the middle According to Gaston of Breuille of Pau 1896 notes the ancient arms granted in 1482 by Francois Phoebus King of Navarre were Argent three pales of gules the peacock spreading its tail azure perched on the middle Remarks These blazons are certainly incomplete or defective because it is unclear how a peacock or whatever it is could be placed on a pale that by definition goes to the top of the shield The contradiction for the peacock colour is secondary De gules of the same as the pales for Raymond or Azure for Du Breuille However A Fourcade in his Picturesque and historic album of the Pyrenees p 9 described in layman s terms these arms three pales on one of which namely the middle one is perched a peacock spreading its tail granted by Francois Phoebus but in 1442 this time It seems that in fact it is not pal piece honorable pale honorable part but a pieux pious furniture which already foreshadows the color the pale drawsheets formed at the foot which make up the barrier of the present coat of arms Politics and administration EditFourth city in Nouvelle Aquitaine after Bordeaux Limoges and Poitiers Pau is the prefecture of Pyrenees Atlantiques and the chief town of four cantons 22 Canton of Pau 1 formed from part of Pau Canton of Pau 2 formed from part of Pau and the commune of Idron Canton of Pau 3 formed from part of Pau and the communes of Bizanos and Mazeres Lezons Canton of Pau 4 formed from part of Pau and the commune of GelosMunicipal administration Edit Below is the sharing of seats on the Pau City Council 23 Group President Seats StatusMoDem UDI UMP Francois Bayrou 40 majorityPS David Habib 9 oppositionPolitical trends and results Edit 2014 municipal elections in Pyrenees Atlantiques fr List of mayors Edit List of mayors of Pau fr Hotel de ville de Pau fr List of mayors of Pau Start End Name Party Other details1947 1971 Louis Sallenave fr Centre right No dual mandate1971 2006 Andre Labarrere fr PS Deputy from 1967 to 1968 then from 1973 to 2001 Senator from 2001 to 2006 President of the Communaute d agglomeration de Pau Pyrenees Minister from 1981 to 1986 President of the Aquitaine Regional Council from 1979 to 1981 Vice president of the National Assembly from 1973 to 1974 President of the Eco Mayors Association from 1989 to 19992006 2008 Yves Urieta fr PS President of the Communaute d agglomeration de Pau Pyrenees2008 2014 Martine Lignieres Cassou PS Deputy of the first constituency of Pyrenees Atlantiques President of the Communaute d agglomeration de Pau Pyrenees2014 In progress Francois Bayrou MoDem President de la Communaute d agglomeration Pau Bearn Pyrenees Former Minister of National Education former President of the General CouncilAndre Labarrere died of cancer on 16 May 2006 He was succeeded by Yves Urieta elected by the municipal council on 30 May 2006 In the meantime the interim was ensured by Martine Lignieres Cassou First Assistant and Deputy of the First Constituency of Pyrenees Atlantiques Intercommunality Edit The Hotel de France headquarters of the metropolitan area The town of Pau is part of five intercommunal structures 24 The Communaute d agglomeration Pau Bearn Pyrenees The Union of the Ousse basin water development The Trade Union of Energy of the Pyrenees Atlantiques The Intercommunal Association of the recreation centres of Narcastet The Intercommunal Association of Defence against flooding of the Gave de PauPau hosts the headquarters of ten intercommunal groups Public local management agency The Communaute d agglomeration Pau Bearn Pyrenees The Trade Union of energy of the Pyrenees Atlantiques The Intercommunity Association of defence against flooding of the Gave de Pau The Aeropolis Joint Union The Joint Union of Studies of the Pau Oloron road link The Joint Union of Pau Urban Transport doors of the Pyrenees The Joint Union of the basin of the Gave de Pau The Joint Union of Greater Pau The Joint Union for the treatment of household and similar waste of the east basinInternational relations Edit See also List of twin towns and sister cities in France Pau is twinned with 25 Zaragoza Spain since 1970 Mobile United States since 1975 Pistoia Italy since 1975 Kōfu Japan since 1977 Setubal Portugal since 1981 Swansea Wales since 1982 Gottingen Germany since 1983 Daloa Ivory Coast since 1984 Xi an China since 1986Population and society EditDemographics Edit Pau and the agglomeration population Edit The communal population of Pau amounts to 81 166 inhabitants according to the 2010 census legal populations of 1 January 2013 The Communaute d agglomeration of Pau Bearn Pyrenees has about 170 000 inhabitants The towns of Billere Lons and Lescar are the first three communes in the agglomeration after Pau they have approximately 35 000 inhabitants combined Demographic evolution Edit In 2017 the commune had 77 130 inhabitants Historical populationYearPop 17938 756 18008 465 3 3 18069 293 9 8 182111 444 23 1 183111 285 1 4 183612 607 11 7 184113 841 9 8 184616 170 16 8 185116 196 0 2 185618 671 15 3 186121 881 17 2 186624 563 12 3 187227 300 11 1 187628 908 5 9 YearPop 188129 971 3 7 188630 624 2 2 189133 111 8 1 189633 012 0 3 190134 268 3 8 190635 044 2 3 191137 149 6 0 192135 665 4 0 192637 711 5 7 193138 962 3 3 193640 451 3 8 194646 158 14 1 195448 320 4 7 196259 937 24 0 YearPop 196874 005 23 5 197583 498 12 8 198283 790 0 3 199082 157 1 9 199978 732 4 2 200683 903 6 6 200784 978 1 3 201179 798 6 1 201278 506 1 6 201577 215 1 6 201677 251 0 0 201777 130 0 2 201876 275 1 1 From 1962 to 1999 Population without double counting for the years following municipal population Source Ldh EHESS Cassini until 1999 26 and INSEE 27 The urban unit fr had 197 611 inhabitants in 2010 and 240 898 inhabitants in 2011 Pau is the most populous city of the Department of Pyrenees Atlantiques and the fourth of the Nouvelle Aquitaine region after Bordeaux Limoges and Poitiers Education EditKindergartens and primary schools Edit Public school groupsGroupe scolaire Henri IV Groupe scolaire Trianon Groupe scolaire Stanislas Lavigne Groupe scolaire Nandina Park Groupe scolaire Les Fleurs Groupe scolaire Gaston Phœbus Groupe scolaire du Buisson Groupe scolaire Marechal Bosquet Groupe scolaire des Lilas Groupe scolaire de l Hippodrome K Groupe scolaire Lapuyade Groupe scolaire Jean Sarrailh Groupe scolaire Bouillerce Groupe scolaire des Quatre coins du monde Groupe scolaire Pierre et Marie Curie Groupe scolaire Marancy Groupe scolaire Leon Say Groupe scolaire Guillemin Les Lauriers Groupe scolaire MarcaPrivate schools Ecole Sainte Ursule K P Ecole Joyeux Bearn K P Ecole Saint Maur K P Ecole Saint Francois d Assise K P Ecole Saint Dominique K P Ecole Immaculee Conception Beau Frene K P Escola Calandreta K P International School of Bearn Morlaas K P Ecole Montessori de Pau French English bilingual school K P Schools of Travelling people Ecole des Voyageurs P Legend K Kindergarten P Primary school Secondary Edit Public colleges College Clermont S College Jeanne d Albret S College Marguerite de Navarre S Private colleges College Immaculee Conception Beau Frene S T College Saint Dominique S T Collegi Calandreta de Gasconha S College Sainte Ursule College Saint MaurLegend S Secondary College T Technical college Public high schools Lycee Honore Baradat V Lycee Louis Barthou G Lycee Saint Cricq G V Lycee Saint John Perse G Private high schools Lycee Immaculee Conception Beau Frene G V Lycee Saint DominiqueLegend G General education high school V Vocational high school Higher education Edit University Edit Main article University of Pau and Pays de l Adour The city of Pau has a long academic tradition as a university was established in Pau in 1722 Pau now has the second largest student population in Aquitaine The city has 17 000 students and 3 900 researchers It has a multidisciplinary university law economics sciences social sciences and humanities an IUT fr an IAE fr several engineering schools business schools and art schools The University of Pau and Pays de l Adour UPPA had 11 200 students in May 2012 spread across five sites Pau Anglet Bayonne Mont de Marsan Landes and Tarbes Hautes Pyrenees Its location exceeds the strict framework of the Academy of Bordeaux and overlaps somewhat with that of the Academy of Toulouse The University of Pau and Pays de l Adour had 25 laboratories and 650 researchers in 2007 The university group and Pyrenees Oceanes Research Campus unites the Groupe ESC Pau five schools of engineers ENIT Tarbes ENSGTI CY Tech ESTIA Bidart Bayonne ISA BTP the Institute of Business Administration fr IAE and the University of Pau and Pays de l Adour UPPA with 15 000 students The Pyrenees Oceanes Campus takes a European dimension and will soon join the University of Aragon the University of Pamplona and several Spanish business and engineering schools Philippe Lafontaine Director of the ESC Pau is the University President Colleges and other institutions Edit Ecole nationale superieure en genie des technologies industrielles ENSGTI School of Engineering University of Pau it is located north of campus and offers training in engineering processes and in chemical engineering research masters and doctorates CY Tech formerly EISTI School of engineering in computer science the CY Tech grew around the PBC Pau Broadband Country Ecole nationale superieure of oil and engines ENSPM IFP office of Pau Ecole des mines d Ales EMA laboratory Groupe ESC Pau Groupe ESC Pau School of Management created in 1962 the Groupe ESC Pau has 1 400 students and 4 700 former students In addition to Pau it is present in Paris in India Bangalore MATS School campus and has offices in Brazil Recife and in the United States in Washington Group ESC Pau is part of the Conference des Grandes ecoles and shapes future executives and business leaders The diploma of the ESC Pau is of master grade BAC 5 and recognized by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research Group ESC Pau is AFAQ ISO 9001 certified and accredited EPAS international accreditation of the EFMD since 2006 Ecole superieure d art des Pyrenees ESA of the Pyrenees School of art and graphic design the ESA of the Pyrenees is located at 25 Rue Rene Cassin National School of music and dance DMNT DMNT de Pau is located in the former convent of the Servicers and has 1 200 students School of Airborne Troops ETAP reference school of the Army it trains all French paratroopers Centre national professionnel des commerces de sport NCPC A training centre specialising in sport trade occupations The centre depends on the ICC Pau Bearn Institut d administration des entreprises des Pays de l Adour fr IAE Member of the network of the IAEs the IAE de Pau offers professional and research masters and doctorates Institut de formation superieure a l action commerciale IFSAC Institute of higher education in the commercial action Institut de promotion commerciale IPC Institute of sales promotion Conservatoire national des arts et metiers CNAM School of engineering of CFAI Adour centre of training for apprentices of industry in Adour Centre for training and development for extended communications Ecole superieure d informatique fr EXIA Centre for industrial studies CESI Institute of nursing training IFSI Pierre Bourdieu Institute of social work Pau Pyrenees ITS ITS de Pau was renamed in 2006 as ITS Pierre Bourdieu in homage to the Pau sociologist and offers training in medical fields School of teaching and education fr of Aquitaine attached to the University Bordeaux IV Institut National Formation Recherche Education Permanente INFREP Various economic literary and scientific preparatory classes for Louis Barthou and Saint Cricq high schools Institut universitaire de technologie des Pays de l Adour fr departments GTE and STID Research centres Edit The university has 34 teams of research including 11 teams associated with the CNRS and INRA team Some groups of public or private research teams The Institute for Research on Companies and Development IRSAM The IRMAPE the Centre for Research in Management and on the organisation of the Groupe ESC Pau The Institute of Environmental Biology Aquitaine South IBEAS Psychosensory Properties of Materials 2psm founded by the Ecole des mines of Ales and the University of Pau The Environment and Materials Multidisciplinary Research Institute IPREM comprising four teams of CNRS The new building was inaugurated in 2006 on the Heliparc technopole The Ecole des Mines de Paris which has a drilling test centre within the Helioparc technopole heir to the drilling bench designed by the NFSS then ELF Aquitaine teams in 1970 1997 for the design and optimization of cutting tools The Multidisciplinary Institute for Applied Research in the field of petroleum engineering IPRA The French Petroleum Institute IFP office of partnership with PME PMI The Jean Feger Scientific and Technical Centre centre for research and development of TotalEnergies formerly ELF Aquitaine exploration and production sector main place of oil research in Europe bringing together more than 2 000 people including 800 researchers Centre of Research and Legal Analysis C R A J EA 1929 federative structure which is made up of most of the faculty members of private law of the UPPA around several research units Jurisprudence Observatory O D J the Centre of Comparative Law on Family and People O F A P Research Unit in Obligational Law and Affairs Brussels and the Research Unit of Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences Jean Pinatel Criminal Sciences Unit U J P The centre is the home of master students of private law and doctoral students in private law in partnership with the graduate school SSH 481 Training Institute in Music Pedagogy IFPM Robert Kaddouch fr Centre for Research in Pedagogy Training of music teachers and teaching of the Kaddouch pedagogy fr applied to all matters The Kaddouch pedagogy is in collaboration with the Sorbonne Paris 5 research unit of the GINDEV headed by Professor Olivier Houde Health EditHospitals Edit The Centre Hospitalier fr de Pau is composed of three home centres arranged as follows The Francois Mitterrand Hospital The Hauterive Centre including the functional rehabilitation service care and medical rehabilitation unit and the nuclear medicine service among others The Jean Vignalou Centre intended for Gerontology A specialised facility Centre Hospitalier des Pyrenees situated on Avenue du General Leclerc is a public establishment of mental health Paramedical training institutes Edit The Institute of training of health IFCS provides the training of healthcare managers nursing sector Training in nursing Institute fr IFSI and the Institute for training of the caregivers IFAS The centre for continuing education of health professionals CFCPS Private clinics and centres Edit The Centre Hospitalier de Pau has contributed to the establishment of an important centre of health by enabling the consolidation of different private institutions close to the hospital area The Jeunes Chenes Young Oaks establishment of care and rehabilitation access from the Boulevard de l Europe The Polyclinic of Navarre Boulevard Hauterive The Princess Clinic Boulevard Hauterive The Bearnais Nest Boulevard HauteriveIt also hosts the site of the French Establishment of Blood 145 Avenue de Buros The Marzet Polyclinic situated on Boulevard Alsace Lorraine was bought by the Polyclinic of Navarre in 2013 The new arrangement has 400 beds and employs nearly 700 people 28 Gastronomy EditPau became the historic capital of Bearn in 1464 offering the gastronomic specialities of the southwest and typical Bearnese or Palois dishes Garbure a comforting soup made from cabbage beans confit of goose ham or bacon The confit breast and other dishes derived from duck or goose The ventreche slice of dried pork belly eaten plain or accompanied by a fried egg The broye thick and salty boiled maize flour with added whey or goose fat consumed as fried slices from the pan or cubes with coffee with milk The trinxat a local mountain dish consisting of mashed cabbage and potatoes mixed in smoked bacon which is fried The palombe regional name for wood pigeon a migratory bird that crosses the southwest region cooked in a sauce or roasted The poule au pot fr a sort of stew in which a stuffed chicken is boiled Ham known as de Bayonne is in fact a Bearnese ham made from the pigs of the Aspe and Ossau Valleys This ham was historically salted at Salies de Bearn then exported via the Adour River from the port of Bayonne from where the incorrect name of jambon de Bayonne Bayonne ham arose Today the bulk of Bayonne ham is made in Bearn Pork and in particular the black pig was introduced in the Basque country in the 1960s to deal with a serious agricultural crisis The Pyrenean Cheese fr the mountain sheep s milk whom the best known is the Ossau Iraty AOC This cheese can be enjoyed especially with cherry jam which is the renowned black cherry jam from Itxassou The greuil h annealed whey from sheep eaten cold and plain often sweet and elongated with a bit of coffee or salted the ricotta equivalent The Coucougnettes du Vert Galant hazelnut coated with a thin layer of chocolate all in almond paste elected best sweet in France in 2000 The gateau a la broche or Gateau of the Pyrenees or Rock of the Pyrenees monumental pyramidal cake usually cooked for weddings It is slowly built by accumulation of layers of a dough rich in eggs registered on a spindle turning over a fire so that the bright yellow crust is bristling with many points or nipples Merveilles crispy fritters traditionally made for Mardi Gras from a thick paste of wheat flour eggs sugar and fat stretched to a roll cut and then fried Honey from the hillsides of Jurancon and Saint Faust Bearn is one of the premier honey regions It is used in sauces desserts and joined with duck produce duck breast with honey Jurancon a dry white wine renowned as mellow Madiran wine The Bearn wine a light red wine whose vineyards are located to the west of Bearn Pacherenc fr wine a sweet white wine produced high on the borders of Gers and Hautes PyreneesRestaurants and bars Edit Pau has more than 160 restaurants found in the historic city center Chateau Hedas and beyond The Bearnaise capital has several quarters which are particularly animated at night including the quarters of the triangle the Boulevard des Pyrenees and also Rue des Orphelines Culture EditThe town of Pau is marked by a strong cultural identity with the presence of a French Occitan bilingual school calandreta Paulina 90 students in Pau and one in the metropolitan area in Lescar 60 students by a living practice of Bearnese and the success of the Occitan cultural groups The city has however received foreign influences of major importance English Spanish Russian Brazilian and remains very open to the outside with a large English student community along with the presence of Dutch Portuguese Spaniards and Moroccans Near Dax Bayonne and Biarritz the Pau people have a love of city ferias The bandas bodegas drinking places with typical animation and Bearnese singing groups are numerous including Nadau Lo Ceu de Pau and Balaguera Since 2005 the city hosts the festival Hestiv oc which is the grand festival of Occitania The University of Pau Universite de Pau et des Pays de l Adour also often hosts concerts and cultural events The Association of the Palois and Bearnese in Paris La Garbure was founded around 1890 by a Bearnese pharmacist who went to the capital to open a shop on Boulevard Haussmann The history of this association which has never had official status is transmitted only orally However the original spirit remains the same The expatriates meet two or three times a year in a friendly atmosphere to speak of the country around a good meal Without issue and without political dimension although politicians like Louis Barthou Francois Bayrou and others have never neglected this sounding board which also brings together celebrities from entertainment from information and from gastronomy Language Edit The Bearnese state language before 1789 was a Gascon dialect of Occitan For the anecdote there is an English Bearnese dictionary for the use of the British who were vacationing in Pau One theory of the origin of the word caddie was that it was formed at Pau Golf Club Billere from the Bearnese capdeth The Ostau Bearnes is a Pau organization bringing together all who practice or teach the language 29 Centres and cultural facilities Edit The Zenith de Pau fr The Palais Beaumont fr The Zenith fr Very modern with a capacity of 6 800 or up to 4 500 seats it hosts national and international artists in operas concerts cabarets shows and circus on ice It is located near the Palais des Sports on Boulevard Cami Salie The Andre Labarrere Intercommunal Library on Place Marguerite Laborde is the work of architect Daniel Rubin and opened its doors in June 2012 It was intended as the bridgehead of a network of ten libraries in the Pau Pyrenees agglomeration A sober architecture block compact glass and steel and occupying less than 2 000 square metres 22 000 sq ft the ground space revolves around a huge interior with a 17 metres 56 ft high atrium serving 3 floors 5 400 square metres 58 000 sq ft 184 000 documents including 14 000 CDs and 7 000 DVDs and 400 titles of journals are thus made available to all A 120 seat auditorium an exhibition hall of 198 square metres 2 130 sq ft the news space or Interlude Space has also been built within the structure Originally laid down on a section of Beaumont Park as part of a project by architect Zaha Hadid Priktzer 2004 Award winner financial and technical constraints changed the views of the mayor in early 2007 and finally brought the media library to a part of the site occupied by the Henry IV School The Palais Beaumont fr auditorium home of the Symphony Orchestra of Pau Pays de Bearn The congress centre is part of the grouping of the HCCE Historic Conference Centres of Europe The Parc des expositions de Pau fr Located to the west of the city straddling Pau and Billere it welcomes 450 000 visitors and 200 events per year The Mega CGR Cinema located next to the university is equipped with 12 digital and 3D screens The multiplex offers a large and public programming The CGR Saint Louis Cinema in the city centre is equipped with 7 digital rooms Renovated in October 2012 it offers intermediate programming between arthouse and trials and commercial movies including several movies per week operated both in VF French version and OVFST original version subtitled French The Le Melies Cinema Housed in a former church this arthouse and trial cinema offers a rich and diverse programming with three labels young audiences research and discovery and heritage and directory It has two rooms 306 and 100 seats The cinema offers thematic evenings and events in partnership with various cultural actors Cin es pace a summer at the movies etc and organises a festival every year the International Festival of Film of Pau Les Abattoirs The Slaughterhouses Is an intercommunal cultural hub PCI at Billere The old slaughterhouse was renovated into cultural centre of modern art Le Bel Ordinaire the centre houses a concert hall l Ampli exhibition halls a theatre stage and recording studios Public cultural facilities the PCI puts support for contemporary art and the territorial cultural cooperation at the heart of its missions One of the specifics of the project is to enable cultural structures associations artists and inhabitants to join the project so that they can be involved in its development and its implementation The Centrifuge The Centrifuge is the cultural service of the University of Pau and Pays de l Adour but also a room for concerts performances and an exhibition space located in the student home on the campus Throughout the year eclectic and quality international programming is offered The La Pepiniere Nursery Socio cultural centre Museums Edit Edgar Degas Le Bureau du coton a la Nouvelle Orleans The cotton office in New Orleans 1873 at the Musee des Beaux Arts de Pau Entrance to the Musee Bernadotte fr on Rue Tran National Museum of the Chateau de Pau created in 1929 and housed in the castle in which was born the future Henry IV on 13 December 1553 Not only a genuine medieval fortress but also a Renaissance palace and Royal residence this museum located in the center of the city is one of the most visited national museums of France average of 100 000 visitors per year citation needed Visitors like to linger before the huge turtle shell legendary birthplace of the good King Henry IV citation needed Successive conservators are keen to bring together paintings art objects and documents relating to the time of Henry IV Inside simple and warm decor with wood panelled walls enhanced with threads of gold coffered ceilings and superb Gobelins tapestries houses one of the finest collections of France The dining room always surprises the visitors by its large table that can accommodate 100 guests while stunning works of art lining the major walls show colourfully Musee des beaux arts de Pau fr Inaugurated in 1864 under the initiative of Societe bearnaise des amis des arts Bearnaise society of friends of arts this museum only housed a collection of twenty five pieces completed in 1872 by the donation of the Bearnais collector Louis La Caze It was the first museum in 1878 to show a significant work by Degas Le bureau du coton a la Nouvelle Orleans The cotton office in New Orleans It presents ancient and contemporary works from the 15th to the 20th century with paintings of Spanish Flemish Dutch English French and Italian schools Brueghel Degas El Greco Guillaumin Jordaens Lhote Morisot Nattier Ribera Rubens Van Loo Zurbaran and regional artists Eugene Deveria 1805 1865 and Victor Galos 1828 1879 There is a large collection of sculptures of the 19th century with works by Arp Glioli and Lasserre Of many fine art prints relating to the region including the watercolour by Gustave Dore Cirque de Gavarnie as well as contemporary works by Soto Vasarely and the hyperrealistic Pau school artists which complete the picture Musee Bernadotte fr The modest home of a cooper that saw the birth and growth of Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte who became Marshal of France and King of Sweden in 1818 and founder of the current ruling family of that country It contains a collection of works and objects relating to the history of this Bearnese person it also has a realisation of classical living conditions of a family of the 18th century in Pau The Bearnese Museum Its reopening to the public is not currently scheduled There were collections of popular arts and traditional objects of Bearn Fauna flora costumes furniture and crafts manufacture of the beret sneakers and clogs weaving quarry Museum of paratroopers fr Museum of the resistance and the deportation located since 2007 in the Villa Lawrance Germanic style villa created in 1857 and which is also the current headquarters of the English Circle which perpetuates the British tradition 30 Pau land of aviation at the Palais Beaumont a permanent exhibition that traces the history of aviation in Pau Exhibition spaces Edit The Pavillon des Arts fr The Palais Beaumont fr The Pavillon des Arts fr The peristyle of the town hall fr The Andre Labarrere media library The Nouste Henric Hall The Chapel of the Perseverance The Cite des Pyrenees The department hallTheatres and orchestral formations Edit The Orchestra of Pau Pays de Bearn fr OPPB was conducted from 2002 by Faycal Karoui This symphonic orchestra sits in the Alfred de Vigny Auditorium of the Palais Beaumont but also in France and abroad Zaragoza Nantes for La Folle Journee Festival de La Roque d Antheron Ravenna Venice Paris for the Festival Presences fr In 2012 the orchestra moved to Nantes Bilbao and Tokyo for Les Folles Journees of these three cities Two amateur orchestras The Ossau and the EOP Orchestral Ensemble of Pau The Theatre Saint Louis historic theatre of Pau near the Place Royale fr and the city hall The Saragosse Theatre a subsidised dance theatre Pau Bearn with plural spaces in the Saragosse Quarter The Tam Tam Theatre The Artscene Theatre The Theatre du Monte Charge The Bourbaki Theatre it closed its doors in 2014 The Comedie des Mutins in Lescar in the Pau agglomeration can be added to this list Festivals Edit The trial of Sent Pancard during the Carnival Biarnes The city of Pau is home to many festivals throughout the year including Carnival Biarnes 31 Festival Hestiv Oc 32 a festival of music and culture of the south established in 2005 Festival CulturAmerica Cine Cite L Ete a Pau The summer in Pau Festival access s created in 2000 electronic culture 33 Festival Amplitudes Festival Beta Project Festival Bulles d Afrique Festival de danses plurielles Festival of the Caribbean Festival of Portuguese language Cinema Gay and lesbian film festival Board Game Festival of Pau 34 Images Mountain Festival Festival HIP HOP NON STOP organised by the Gare urbaine association Festival Regarder sur les Cotes Look on the Sides Festival Le Bresil frappe a ta porte Festival Mosaika Festival Pau ville Russe Urban Session Festival Festival Emmaus Lescar Pau fr International festival of Film of Pau 1st edition in November 2010 Rencontres Internationales de Danse Rezodanse Tremplin Salsa Festival International competition of SalsaMedia EditPrint Edit The region is covered by three local newspapers dependent on Groupe Sud Ouest fr Sud Ouest Bearn and Soule edition La Republique des Pyrenees fr the number one daily of the Bearn L Eclair des PyreneesTelevision Edit France 3 Aquitaine and its regional variation as France 3 Pau Sud AquitaineRadio Edit France Bleu Bearn which provides a national joint programme that reflects local programs of the stations in the regions NRJ Pyrenees national music radio with a time slot reserved for local programming 4pm to 8 pm as well as flashes of morning information Virgin Radio Pyrenees national music radio with a time slot reserved for local programming 4pm to 8 pm as well as flashes of morning information RFM Bearn national music radio with a time slot reserved for local programming 1pm to 5 pm as well as flashes of morning information Atomic pop rock and dance music programming from September year needed 100 Radio fr general music programming and local information Radio Inside pop rock and dance music programming RPO Radio Pau Ousse Radio Pais fr community radio station dedicated to the Occitan culture IMETS Euro Info Pyrenees Metropole community radio station dedicated to jazz musicSport EditPau has many sports facilities and several high level sport clubs Clubs Edit Basketball The professional club Elan Bearnais Pau Orthez accounts for nine titles as Champion of France 1986 1987 1992 1996 1998 1999 2001 2003 and 2004 six Cups of France 1991 1992 1993 2002 2003 2007 three Tournament of A s 1991 1992 1993 a week of A s 1993 and a title of winner of the Korac Cup in 1984 European Cup In 2007 the club climbed into the European top 16 Its results at the end of the 2008 2009 season demoted it Pro B After a reorganization of its capital the club changed its name and became the Elan bearnais Pau Lacq Orthez EBPLO The following 2009 2010 season was totally successful with a first place in the regular season meaning an immediate promotion to Pro A and a title of Champion of France of Pro B won at Paris Bercy against CSP Limoges Pau Orthez play its home matches at the Palais des Sports de Pau and former players include Boris Diaw Mickael Pietrus and Johan Petro Rugby union the Section Paloise club created in 1902 is one of the oldest French rugby clubs Pau has won three titles of Champion of France 1928 1946 and 1964 three Cups of France 1939 1952 1997 and a European Challenge Cup 2000 Recently the club participated in two semi finals of the French Championship 1996 2000 and a semi final of the Heineken Cup 1998 The club appeared in the elite Top 16 which became the Top 14 until 2006 It is now in Pro D2 and reached the finals of accession for the Top 14 in 2012 and 2013 Two current French International players Imanol Harinordoquy and Pau native Damien Traille once played for the team Canoe kayak The Palois university club Pyrenees Eaux Vives CUPPEV has four champions of very high level Patrice Estanguet bronze medalist at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996 Tony Estanguet the younger brother of Patrice triple Olympic champion in 2000 2004 and 2012 and triple champion of the world 2006 2009 and 2010 Fabien Lefevre double champion of the world 2002 and 2003 and twice medalist at the summer Olympics 2004 and 2008 and Julien Billaut champion of the world in 2006 Fencing Section Paloise fr is one of the most prestigious clubs in France citation needed Since its creation in the Quartier du Hedas fr many Olympic and world champions are from the club Since 1959 the Section ensures the continuity of this Olympic discipline with its assets three global medals several places of finalists in the World Cup and 26 titles of Champion of France Fencers are taught the six disciplines of epee foil and sabre for men and for women under the leadership of the fencing masters Alain Coicaud Laurent Vicenty and Michel Salesse The Section is classified first in clubs of the Southwest in all three weapons and among the best French clubs The 2005 2006 season was an exceptional year which had several Pau competitors led by Julien Medard Gavin Lallement and Romain Miramon winning national and international individual and team titles Football Pau Football Club played in the Championnat National from 1998 to 2008 before suffering relegation After an 8 year stint in the Championnat National 2 fourth division Pau FC were promoted back into the French third division in 2016 It hosted many players having completed a successful professional career thereafter Andre Pierre Gignac Tino Costa Aurelien Chedjou Julien Escude Edouard Cisse and Xavier Gravelaine have all worn the colours of Pau FC during their career Athletics CUP Club Universitaire Palois also called CUPau founded on 29 August 1947 Handball Club Pau Nousty National 1 American football The Sphinx de Pau club was created in 1998 Baseball and Softball The Pumas de Pau were Champions of France in 2004 and finalist in 2006 Parkour Association Shock of Street Pau Parkour 35 created in 2010 affiliated with the Federation of Parkour Pyrenea Sports 36 is a mountain club for mountaineering rock climbing hiking mountain skiing and Alpine skiing and was created in 1939 it organizes the Pyrenea 37 the Pau triathlon at Gourette Aerial sports The Aero Club du Bearn the oldest Aero Club of France was founded by Paul Tissandier in December 1908 to approve the flights that the Wright brothers were to perform in Pau These transferred effectively to Pau from January 1909 The Wright flight school had initially opened at Le Mans in the summer of 1908 The Pau Pyrenees Air Club CHP founded in 2004 is a club dedicated to aerobatics it is located in the Pau Pyrenees airport sheds French Alpine Club The section of Pau was created in 1886 for mountaineering hiking ski mountaineering canyoning Parachuting The region of Pau renowned for its low exposure to the wind is a centre of parachuting and the focus of several clubs Pau has hosted several World Championships and is the seat of the ETAP Chess Being one of the oldest clubs of chess the Exchequer Henri IV established in 1925 is the largest club of Aquitaine It is also one of the 45 clubs to receive until 2013 the label of trainer of clubs Facilities Edit The whitewater stadium Palais des sports The Stade du Hameau Hamlet Stadium a 13 966 seat stadium located to the east of the city home to Section Paloise rugby and Pau PC The stadium has two covered grandstands a fitness room and a club house The Palais des Sports de Pau With 7 856 seats it is the 2nd largest hall in France after Bercy citation needed The Elan Bearnais home it has also served in Davis Cup events at the handball World Championships the official 1999 European Basketball Championship and the gymnastics Championship of France The Circuit de Pau Ville is a temporary motor racing circuit in the streets of the city and which hosts the Pau Grand Prix The whitewater stadium of Pau Pyrenees opened in 2008 It is a man made basin fed by the Gave de Pau It welcomes in particular elite division of the team of France of kayak and the centre of hopefuls It hosted a round of the World Cup in 2009 and 2012 It will host the canoe kayak 2017 World Championships 38 The water stadium This outdoor pool is housed two basins which is almost Olympic it lacked only a tiny centimetre to be approved citation needed and a diving pool The rugby stadium of the Croix du Prince fr historic seat of Section Paloise in which the youth teams play again today The equestrian field of Sers and the Pont Long Racecourse fr It is the second equestrian centre of France behind Chantilly and before Maisons Laffitte for steeplechase It holds twenty eight meetings of steeplechase and flat per year The steeplechase course is one of the most formidable in Europe citation needed The Sers training centre houses six hundred horses The Basque pelota Complex inaugurated in 2006 is for Jai alai a mur a gauche a trinquet and an open place fronton It is the largest Basque pelota facility in Europe 2 600 seats This facility is known to be underemployed The Amateur World Championships of Basque pelota Basque sport should have taken place there in 2006 and were held in 2010 Since May 2007 the converted trinquet has reopened to its original sport real tennis on Sundays Two golf courses are located near Pau The Artiguelouve golf course and the Pau Golf Club located in Billere Created by Scots and laid out in 1856 39 it was the first of the European continent and one of the oldest in the world It offers an 18 hole course and its Victorian style clubhouse features a restaurant and a bar with a British atmosphere The Plantier de Pau For the game of Quilles de neuf fr an ancestor of bowling to practice with a 6 2 kilograms 14 lb ball and nine bowling pins of 96 centimetres 38 in The Andre Lavie Stadium stadium of Pau athletics and for the training of university sports teams This site held the Interville competition between Pau and Saint Jean de Luz on 13 August 2007 The SUAPS climbing wall The highest climbing wall of Aquitaine and Midi Pyrenees it is a top place of training for Pyrenean climbers For amateur joggers the Gave de Pau river bank footpath is a most valued itinerary citation needed which starts near the castle and passes along Pau s golf course heading west Another spot is Pont Long wood north of the town Events Edit Since 1930 Pau has become a mainstay of the Tour de France cycling race thanks both to its geographical location and to its marvelous infrastructure Pau hosted its 63rd stage in 2010 and only one other city besides Paris has done better The 2010 Tour visited Pau on three occasions First as a passing town second time as a finish and the third time as a departure town on the way to the Col du Tourmalet Pau is behind Bordeaux as the town of the province to have had most stages in the history of the Tour Pau will receive the Tour for the 67th time in 2015 40 Perhaps the highest profile sporting event is the Etoiles de Pau Stars of Pau Held annually in October it is one of only six annual competitions in eventing that receive the highest rating of CCI from equestrianism s world governing body the FEI It s also the only event of this level in France In 2008 between 11 23 August Pau hosted the 83rd French Chess Championship The men s event was won by Etienne Bacrot on tie break from Maxime Vachier Lagrave while the women s event resulted in a victory for Sophie Milliet Thirty six players took part Pau was previously the Championship venue in 1943 and 1969 The Feminine on the Boulevard des Pyrenees Other events include Stages of France s canoeing Championships Marathon de Pau fr whose departure takes place every year from the Palais Beaumont The Feminine de Pau walking race held twice per year from 2012 International meeting of capoeira Dance international meetings organized by the Rezodanse association Frequent events such as the Davis Cup of tennis four times every November tennis ATP Challenger Tour the World Championship of handball the Championship of European nations of basketball France s Gymnastics Championships the Championships of France of parachute jumping Pau Grand Prix Edit Main article Pau Grand Prix Atila Abreu races his Mucke Motorsport Formula Three car on the Pau circuit in 2005 The Grand Prix Historique Pau held the first race to be called a Grand Prix in 1901 After that the 1928 French Grand Prix was held in nearby Saint Gaudens Pau also wanted to arrange the race and in 1930 the French Grand Prix was held on a Le Mans type track outside the city with Philippe Etancelin winning for Bugatti Pau returned to the calendar in 1933 with a track in the town centre inspired by Monaco The track 2 769 metres 1 721 mi long is winding and has remained largely unchanged The first curve is the station hairpin After that the road climbs on the Avenue Leon Say alongside the stone viaduct that carries the Boulevard de Pyrenees to Pont Oscar A tunnel is followed by the narrow hairpin at the Louis Barthou high school that leads the track into the demanding Parc Beaumont section at the top of the town After the Casino garden and another hairpin the track winds back to the start along the Avenue Lacoste Pau traditionally opened the season but mid February for the 1933 GP meant the race took place in a snowstorm with slush After a one year pause the race was back in 1935 with Tazio Nuvolari dominating in an Alfa Romeo P3 entered by Scuderia Ferrari The 1936 race saw the only major victory for the Maserati V8 R1 driven by Etancelin In 1937 the race was part of the French sports car series with Jean Pierre Wimille dominating running three to four seconds a lap faster than the rest of the field GP racing was back in 1938 and Pau became a test track for Mercedes Benz before the Grandes Epreuves The 1938 race saw Rene Dreyfus Delahaye sensationally beating the Mercedes Benz team In 1939 Mercedes wasn t to be taken by surprise Hermann Lang leading the team to a double victory After World War II Pau continued as a non championship Formula One race until 1963 Thereafter the race was run to Formula Two rules until 1985 and thereafter by its replacement Formula 3000 In 1999 the event again changed with Formula Three cars racing Finally in 2007 the race became a round of the World Touring Car Championship The Grand Prix de Pau Historique is organized on the Circuit de Pau Ville once a year a week before or after the modern Grand Prix this event brings together vehicles with animated racing of the past Economy EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed January 2009 Learn how and when to remove this template message From the 1950s to the 1990s Pau depended on the production of natural gas and sulphur which were discovered nearby at Lacq In the 21st century the mainstays of the Bearn area are the oil business the aerospace industry through the helicopter turboshaft engines manufacturer Turbomeca tourism and agriculture Pau was the birthplace of Elf Aquitaine which has now become a part of TotalEnergies Halliburton has an office in Pau 41 Pau is the second economic hub of Aquitaine after Bordeaux A university city it has concentrated several industrial centres and centres of important research in the fields of petroleum engineering and geosciences petrochemistry and chemistry food automotive aeronautics and computer science Pau benefits from its central location in the region of the Pays de l Adour and its location between two major areas of population Bayonne Anglet Biarritz 160 000 inhabitants and the area of Tarbes Lourdes 110 000 inhabitants and secondary more diffuse areas South of Landes Dax 90 000 inhabitants and the areas of Auch 40 000 inhabitants Orthez Lacq 30 000 inhabitants and Oloron 20 000 inhabitants The municipality is partially within the Ossau Iraty AOC area Tertiary functions administrative prefecture general council etc cultural university judicial Court of Appeal commercial Science Centre and technology Jean Feger of the oil group TotalEnergies formerly Elf Aquitaine The Euralis fr Research Centre The Technopoles of Helioparc Pau Cite Multimedia and Pole E Business southern Aquitaine PEBA Aeronautical and space industry Electrical industry Food and wine industries Fine chemicals and pharmaceutical industry Computer science NTIC Pau Broadband Country fibre to the premises fr Business travel seminars congresses Industry Edit Arrius helicopter engine Pau experienced an important economic boom based on the discovery of the giant deposit of natural gas in Lacq Discovered in the 1950s by engineer Jean Feger it was then the largest terrestrial deposit of gas in Europe and helped France to be self sufficient in gas for almost thirty years The Societe Nationale des Petroles d Aquitaine SNPA was born at Lacq in 1941 after merger with ELF in 1976 it became part of the Elf Aquitaine group then Total during its integration into the Group TotalFinaElf in Lacq known now the SNEAP Societe Nationale Elf Aquitaine Production 42 Oil and focussed businesses Total Exploration Production France TotalEnergies Total infrastructure Gaz France TIGF Schlumberger Halliburton and chemical Arkema Air Liquide settled in Pau or the surrounding area in Lacq at the Chemparc chemical park but also in Pardies and Artix The scientific centre of Total in Pau is one research centre for exploration and production of gas and oil in Europe more than 2 000 people including 900 doctors and engineers in the geosciences resulting from the merger of ELF Aquitaine and Total 43 Research in the geosciences is also based on university partnerships companies notably with the Federation of research applied to petroleum engineering IPRA consisting of teams of research CNRS University of Pau and the Pays de l Adour UPPA and Total the IPRA represents 130 teachers researchers and beneficiaries an annual budget of 1 5 million euros and six scientific Masters Research and engineering in the geosciences are also present through specialised companies CGG Paradigm Geophysical TTI VERITAS etc implanted for the most part on the site of the Helioparc technopole and specialised training centres IFP Training NExT Schlumberger Wellstaff Baker Hughes etc The area of Pau Lacq is also geared towards fine chemicals Acetex now closed and new materials High tech composite materials and nanomaterials have gradually been developed in Bearn with the Carbon Fibre Company SOFICAR and the GRL Group of research of Lacq one of the main centres of research of ARKEMA Industry has also developed recently around new energy investments and other energies Bio fuels manufacturing site of bioethanol from the AB Bioenergy France Company 150M investment biomass cellulose and the production of electricity from gas production site of SNET investment of 400M One driver of uptake and CO2 sequestration process is also underway industrial investment of 100M Ultimately these activities for fine chemicals and specialties will ensure the reconversion of the traditional activities of extraction from the Lacq area The entire energy complex Chemparc now represents 12 000 direct jobs Pau is part of the global competitiveness cluster of Aerospace Valley in the aerospace sector with Toulouse and Bordeaux The aviation industry is represented by major industrial groups Safran Turbomeca Messier Dowty Exameca MAP etc and a significant number of subcontractors With Biarritz Bayonne Dassault and Tarbes EADS Socata Tarmac the area of the Pays de l Adour is strongly oriented towards aeronautics 12 000 jobs These firms are involved on the Airbus programmes of A380 A300 A330 A320 landing gear carbon fibre welding aerostructures Eurocopter engines machining parts Boeing landing gear and Embraer Pau also hosts the service centre of the French Army ALAT Tiger helicopters The airport area in particular aeropole Pau Pyrenees is expanding and includes aeronautical and automotive subcontractors The pharmaceutical sector is growing and is represented by Pierre Fabre Boiron Sanofi and Finorga companies A bio health centre grouping of industrial pharmacy and biology was created in 2006 around the Pierre Fabre and DBI enterprises The Pau economy is also based on the agri food industry in the fields of maize processed products dairy products canning meat and the wine industry Group Euralis fr Candia Bongrain 3A Michaud and Miot With 400 researchers Pau is the first European research centre for maize growing The electronics and electrical engineering sector also has several industrial sites in the Pau agglomeration Legrand Arelec Aquitaine electronics Siemens Services Edit Pau also concentrates the regional headquarters of many service companies as capital of the Pays de l Adour region The banking sector CA Pyrenees Gascogne Banque Pouyanne insurance MIF MSA construction Groupe MAS Cance and business services APR YSA Vitalicom ICT businesses have experienced an important development with the deployment of optical fibre in the agglomeration and the implantation of companies specialising in information technology networks and image processing The technopoles technological hubs of Helioparc close to the University 1 000 jobs Pau Cite Multimedia north of the town 700 jobs and the LLEES Villa Ridgway built in 1905 former headquarters of Elf concentrate a large number of systems integration and computer engineering information technology consulting schools Pau should ultimately be fully connected to a fibre optic network Pau Broadband Country of the agglomeration of Pau Pyrenees communities which will allow a data transfer rate of 10 to 100 megabits per second and 1 gigabit per second for some companies and applications of types such as VoIP online services and webTV Pau is the third city in Europe after Stockholm and Milan to have developed a very high speed fibre optic network The project has cost 30 million euros and has been spread over five years This network has encouraged the location of French and foreign companies to Pau which are specialised in imaging services or design online Pau combines all the functions and administrative headquarters of a regional agglomeration General Council of Pyrenees Atlantiques fr Court of Appeal for the departments under the purview of Pau Pyrenees Atlantiques Landes and Gers the regional hospital Chamber of commerce and industry of Pau Bearn fr Chamber of Trade of Pyrenees Atlantiques Chamber of Agriculture of Pyrenees Atlantiques SDIS 64 Universite de Pau et des Pays de l Adour The Chamber of commerce and industry of Pau Bearn manages the Pau Pyrenees airport the Groupe ESC Pau the consular hotel the CNPC and the IPC de Pau In 2006 the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Pau Bearn had 11 000 industrial and commercial companies registered as headquartered in Pau Pau is also a city of congress symposia and business travelers with infrastructure allowing it to host national and international events The Palais Beaumont fr Congress Centre a casino a park of exhibitions and 4 star hotels Parc Beaumont Hotel Villa Navarre Hotel all help to provide this infrastructure The town of Pau is home to many corps of the army The 5th regiment of combat helicopters fr RHC which was the first regiment of France to be equipped with the new Eurocopter Tiger the school of airborne troops ETAP the staff of the special forces land brigade its air component DAOS and the central military administrative archive Bernadotte Barracks fr office The defence sector represents a little more than 2 000 direct jobs in Pau Tourism Edit The view from the Boulevard des Pyrenees The town of Pau is located 45 minutes from the Pyrenees and its ski resorts It is a holiday resort for tourists to the Pyrenees hiking climbing skiing and Spain Located near the Basque and Landes coasts an hour s drive it is possible to practice water sports surfing diving sailing etc Pau is the gateway to the five Bearnese valleys the Ossau Valley Vallee d Aspe Vallee de Baretous fr the Vallee de l Ouzom fr and Vath Vielha that receives winter sports tourists the ski resorts of Gourette Artouste fr Le Somport fr and La Pierre Saint Martin fr spas Eaux Bonnes and Eaux Chaudes and green tourism white water sports cultural and gastronomic tourism Its location at the foot of the Pyrenees gives Pau an exceptional panorama of the chain of the Pyrenees in particular from the Boulevard des Pyrenees which is a long avenue of 1 8 kilometres 1 1 mi facing the Pyrenees mountain range Pau is the most beautiful view of Earth from the world as Naples is the most beautiful view of sea Said by Lamartine of Pau s unique mountain panorama Pau a former royal town and capital of Bearn is also a city of cultural tourism and important business Congress conferences notably in the Palais Beaumont fr The city a former climatic health resort also hosts a casino the Casino de Pau The city is historically closely linked to the United Kingdom and remains popular with the British on holiday The British discovered Pau and its climate and left their imprint when Wellington left a garrison there in 1814 39 He defeated Marshal Soult at Orthez some 40 km 25 mi to the north west on his way into France from Spain towards the end of the Peninsular War Vacationing British began arriving before the railway established the Boulevard des Pyrenees The first full 18 hole golf course in Europe 44 created by people from Scotland and in fact located at Billere was laid out in 1856 1860 and is still in existence and also a real tennis court Spanish people are also very present in the city as well as Portuguese and Moroccans consulates of Spain and Portugal The Germans and Dutch attracted by the climate of Pau and its heritage are also more and more numerous Transportation EditTrain Edit Gare SNCF de Pau Pau SNCF railway station The railway station Gare de Pau offers connections to Bordeaux Bayonne Toulouse and Paris and several regional destinations The TGV linking Paris Montparnasse to Tarbes with Pau at 5hrs 10 m 5hrs 30 m from Paris Intercites linking Bordeaux Saint Jean to Tarbes and Hendaye Irun Spain to Toulouse Matabiau The night Intercites linking Paris Austerlitz to Tarbes or Hendaye Irun to Geneva Cornavin Switzerland Two railway construction projects are under consideration the extension and renovation of the line rail network France current online high speed TGV from Bordeaux to Spain via the east of Landes which would put Pau at about three hours from Paris and the reopening of the cross border link Pau Canfranc Spain linking Pau to Zaragoza La Croix du Prince station in the southern part of the town has rail connections to Oloron Sainte Marie and Bedous Airport Edit Pau Pyrenees International Airport Main article Pau Pyrenees Airport The international airport of Pau Pyrenees located 12 kilometres 7 5 mi to the north west in the commune of Uzein is connected directly to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly as well as airports in Marseille Lyon London Southampton and Amsterdam among other destinations In 2009 it recorded 690 000 passengers a decrease of more than 15 making it the third busiest airport in Aquitaine after Bordeaux and Biarritz airports Motorways Edit The A64 European route E80 called la Pyreneenne joins Toulouse to the east in 2hrs 5 m and Bayonne in 1hr 17 m to the west The A65 European route E07 called A Lienor autoroute de Gascogne connects Pau to Bordeaux in 2hrs 21 m via the A62 between Bordeaux and Langon a point of connection of two motorways Its inauguration took place on 16 December 2010 The A65 autoroute is the most expensive in France with a toll of 14 67 cents km April 2015 45 Funicular Edit The Funiculaire de Pau The Funiculaire de Pau opened in 1908 provides free of charge a link between the city centre and Boulevard des Pyrenees to the railway station in the valley After a year of refurbishment to standard service resumed on 25 November 2006 It carries an average of 500 000 passengers per year It works every day and its hours are Monday to Saturday from 6 45 am to 9 40 pm and Sunday from 1 30 pm to 8 50 pm Bus Edit The free shuttle bus Coxitis circles the city centre The Societe des Transports de agglomeration Paloise STAP or IDELIS bus network 46 operates 13 urban bus routes serving Pau and the adjoining communes of Billere Jurancon Gelos Mazeres Lezons Lescar Lons Bizanos Gan Ousse Sendets Lee Idron Artigueloutan Uzein Morlaas Serres Castet and Aressy A free shuttle bus service Coxitis circles the city centre at brief intervals from early morning to early evening The main stops are at Pole Bosquet and also at the markets the Place de Verdun the SNCF railway station and the Auchan shopping centre IDELIS Bus network CoxitisShuttle in the city centre IDElib Carsharing service IDEcycle Cycle sharing serviceThe connections between the departmental and regional routes are at the Pole Bosquet since August 2006 Rue Mathieu Lalanne Boulevard Joseph BarbanegreThe city is engaged in a Bus a haut niveau de service Bus to high level of service BHNS project for a first route the railway station to the hospital Work started towards the end of 2014 47 Heritage EditPau has a heritage which stretches from the 12th to the 21st century which is represented through numerous sites and monuments including the castle of Henri IV citation needed Religious monuments Edit Main Catholic churches Edit The Church of Saint Martin is situated in the centre of the old town on Rue Henri IV It was designed according to the plans of the architect Emile Boeswillwald The construction of the church of neo Gothic influence began in the 1860s Every Sunday the automatic carillon of St Martin peals the notes of Eine kleine Nachtmusik and the Twelve Variations on Ah vous dirai je Maman by Mozart Main article Eglise Saint Martin de Pau fr The Church of Saint Jacques also of Gothic influence regained its two spires in 2012 Following the ancient chapel of the convent of the Cordeliers it was completed in 1867 Its spires had been removed in 2001 due to being weakened by a storm in 1999 Main article Eglise Saint Jacques de Pau fr The Notre Dame Church is capped by a monumental statue of the Virgin and child of Art Deco inspiration The church was built in the first half of the 20th century in continuity with the ancient church dedicated to the pilgrimage which came before The Church of Saint Joseph was designed by the architect Jacques Laffillee fr It was built in 1935 Neo Byzantine style it is recognizable because of its domes and its bell tower which is 50 metres 160 ft high and of reinforced cement St Peter s Church was built in 1970 It was designed by the Prix de Rome architect Andre Remondet fr Largely covered with slates it has married its modern structure with concrete buildings which surround it The Church of Saint Jacques fr in Pau The Church of Saint Martin fr in Pau The Church of Notre Dame The Church of Saint JosephOutstanding Catholic chapels Edit The chapel of the Convent of Reparatrices The former Convent of the Reparatrices an imposing chapel now houses the National School of Music and Dance and combines ancient and contemporary architecture The Chapel of Saint Louis de Gonzague classic architecture accompanied by the establishment of a college of Jesuits current Lycee Louis Barthou Begun in the 1660s it was not completed until 1851 The Chapel of Notre Dame du bout du Pont the former place of worship of the Ursulines de Pau was built in 1872 and relocated in 1932 The Ursuline convent was in fact demolished to give space to the Palais des Pyrenees on the current Place Clemenceau fr The chapel was dismantled stone by stone each being numbered and then rebuilt at its present location across the Gave de Pau The Chapel of the Chateau de Pau visible from the main entrance is adjacent to the brick keep Reformed Anglican and Presbyterian churches Edit In the 16th century slaughterhouses were constructed along with the Protestant temple of Pau fr the cagots worked on the two buildings 48 Responding to demand from English residents Christ Church was built on the Rue Serviez from 1837 to 1841 Since then it has become a Reformed temple Similarly the Anglican Church of Saint Andrew was built in 1866 The rectory is known to be shaped according to local taste the facade is dotted with pebbles from the Gave de Pau The Melies Cinema was housed in a former place of worship a Scottish Presbyterian Church Other religious buildings Edit Pau has a Russian Orthodox Church a mosque a synagogue and a number of smaller churches such as St Jean Baptiste Sainte Bernadette and Sainte Therese Civil monuments Edit Until the 18th century Edit Main article Chateau de Pau The Chateau de Pau dominates the Gave de Pau Its two oldest towers date from the 12th century The quadrangular tower of brick was raised by Sicard de Lordat in the 14th century Thus constituted fortress was turned into a Renaissance palace by Marguerite d Angouleme and then restored under Louis Philippe and Napoleon III In summary the castle was fortress of the Viscounts of Bearn Castle of Febus birthplace of the good King Henry IV Nouste Enric and royal residence in the Renaissance A first defensive tower desired below the castle by Gaston Febus then called the Tour du Moulin tower of the mill for a time was built along a water channel operating the mill of the castle as early as the 15th century The Tour de la Monnaie Money Tower was named according to Henri d Albret who in 1554 used it as a mint Today containing a lift within it was used for the coinage of money until the French Revolution Its small garden was tended by Marie Antoinette when she spent her summers in the city Napoleon used it as a holiday home during his period in power The chateau has been designated as a French historical monument and holds a collection of tapestries Chateau de Pau Birthplace of Henri IV Tour de la Monnaie Money Tower Main article Parlement de Navarre fr Close to the castle the Parlement de Navarre Parliament of Navarre so named saw its origins in the annexation of Bearn to the Crown of France under Louis XIII in 1620 Though in fact he established himself in a very old courthouse that had been built as early as 1585 in place of the house of the Bishop of Lescar Burned down in 1716 it was rebuilt but quickly abandoned in favour of the current courthouse The General Council settled there and it still holds its sessions Main article Lycee Louis Barthou Lycee Louis Barthou originally a Jesuit college was built in Louis XIII s appeal probably between 1622 and 1645 for the restoration of Catholicism It has illustrious alumni such as Lautreamont Louis Barthou Saint John Perse Pierre Bourdieu Daniel Balavoine and Henri Emmanuelli Main article Musee Bernadotte fr The Birthplace of Bernadotte Museum is today of particular interest to Swedish tourists it dates from the 18th century Bernadotte was a French non commissioned officer who was born in Pau and became a general of Napoleon and then King of Sweden under the name Charles XIV In the 19th century Edit The former Hotel de Gassion Main article Hotel de Gassion fr Former grand hotels of the Belle Epoque which were in direct competition the Hotel de Gassion and the Hotel de France are located on the Boulevard des Pyrenees The Hotel de Gassion located between the chateau and the Church of Saint Martin now houses apartments The Hotel de France located to the east of the Place Royale now houses the services of the Communaute d agglomeration de Pau Pyrenees and is the second decision making centre in Pau Main article Palais Beaumont fr The Palais Beaumont originally referred to as the Palais d Hiver Winter Palace was created at the end of the 19th century Mixing architectural styles it was repeatedly altered and was renovated from 1996 after half a century of neglect It hosts a casino but is primarily a convention centre a space for events such as seminars and fairs Main article Funiculaire de Pau The funicular which joins with the upper town the historic centre has carried travellers to and from the railway station since 1908 Main article Hotel de ville de Pau fr Municipal services settled in the current premises of the town hall in 1878 The building located north of the Place Royale fr is actually a former theatre dating from 1862 The project to erect the Church of Saint Louis on the site launched in 1685 and revived in 1788 was never successful The former use of the building explains the statue of Thalia muse of comedy starring to the front which adorns its pediment The climate tourism which took over in Pau has left a set of prestigious villas as a legacy Rich English American and Russian tourists built villas to facilitate their stay during the winter These buildings English style were mainly built at the end of the 19th century These villas now have various uses such as a charming hotel Villa Navarre an Anglo Norman Manor built between 1865 and 1870 49 a reception room Villa Saint Basil s built in 1889 apartments Palais Sorrento in 1888 and as a residence of the prefect Villa Saint Helena etc The current courthouse was built on the territory of the former convent of the Cordeliers The Place de la Liberation today participates in the majesty of a building whose facade is classically decorated with columns themselves topped by a pediment in white marble Its construction began in 1847 The railway station of Eiffel style was inaugurated in 1871 below the city centre Main article Caserne Bernadotte fr It was natural that a barracks was progressively built in Pau from 1825 to 1875 the prefectural town close to the border The Bernadotte Barracks which today contains the national archives of the army thus welcomed two regiments as early as 1830 The current Place de Verdun fr which has become parking and was formerly known as Place Napoleon was in fact an area of close exercises Of the 20th century to the present day Edit Palais des Pyrenees Inaugurated in 2000 at the foot of the original Parliament of Navarre the Hotel du Departement Departmental Administrative Building a building of glass on which some buildings of the Boulevard des Pyrenees are reflected now includes all administrative services linked to it Renovated in 2007 the Bosquet Centre is a shopping centre of contemporary architecture in the centre of town Borrowing its name from Marshal Bosquet who has a nearby statue it was built on the site of the former Hospital of Pau The Palais des Pyrenees Palace of the Pyrenees the second shopping centre in the heart of the city has had a tumultuous history In its current form it seems to have regained its spirit of 1808 that of the Passage of Napoleon a commercial route which heralded the modern covered market of 1838 destroyed at the beginning of the 20th century The Palais des Pyrenees from 1930 or the Palais du Commerce et des Fetes Palace of trade and celebrations was an art deco complex covered with shops but also theatres a casino and even a mini golf course Return to its original condition began in 1951 with the removal of the roofing over the central path Pau people regained views of the Pyrenees Four buildings were then raised It was in 2006 which it appeared in its current form proud of its canopies of glass and steel Since 1971 the Archives Departementales Departmental Archives have settled into two buildings one of them of particularly atypical appearance due to its tiny triangular windows which are designed to give the best protection to the preserved documents The Archives Communautaires de l Agglomeration de Pau Pyrenees Community Archives of the Agglomeration of Pau Pyrenees are grouped since March 2011 in the buildings of the former tram factory on the site of what was previously a gas plant as evidenced by the high chimney The Faculte de Lettres et Sciences Humaines Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences and the Maison de l Agriculture House of Agriculture with similar architectures dating from the start of the 1970s break in their likeness as the first seems to humbly blend in with the vegetation while the second seems to display a relative majesty Outstanding built up areas Edit Town squares Edit Place Clemenceau fr and the Palais des Pyrenees the market square and centre commercial street In the heart of the downtown area this is the site of many public festivals shopping and a fountain Place d Espagne Spain Square Containing buildings of contemporary architecture as well as the Bosquet commercial centre Place des sept cantons Seven Cantons Square This square is joined to not seven but six streets Place des Etats States Square The crossroads of transhumance until the Renaissance era in the area of the Chateau de Pau Place Gramont fr An architectural ensemble from the 18th century with many summer terraces Place Reine Marguerite fr Queen Marguerite Square bordered by arcades with pebbled arches it once was the marketplace and a gallows and wheel for executions once stood here Place Royale fr Created by Louis XIV it was built in its present form with a statue of Henry IV during the reign of Louis Philippe It includes the Pau Town Hall Place de Verdun fr A large square today occupied by ample free parking and bordered to the west by the Bernadotte military barracks Place de la Liberation The Palace of Justice and the Santiago Church are in this square Place Clemenceau Place Royale Place de la Liberation Arcades of the Place Gramont Place de Verdun Place Reine MargueriteStreets Edit Main article Boulevard des Pyrenees The Boulevard des Pyrenees created on the initiative of Napoleon I as a continuation of the Place Royale is 1 800 metres 5 900 ft long The panoramic view from the boulevard extends beyond the hills of Gelos and Jurancon to include the Pic d Anie at 2 504 metres 8 215 ft the Pic du Midi de Bigorre at 2 865 metres 9 400 ft which is topped with an astronomical observatory known worldwide for the quality of its solar and planetary photographs NASA used it to prepare for the Apollo missions the Midi d Ossau at 2 884 metres 9 462 ft is of volcanic nature and of distinctive and symbolic shape as well as Balaitous at 3 146 metres 10 322 ft and the Vignemale at 3 298 metres 10 820 ft the highest peak in the French Pyrenees One of the peculiarities of this avenue overlooking the Pyrenees is the presence of plates of orientation allowing an alignment with a lightning rod on a factory chimney below for recognizing the great peaks of the mountain range Main article Rue du Marechal Joffre fr The Rue du Marechal Joffre connects the Chateau Quarter to Place Clemenceau it was first named Grande Rue and helped Pau to expand eastward at the end of the Middle Ages The street assured freedom of movement for traffic as much as it helped to distribute the housing The large houses of the parliamentarians and notables from the different eras can show their facades or give a more discreet entry to the rear of the houses The revenue houses smaller but just as numerous punctuate the blocks with the succession of their bays The merchant past is recalled by the presence of the arches of the Place de la Vieille Halle Place Reine Marguerite The Rue du Marechal Joffre is now fully paved and pedestrianised after work undertaken between 2011 and 2012 Rue Serviez Rue du Marechal Joffre fr The arches of the Boulevard des PyreneesTypical districts Edit The Chateau Quarter in the rain The Chateau Quarter The historic quarter of Pau in the narrow old lanes which gives the quarter a medieval appearance There are very good restaurants The Hedas Quarter An old quarter which was built in a ravine which previously crossed a stream in the heart of the historic city Main article Quartier du Hedas fr The Trespoey Quarter A very wooded area with many 19th century English style villas It is the area of the city of the more bourgeois historically upmarket The most prestigious hotels in the city are now here citation needed such as the Villa Navarre and the Beaumont Main article Trespoey fr Environmental heritage Edit Parks and gardens Edit Parc Beaumont Pau is also a green city having more than 750 hectares 1 900 acres occupied by green areas with many rare and exotic species Pau has been classed 4 flowers by the Competition of Flowery Cities and Villages 50 In some districts for example Trespoey the villas are bathed in vegetation Pau is thus one of the European cities that have the most square meters of greenery per capita 80 square metres 860 sq ft per capita citation needed Parc Beaumont with a lake river and waterfall many flower beds a large rockery and a rose garden The 12 hectares 30 acres rugby ball shaped park contains 110 species of trees Some subjects are notable by their size their age or their rarity such as Bald Cypress from Louisiana Virginia persimmon and giant sequoia Parc Lawrence fr a park with old trees which is home to one of the many 19th century English villas of Pau The National Domain of the Chateau de Pau composed of a Renaissance garden with medicinal plants and a park The large park has walking trails and plenty of open space for outdoor activities in the middle of the city The Sentiers du Roy connecting the upper town to the lower town Johanto Gardens at the bottom of the Boulevard des Pyrenees with its many and strong Palm trees Contemporary gardens of the Hotel du Departement in the lower town The banks of the Gave de Pau at Billere and Jurancon downstream from the Pont d Espagne bridge of Spain and the Whitewater Arena Besson Square near the Conservatoire of music and dance with including Sequoia sempervirens The Kōfu Garden a Japanese garden opened in 2005 with plans provided by the gardeners of the city of Kōfu Parc en ciel Park in the sky opened in 2013 in the Hameau QuarterHorizons Palois Pau Horizons Edit The notion of Horizons Palois refers to the desire to protect the major elements which structure the special view from Pau to its natural environment The view from the heights of Pau includes the saligues of the Gave de Pau and the hillsides of Jurancon and finally the chain of the Pyrenees Seventeen sites were registered in 1944 as Horizons Palois in order to protect them from any construction or alteration that may deteriorate the extraordinary panorama which is particularly visible from the Boulevard des Pyrenees and the chateau The city of Pau has committed several years of reflection to a candidacy of the Horizons to UNESCO World Heritage 51 This would thus enhance the protection of the panorama and also be an improvement with the renaming of this site to the general public See also Horizons Palois fr The rooftop terrace of the Pavillon des Arts The Pic du Midi de Bigorre A view of the OssauLabels EditCity of Art and History from 2011 In his 2014 ranking the Conseil National des Villes et Villages Fleuris de France has assigned four flowers to the commune in the contest of flowery cities and villages 52 since 1983 UNICEF child friendly city TOP COM gold for its website in 2006 an award which annually recognizes the best communication actionsNotable people EditPeople born in Pau Edit Henry IV King of France Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte King of Sweden and Norway Francois Phebus 1467 1483 Count of Foix and Viscount of Bearn from 1479 to 1483 Gaston de Peralta 3rd Marquis of Falces 1510 1587 viceroy of New Spain from 1566 to 1568 Jeanne d Albret 1528 1572 Queen of Navarre from 1555 to 1572 Henry IV 1553 1610 King of France from 1589 to 1610 and Navarre from 1572 to 1610 Porthos 1617 musketeer Jean de Gassion 1609 1647 Marshal of France under Louis XIII and Louis XIV Pierre Clement de Laussat 1756 1835 politician Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte 1763 1844 Marshal of France and later King of Sweden and Norway Guillaume Latrille de Lorencez fr 1772 1855 general of the armies of the Republic and the Empire Charles Denis Bourbaki 1816 1897 general of Greek descent Maurice de Mirecki 1845 1900 musician Philippe Dauzon fr 1860 1918 politician grandson of the hellenist Philippe Le Bas and great grandson of the conventional Philippe Le Bas Adrien Pozzi fr 1860 1939 politician and surgeon Paul Jean Toulet 1867 1920 poet and writer Charles Francois Saint Maur fr 1869 1949 politician Ernest Gabard fr 1879 1957 sculptor painter watercolorist Pierre Henri Cami 1884 1958 writer humorist actor journalist illustrator and cartoonist Fernand Forgues 1884 1973 former international Rugby union footballer French international player Jean Jules Verdenal 1890 1915 friend and correspondent of T S Eliot Victor Fontan 1892 1982 cyclist who led the 1929 Tour de France Marguerite Broquedis 1893 1983 professional tennis player Georges Loustaunau Lacau 1894 1955 military personality of the extreme right in the 1930s resistant Bertrand d Astorg 1913 1988 writer poet winner of the 1980 Prix de l essai Louis Auriacombe 1917 1982 conductor Georges Laplace fr 1918 2004 prehistorian Henriette Bidouze fr 1921 1989 resistant Communist and feminist activist Yvon Bourges 1921 2009 son of a colonel Gaullist resistant sub prefect of Erstein Bas Rhin Minister of defence in 1975 Mayor of Dinard MP and Senator RPR of the arrondissement of Saint Malo Andre Courreges born 1923 couturier In 1965 his collection contributed to the success of the miniskirt Rene Marie Castaing fr 1924 artist painter Premier Grand Prix de Rome Robert Massard 1925 baritone from the Paris Opera Andre Labarrere fr 1928 2006 associate of history Sorbonne doctor of letters Mayor of Pau Minister MP and Senator Donal O Brien 1930 2003 actor Robert Haillet 1931 2011 tennis player Francis Mer 1939 industrialist and politician Guy Penaud fr 1943 historian senior honorary police Commissioner Roger Gerard Schwartzenberg born 1943 politician 53 Alain Lamassoure 1944 politician Francis Lassus fr 1961 musician Yves Camdeborde 1964 chef Bertrand Cantat 1964 singer and actor Eric Gonzales fr 1964 writer Jean Marc Laurent fr 1965 man of radio and television host France Bleu NRJ RFI TV presenter Loto Odyssee Matin Bonheur Ariane Massenet fr 1965 television host Frederic Lopez 1967 television host Nathalie Cardone 1967 singer Philippe Rombi 1968 composer Philippe Bernat Salles 1970 former international rugby union footballer French player Jerome Garces 1973 international rugby union referee Tony Estanguet triple Olympic slalom champion Patrice Estanguet 1973 sportsman bronze medal in canoeing slalom at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 Eric Piolle 1973 engineer and politician mayor of Grenoble Stephane Auge 1974 cyclist Walter Lapeyre 1976 shooter Emmanuelle Sykora 1976 former football player who played for Olympique Lyonnais to 2005 and France s football team to 2004 81 CAPs Nicolas Cazale 1977 actor and model Jean Bouilhou 1978 Rugby Union footballer Edouard Cisse 1978 professional footballer Tony Estanguet 1978 Olympic champion slalom canoeist in 2000 2004 and 2012 President of the Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee Sebastien Chabbert 1978 footballer Cedric Gracia born 1978 mountain biker Fabienne Carat 1979 actress Damien Traille 1979 Rugby Union player Julien Cardy 1981 footballer Isabelle Ithurburu 1983 television presenter Mathieu Ladagnous 1984 cyclist Jean Baptiste Peyras Loustalet 1984 professional Rugby Union player Jeremy Chardy 1987 tennis player Alexandra Lacrabere 1987 handball player Edwin Jackson 1989 professional basketball playerPeople who died in Pau Edit Guillaume Dauture fr 1770 1820 general of the armies of the Republic and the Empire Eugene Deveria 1805 1865 painter Caroline Duprez 1832 1875 soprano Alexandre Saint Yves d Alveydre 1842 1909 occultist Philippe Tissie 1852 1935 medical officer of health Mrs Patrick Campbell 1865 1940 English actress Moncef Bey 1881 1948 former Bey of Tunis 1942 1943 Andre Labarrere fr 1928 2006 politician Genevieve Imme fr 1929 2012 Contemporary Latin poet honored by the Academie francaise as winner of the Prix Theophile Gautier fr in 1992 Pierre Tucoo Chala fr 1924 2015 historian Thomas Douglas 5th Earl of Selkirk 1771 1820 Scottish aristocrat politician philanthropist Sir James Outram 1803 1863 British officerOthers Edit The emir Abd el Kader Algerian political and military leader The emir Abd el Kader 1808 1883 was imprisoned in the castle of Pau in 1848 Mary Todd Lincoln 1818 1882 lived in Pau between 1876 and 1880 She was the widow of American President Abraham Lincoln Henry Russell 1834 1909 buried there Isidore Ducasse Comte de Lautreamont 1846 1870 author of Les Chants de Maldoror studied there Louis Guedy fr 1847 1926 French painter settled here during the end of the 19th century Louis Barthou 1862 1934 politician lived in Pau Saint John Perse 1887 1975 real name Alexis Saint Leger lived here from 1899 to 1906 where he was a student at Lycee Louis Barthou Dornford Yates 1885 1960 pseudonym of the British novelist Cecil William Mercer lived here from 1922 to 1940 Joseph Peyre 1892 1968 winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1935 native of Aydie educated at the Lycee de Pau 1900 1907 taught there and was lawyer for a time at the bar of Pau Hubert Dubedout fr 1922 1986 Mayor of Grenoble between 1965 and 1983 lived there Pierre Bourdieu 1930 2002 sociologist who studied there Guy Debord 1931 1994 author of The Society of the Spectacle lived there in the 1940s Djamila Boupacha 1938 FLN combatant imprisoned there in 1962 shortly before Independence was reached in Algeria 54 Henri Emmanuelli 1945 politician studied there Francois Bayrou 1951 municipal councillor of the city of Pau from 1983 to 1993 and then from 2008 to 2014 as well as president of the Conseil departemental des Pyrenees Atlantiques fr from 1992 to 2001 Bayrou is the current Mayor of Pau his birthplace was Borderes Daniel Balavoine 1952 1986 native of Bizanos studied there Leopold Eyharts 1957 astronaut studied there Jean Michel Aphatie fr 1958 reporter for Canal and RTL holds a master s degree from the Law University of Pau Frederic Beigbeder 1965 spent part of his childhood in Pau living in the Villa Navarra the family home was sold in 2002 49 Wilfrid Lupano fr 1971 comic book writer lives in Pau Leo Quievreux 1971 comic book writer lives in Pau as of 2022 55 Michael Gregorio fr 1984 spent his childhood in PauGallery Edit Rue Jeanne d Albret and the Church of Saint Martin fr The Church of Saint Martin and the war memorial The Place de la Liberation Funiculaire de Pau and a view of the Pyrenees The quarter of the Chateau de Pau The Hotel de Peyre facing the chateau The Palmeraie des sentiers du Roy Terrace of the Pavilion des Arts and the Pic du Midi de Bigorre Quartier du Hedas fr Buildings along the Boulevard des Pyrenees Villa Ridgway Passage Parentoy The Gaston Febus statue facing the PyreneesSee also Edit France portalCommunes of the Pyrenees Atlantiques department Georges Verez sculptor of Pau War Memorial Chambre de commerce et d industrie Pau Bearn fr Tramway de Pau fr Bibliography EditSaupiquet Dr Amedee 2004 Petite histoire de Pau A short history of Pau in French Editions PyreMonde Princi Negue ISBN 2 84618 168 3 Bouchard Jean Pierre 1988 Pau Pau in French Editions Ouest France fr Issartel Thierry Bayrou Francois Bouchard Jean Pierre et al 2010 Henri IV les cles d un regne Henry IV the keys to a kingdom in French Editions Gascogne Notes Edit of remains have been discovered in 1850 on the outskirts of the area the remains of an important building villa or baths 4 in an Act passed during the episcopate of Gui de Lons 5 References Edit Repertoire national des elus les maires data gouv fr Plateforme ouverte des donnees publiques francaises in French 2 December 2020 Populations legales 2019 The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies 29 December 2021 INSEE commune file Saupiquet Amedee 2004 Negue Princi ed Petite histoire de Pau la ville de Pau aux trois phases de son histoire Pau p 14 ISBN 2 84618 168 3 192 BnF no FRBNF39913121 Saupiquet Amedee 2004 negue Princi ed Petite histoire de Pau la ville de Pau aux trois phases de son histoire Pau p 13 ISBN 2 84618 168 3 192 BnF no FRBNF39913121 Les freres Wright aviation memorial com Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 18 May 2015 Paris Nice Strasbourg Brest Normales climatiques 1981 2010 Pau www lameteo org Retrieved 22 June 2022 Donnees climatiques de la station de Pau in French Meteo France Retrieved 28 December 2015 Climat Aquitaine in French Meteo France Retrieved 28 December 2015 Pau Uzein 64 PDF Fiche Climatologique Statistiques 1981 2010 et records in French Meteo France Archived from the original PDF on 16 April 2018 Retrieved 16 April 2018 Normes et records 1961 1990 Pau Uzein 64 altitude 183m in French Infoclimat Archived from the original on 24 August 2017 Retrieved 28 December 2015 Michel Grosclaude Dictionnaire toponymique des communes du Bearn 2006 pg 304 Histoire de Pau pp 11 15 Tucoo Chala Pierre 1989 Histoire de Pau Toulouse Editions Privat pp 11 15 ISBN 2 7089 8238 9 collection Univers de la France Bearn Traditional province France Retrieved 11 April 2015 La basse ville de Pau toute une histoire a redecouvrir The lower town of Pau a history to rediscover in French Retrieved 12 April 2015 ANCIENNE USINE DE PRODUCTION ELECTRIQUE DES TRAMWAYS A PAU OLD FACTORY PRODUCTION ELECTRIC TRAMS PAU in French Retrieved 12 April 2015 Thomas F Schwartz And Anne V Shaughnessy Unpublished Mary Lincoln Letters Historycooperative org Retrieved 17 July 2012 Jean Touyarot L Hotel des ombres Seuil 2011 220 p Voir l explication des aboutissants de la conference dans Hugues Tertrais la piastre et le fusil Le cout de la guerre d Indochine 1945 1954 Paris ministere de l Economie des Finances et de l Industrie Comite pour l histoire economique et financiere de la France 2002 p 95 102 Decret n 2014 248 du 25 fevrier 2014 portant delimitation des cantons dans le departement des Pyrenees Atlantiques Resultat municipales Pau elu publie linternaute com Base communale des Pyrenees Atlantiques Intercommunalite Cellule informatique prefecture 64 Archived from the original on 19 May 2014 Retrieved 12 April 2015 Les jumelages favorisent le rayonnement a l international pau fr in French Pau 31 July 2019 Retrieved 11 December 2019 Des villages de Cassini aux communes d aujourd hui Commune data sheet Pau EHESS in French Population en historique depuis 1968 INSEE Pau la clinique Marzet est rachetee par la polyclinique de Navarre Pau The Marzet Clinic is bought by the Polyclinic of Navarre in French Retrieved 12 April 2015 Ostau Bearnes Retrieved 12 April 2015 Louis Sallenave Un siecle a Pau et en Bearn Presse et editions de l Adour p 2000 Carnaval Biarnes Retrieved 14 April 2015 Hestiv Oc Retrieved 14 April 2015 http www access org bare URL Festival du Jeu de Societe de Pau Retrieved 14 April 2014 Bienvenue sur le site de Shock of Street association de Parkour a Pau Welcome to Shock of Street Parkour Association in Pau in French Retrieved 15 April 2015 PYRENEA SPORTS PYRENEA SPORTS in French Retrieved 15 April 2015 LA PYRENEA TRIATHLON LA PYRENEA TRIATHLON in French Archived from the original on 8 March 2009 Pau Pyrenees obtient les mondiaux de canoe kayak 2017 Pau Pyrenees obtains 2017 world canoeing in French Archived from the original on 16 April 2015 Retrieved 16 April 2015 a b Horace A Laffaye The Evolution of Polo Jefferson N C McFarland amp Company 2009 p 27 Pau camp de base du Tour dans les Pyrenees Pau Base Camp of the Tour in the Pyrenees in French Archived from the original on 3 May 2015 Retrieved 16 April 2015 Office Location Halliburton Retrieved 13 January 2009 Roger Vincent Aiello Dans les coulisses d Elf Aquitaine Editions Le Manuscrit 2010 p 61 La filiere des energies et des nouveaux materiaux The sector of energies and new materials in French Archived from the original on 23 August 2007 Graham Robb The Discovery of France Picador London 2007 p 287 Classement des autoroutes les plus cheres de France Ranking of the most expensive highways in France in French Retrieved 13 April 2015 Reseau idelis com Reseau idelis com Retrieved 17 July 2012 Pau coup d envoi symbolique des travaux pour le bus ameliore Pau Symbolic kick off of the work for the improved bus in French Retrieved 14 April 2015 Fay H M Marcel H 1910 Histoire de la lepre en France I Lepreux et cagots du Sud Ouest notes historiques medicales philologiques suivies de documents History of leprosy in France I lepers and cagots in southwestern medical and historical philological followed by documents in French Paris H Champion a b Pays basque Place Des Editeurs 2013 p 221 Les villes et villages fleuris Pau Flowery towns and villages Pau in French Retrieved 13 April 2015 Le Boulevard des Pyrenees de Pau reve d Unesco The Boulevard des Pyrenees of Pau dreams of Unesco in French Retrieved 13 April 2015 Les villes et villages fleuris The flowery cities and villages in French Archived from the original on 26 June 2015 Retrieved 13 April 2015 Nationale Assemblee M Roger Gerard Schwartzenberg Mandat clos Val de Marne 3e circonscription Assemblee nationale www2 assemblee nationale fr Simone de Beauvoir and Gisele Halimi Djamila Boupacha The Story of the Torture of a Young Algerian Girl Which Shocked Liberal French Opinion trans Peter Green First American Edition New York The Macmillian Company 1962 Leo Quievreux Specimens Exhibition Huberty amp Breyne 25 February 2022 Retrieved 16 June 2022 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pau France Wikisource has the text of the Encyclopaedia Britannica 9th ed article Pau in French City Council official website in French Atlas historique de Pau Pau New International Encyclopedia 1905 in Chinese Pau s Chinese Community website in English Tourist office of the City Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Pau Pyrenees Atlantiques amp oldid 1127871621, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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