Views taken around the town of Orthez
| Traditional Béarnaise rooves | Open
air laundry |
Orthez,
which for 222 years was the capital of Béarn (an independant state
until
1620 when it was taken over by France), has a
significant Protestant history. The area was severely
affected by brief but bloody religious wars and, on 24 August 1569,
about 3000 catholics were massacred in Orthez. Although
it was deprived of its status as capital, it was endowed with a
protestant university, and remained one of the most important towns in
Béarn. There is a museum dealing with the subject (Le Musée du
Protestantisme). Orthez lies in the geographical area permitted
to produce wines of the Béarn-Bellocq appellation. A new vineyard
in the town was opened in 1991 to
commemorate 600 years since the death of Gaston Fébus (Gaston III of
Foix-Béarn, of which he made Orthez the capital). The three views
to the
right below would, when the weather isn't hazy, have the Pyrénnées as a
backdrop.
| Protestant
church on left |
View
looking down to town centre |
Town
from the commemorative vineyard |
From
the fortifications at the Moncade tower |
The Château (castle) Moncade, from which the town and region was administered for a while in the Middle Ages, has partly disappeared but the keep, or tower, the "Tour Moncade", is still the dominating visual feature of the town. This is the tower that appears at the top of these website pages. The moat has the typical shape of French moats of the period (somewhat different from those in England). The tower was more recently used as a prison. It is open to visitors only in the summer months but the reward for climbing to the top, in clear weather, is magnificent views including, of course, the Pyrénnées. The Rue Moncade is the main road from the tower to the river crossing which are all on one of the main pilgrims’ routes through Aquitaine to Compostella.
| The
excavated moat |
The
Moncade Tower |
Rue
Moncade |
Rue Moncade |
The Château Moncade was built in the 13th century. Prior to that
the old town (the Bourg Vieux), at the bottom of the hill near the
river, was fortified by town walls of which there are a few
remnants. Subsequently two new boroughs (the Bourg Moncade and,
in between, the Bourg Neuf, the new borough) were each separately
enclosed by walls in
the 13th century. There are therefore remnants of three different
sets of town walls! While the three enclosed sites are referred
to as boroughs, they are quite small. The dimensions of all three
together only amount to approximately 800 metres by 250 metres (one
fifth of a square kilometre).
| Near
Tour Moncade |
A mediaeval tower - part of the old walls of the Bourg Neuf, near Tour Moncade | Place
du Foirail |
Place du Foirail |
Later, the town expanded to the east and west of the walls of the 3 boroughs and there is architecture from a variety of periods. The current Town Hall and the Place d'Armes lie just outside the line of the old town walls. The Town Hall and other significant buildings were taken over by the German occupying forces during the second world war. (N.B. Orthez was the boundary of occupied France in this area and was like a frontier town in some respects). The history of the occupation and the resistance is an interesting story in its own right.
| Place
Brossers |
Place
Brossers |
Rue
Saint-Gilles |
Town
Hall in the Place d'Armes |
At the bottom of the hill, at the "Gave" (river), is the boundary of the oldest inhabited part of the town. The Pont Vieux (the old bridge) is said to be one of the most beautiful examples of mediaeval defensive architecture preserved to the present day, with its roofed tower (there were originally two) standing on the bridge itself. Although some repair of the parapets was required, it survived an attempt to demolish it by Napoleon's military engineers, intending to deny the use of it to Wellington's forces during the Battle of Orthez. Demolition of all other bridges between Bayonne and Pau was successful. (The Battle, 27 February 1814, was ultimately concluded on the rising ground just outside the town to the north and west. It was the final battle of the Peninsular War, although the Battle of Toulouse was fought after Napoleon had capitulated. The Napoleonic forces were put to flight, losing about 2500 of their troops killed or wounded, and another 1000 or more taken prisoner). Parts of the old town walls can be seen (see photograph below) rising from the river bank between the old and new bridges.
| Place
d'Armes at start of Le Tour de France 2007 - Stage 16 |
Rue
Jeanne-d'Albret looking towards Tour Moncade |
Pont-Vieux
from Pont-Neuf |
Rue du
Pont-Vieux |
The south side of the river is called Départ. For centuries the old bridge was the river crossing and the way into the town for those coming to trade goods as well as for pilgrims making for Compostella. While the old road is still used, solely by the residents' vehicles, the bridge itself is now for pedestrians only. The new bridge, more suited to vehicular traffic was buit in the mid-nineteenth century, as was the railway.
| Impasse de l'Ecorcherie, Départ | Rue
Gaston-Planté, Départ |
Rue du Pont-Vieux, Départ | Pont-Neuf
from Pont-Vieux |
The
area of the Bourg-Vieux, the oldest part of the existing town, lies
immediately on the north bank. The Rue Craverie (formerly the Rue
de la Graverie, possibly taking its name from "gravier", or gravel,
extracted from the river), the Rue
des Aiguilletiers, and the Rue Bourg-Vieux follow the ancient street
plan.
| Rue du Pont-Vieux from the bridge | Rue
Craverie |
Rue Craverie | Rue
Craverie |
| Rue Bourg-Vieux | Rue
des Aiguilletiers |
Rue des Aiguilletiers |
Immediately to the west of the fortified "Bourg-Vieux", lies the area known as La Moutète which gives its name to the large market hall. The word "moutète" or "moutet" comes from a Béarnaise word meaning "mound". The lower end of this area is thought to be the site of the original fortress, pre-dating the Bourg-Vieux. While nothing of this remains above ground, walls of 1.3 metres (4 feet) thickness were found during excavations in 1967 for the new section of road (Avenue de la Moutète). Above this avenue is the Place Saint-Pierre and the church, constructed around 1300. Built after the earliest of the Bourg-Neuf's town walls, it is hypothesised that additional walls, which are not visible above ground, were built to conjoin it. There is a cultural centre incorporating a theatre and bookshop in the Place which, on Tuesday mornings, also fills up with market stalls. There are shops, bars and restaurants here and within a short walking distance.
| Avenue de la Moutète | Avenue
de la Moutète to Place Saint-Pierre |