Aire-sur-l'Adour (; oc, Aira d'Ador or simply ) is a
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
in the
Landes department,
Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...
, southwestern
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
It lies on the river
Adour in the wine area of southwest France. It is an
episcopal see of the
Diocese of Aire and Dax. The nearest large towns are
Mont-de-Marsan
Mont-de-Marsan (; Occitan: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a commune and capital of the Landes department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, southwestern France.
Population
Military installations
The French Air and Space Force operates the '' Constantin Roza ...
to the north and
Pau to the south.
History
Aire (''Atura'', ''Vicus Julii'') once was the residence of the
kings of the Visigoths
The Visigothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of the Goths ( la, Regnum Gothorum), was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to ...
. Here in 506
Alaric II
Alaric II ( got, 𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍂𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃, , "ruler of all"; la, Alaricus; – August 507) was the King of the Visigoths from 484 until 507. He succeeded his father Euric as king of the Visigoths in Toulouse on 28 December 484; he wa ...
drew up his code, the ''
Breviarium Alaricianum
The ''Breviary of Alaric'' (''Breviarium Alaricianum'' or ''Lex Romana Visigothorum'') is a collection of Roman law, compiled by unknown writers and approved by referendary Anianus on the order of Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, with the ...
''.
Famed
bullfighter
A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activity ...
Iván Fandiño
Iván Fandiño Barros (September 29, 1980 – June 17, 2017) was a Spanish bullfighter.
Fandiño died of injuries he sustained after being gored by a bull on June 17, 2017, in Aire-sur-l'Adour, France. Fandiño stumbled after he tripped on a ca ...
died in Aire-sur-l'Adour after being
gored by a
bull
A bull is an intact (i.e., not castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e., cows), bulls have long been an important symbol in many religions,
includin ...
on 17 June 2017.
Sights
*
Aire Cathedral
Aire Cathedral (french: Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste d'Aire) is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist in the town of Aire-sur-l'Adour in the Landes département of France.
It was the seat of the Bishops of Aire until t ...
, built in the 11th century but renovated in the 14th and 17th centuries.
*The
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
church of ''Sainte-Quitterie'' is dedicated to
Saint Quiteria, who, according to
Christian tradition, was
beheaded
Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the ...
here in the fifth century. This church is on the
pilgrimage
A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
route called the
Way of St. James.
Population
Personalities
*
Pierrette Le Pen
Pierrette Le Pen (née Pierrette Lallane; born September 10, 1935) is the ex-wife of Jean-Marie Le Pen and the mother of Marine Le Pen.
Biography
Pierrette was the daughter of a wine seller from the Landes department in southwestern France. Pi ...
, mother of
Marine Le Pen and ex-wife of
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Jean Louis Marie Le Pen (, born 20 June 1928) is a French far-right politician who served as President of the National Front from 1972 to 2011. He also served as Honorary President of the National Front from 2011 to 2015.
Le Pen graduated fro ...
*
Florian Cazalot,
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
player, born 1985 in Aire-sur-l'Adour
Twin towns
*
Castro-Urdiales
Castro Urdiales is a seaport of northern Spain, in the autonomous community of Cantabria, situated on the Bay of Biscay.
Castro Urdiales is a modern town, although its castle and the Gothic-style parish church of Santa María de la Asunción, date ...
, Spain
References
External links
History of CNES basedevoted to launch stratospheric balloons
Image of city's cathedral
Airesurladour
World Heritage Sites in France
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