Mont-de-Marsan (;

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language Occitan (; o ...

: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a commune and capital of the

Landes ''Landes'', or ''Lanas'' in Gascon, means moorland or heath. ''Landes'' and ''Lanas'' come from the Latin ''plānus'' meaning “‘flat, even, level, plain’”. They are therefore cognate with the English plain (and plane), the Spanish word '' ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France.INSEE commune file
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Population

Military installations

The

French Air and Space Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

operates the ''

Constantin Rozanoff Constantin Wladimir Rozanoff, also known as Kostia Rozanoff, (russian: Розанов, Константин Владимирович; 23 August 1905 – 3 April 1954 was a French test pilot, a colonel of the French Air Force, and one of the pio ...

'' Mont-de-Marsan Air Base about 2 kilometres north of the town. The base includes CEAM (the French air force military experimentation and trials organisation), an air defense radar command reporting centre and an air defence control training site. Mont-de-Marsan Air Base was formerly home to France's first operational squadron of nuclear bombers, the

Dassault Mirage IV The Dassault Mirage IV was a French supersonic strategic bomber and deep-reconnaissance aircraft. Developed by Dassault Aviation, the aircraft entered service with the French Air Force in October 1964. For many years it was a vital part of the ...

Sights

* The

Donjon Lacataye The Donjon Lacataye is the keep of a 14th-century castle, constructed by order of Gaston Phébus in the ''commune'' of Mont-de-Marsan in the Landes ''département'' of France. Today, it houses the Musée Despiau-Wlérick. Ancien Donjon de Lacata ...

is the keep of a 14th-century castle * Despiau-Wlérick Museum (1930s sculpture by two local artists) * Dubalen Museum * Marechal Foch's equestrian statue

Culture

Stade Montois Club Omnisports is the city's main sports club:

Stade Montois rugby Stade Montois Rugby is a French rugby union team that currently is playing in Pro D2, the second level of the country's professional league system. They were founded in 1908 and play in yellow and black. They are based in Mont-de-Marsan, the ...

and Stade Montois football are especially well-known. The city has around 9,000 sports licensees, which represents nearly 30% of its total population. Two historic punk rock music festivals were held in Mont-de-Marsan's bullring in 1976 and 1977. The Festival Arte Flamenco international festival was established 1989 in Mont-de-Marsan by the council of the Landes department and is the largest Flamenco festival outside of Spain.

Personalities

Joël Bats Joël Bats (born 4 January 1957) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent his entire senior club career in his native France, appearing in a total of 553 competitive club matches and 504 Division 1 matche ...

, association football goalkeeper (1957 – ) * Patrick Biancone,

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

trainer, (1952 – ) * Pierre Bosquet, Marshal of France, (1810–1861) * Thomas Castaignède, rugby union footballer, (1975 – ) * Charles Despiau, sculptor, (1874–1946) *

Pierre Gensous Pierre Gensous (25 July 1925 – 2 December 2017) was a French trade unionist. Born in Mont-de-Marsan, Gensous became a metalworker, and joined his trade union. In 1945, he also joined the French Communist Party (PCF). In 1953, Gensous was s ...

, trade unionist, (1925–2017) * Alain Juppé, politician and former

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister ...

, (1945 – ) *

Gaëtan Laborde Gaëtan Laborde (born 3 May 1994) is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Nice. He represented the France national youth teams up to France U20 level. Club career Laborde started his career at Stade Montois ...

, association football player, (1994 - ) * Romain Larrieu, association football goalkeeper (1976 – ) *

Louis-Anselme Longa Louis-Anselme Longa (4 April 1809 – 13 December 1869) was a French genre artist in the Academic style. He also created numerous church paintings, but is best known for his Orientalist works. Biography He studied design in Paris with Paul Del ...

, painter, (1809–1869) *

Abdoulaye Loum Abdoulaye Loum (born 3 April 1991) is a French professional basketball player for Metropolitans 92 of the LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league ...

, basketball player * Jean van de Velde, golfer, (1966 – ) * Fabien Vehlmann, comics writer, (1972 – ) *

Genevieve Darrieussecq Genevieve (french: link=no, Sainte Geneviève; la, Sancta Genovefa, Genoveva; 419/422 AD – 502/512 AD) is the patroness saint of Paris in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions. Her feast is on 3 January. Genevieve was born in Nanterre an ...

, the mayor of Mont-de-Marsan (2008–2017) and since 2017 Secretary of State to the Minister of the Armed Forces, (1956 – )

International relations

Mont-de-Marsan is twinned with: * Tudela, Navarre, Spain *

Alingsås Alingsås () is a locality and the seat of Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 24,482 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Geographically the city is situated by the outlet of the small rivulet Säveån into lake Mjörn ...

, Sweden

Climate

References

External links

Official website
(in English) Communes of Landes (department) Prefectures in France {{Landes-geo-stub