Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques

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Coordinates: 43°18′06″N 0°22′07″W / 43.3016666666667, -0.368611111111

Commune of Pau

Château de Pau
Location
Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques (France)
Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Administration
Country France
Region Aquitaine
Department Pyrénées-Atlantiques
(préfecture)
Arrondissement Pau
Canton Chief town of 6 cantons
Intercommunality Communauté d'agglomération de Pau Pyrénées
Mayor Martine Lignières-Cassou
(2008-...)
Statistics
Elevation 165 m–245 m
(avg. 178 m)
Land area¹ 31.51 km²
Population²
(1999)		 78,732
 - Density 2,499/km² (1999)
Miscellaneous
INSEE/Postal code 64445/ 64000
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 Population sans doubles comptes: residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) only counted once.
France
Yelmer Buurman races his Fortec British Formula Three car on the Pau circuit in 2006.
Yelmer Buurman races his Fortec British Formula Three car on the Pau circuit in 2006.
The Funiculaire de Pau.
The Funiculaire de Pau.
The footpath west from the Château.
The footpath west from the Château.

Pau (Paue in Basque) is a town and commune of southwestern France, préfecture (capital) of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département. It is famous for the Boulevard des Pyrénées, a walk of three-quarters of a kilometer from the château to the Parc du Beaumont and the royal Beaumont Park with magnificent views of the mountains in the Pyrenees mountain range. Along the elevated path the iron hand-rails have plaques explaining which mountain is directly in front of you and how high it is.

The Université de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour (founded in 1972) is situated in the town and accounts for Pau's high student population.

Contents

[edit] Geography

Pau was the capital of the former province of Béarn. The site, on a slight elevation overlooking the valley of the mountain river called the Gave de Pau, where it was crossed by a ford, controlled access to an easy passage into the Pyrenees, used annually for the seasonal pasturage of flocks of sheep in the high meadows (now represented by a hiking footpath GR 65 that runs about 60 km south to the Spanish border). Access to the pass partly accounts for Pau's strategic importance.

[edit] History

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

The site was fortified in the 11th century ("pau" means "palisade" in Occitan), and it became the seat of the viscounts of Béarn. Pau was made the capital of Béarn in 1464. During the early 16th century, the Château de Pau, made more habitable by Gaston Fébus, count of Foix, became the residence of the kings of Navarre, who were also counts of Béarn.

Pau was the birthplace of Henry IV of France (1553–1610), though this required some extraordinary effort. His mother, the redoubtable Jeanne d'Albret, crossed the whole of France to ensure that her son would be born there. The baby's lips were moistened with the local wine and rubbed with garlic shortly after the birth.

Charles XIV of Sweden was born in Pau, in 1763.

When Henry IV left Pau to become King of France, he remarked to the local notables that he was not giving Béarn to France, he was giving France to Béarn.

The English discovered the charms of Pau and its climate and left their imprint, partly because Wellington left a garrison at Pau on his way into Spain during the Peninsular War against Napoleon. Vacationing British, arriving before the railroad did, established the scenic promenade, the Boulevard des Pyrenées, the first full 18-hole golf course in Europe (laid out in 1856/1860, and still in existence), and a real tennis court.

Napoleon III refurbished the château, while Pau added streets of Belle Époque architecture, before fashion transferred to Biarritz. Pau is still a major centre for winter sports and for equestrian events, with a famous steeplechase.

[edit] Château de Pau

Main article: Château de Pau

In the center of Pau there is a magnificent castle, the Château de Pau, that dominates that quarter of the city. It is famous for being the birthplace of the 16th century king of France Henry IV and was once used by Napoleon as a holiday home during his period of power. It has a small garden that was tended by Marie Antoinette when she spent much of the summers in the city.

The château now is considered a French historical monument and contains a nice collection of tapestry.

[edit] Economy

From the 1950s to the 1990s Pau depended on the production of natural gas and sulphur dioxide which were discovered nearby at Lacq. Today the mainstays of the Béarn area are the oil business, the aerospace industry through the helicopter manufacturer Turbomeca, tourism and agriculture. Pau was the birthplace of Elf Aquitaine, which has now become a part of Total.

[edit] Transport

Pau has an airport, Pau Pyrénées Airport, which is about 10 km away from the centre. There are 5 scheduled flights only. They are Air France to Paris Orly, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Lyon airports. Transavia to Amsterdam Schipol airport and Ryanair to London Stansted. From May 2008 Ryanair will also be flying to Bristol. The A64 motorway runs across Pau. The Spanish border is about 60 km away from Pau.

From the Boulevard des Pyrénées, the Funiculaire de Pau, a newly refurbished funicular railway, takes you to the valley bottom near Pau railway station.

[edit] Military Presence

Pau is the home of the French military's Ècole des troupes aéroportées, which trains and certifies military paratroops.

[edit] Sport

The local basketball team, Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez have been French champions five times in the last ten years- most recently in 2004. Famous former players include Boris Diaw and Johan Petro.

Pau is home to Section Paloise, the city's rugby union team, which plays in the second French division known as Pro D2. Most recently in 2000, it won the European Challenge Cup, a top European trophy. French International player Damien Traille once played for the team and is a native to the city.

Pau is home to the first golf course on continental Europe, laid out in 1856. Since May of 2007, the converted trinquet has reopened to its original sport, real tennis, on Sundays.

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 61st stage in 2007, and only one other city besides Paris has done better.

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

[edit] Grand Prix de Pau

Main article: Grand Prix de Pau

Pau holds the honor of arranging the first race ever 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 was back in the race calendar in 1933, now with a Monaco inspired track in the city center.

The track, which is 2.769 km in length, is one of the most curious and twisty in the GP history and has remained more or less unchanged into the 1990s. The first curve is the sharp 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 high school Louis Barthou that leads the track into the demanding Parc Beaumont section at the top of the town. After visiting the Casino garden and passing yet another hairpin, the Virage the Buisson, the track winds its way back to the startline along the Avenue Lacoste.

Pau was traditionally the season opener but selecting mid February as the date for the 1933 GP was to tempt fate and the race took place in a snowstorm with sludge making the conditions into one of the worst ever in racing history. 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 the war Pau continued as a non-championship Formula 1 race until 1963. Thereafter the race was run to Formula 2 rules until the sport was replaced by Formula 3000 in 1985. In 1999, the event again changed, with Formula Three cars racing.

[edit] Births

Pau was the birthplace of:

[edit] Twin towns

Pau has been twinned with

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Regional Overview. MobileChamber.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-15.

[edit] External links

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