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 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 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 t ...

, southwestern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It lies on the river

Adour The Adour (; eu, Aturri; oc, Ador) is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre (Pyrenees), in the commune of Aspin-Aure, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost ca. i ...

in the wine area of southwest France. It is an

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

of the

Diocese of Aire and Dax The Diocese of Aire and Dax (Latin'':'' ''Dioecesis Adurensis et Aquae Augustae''; French: ''Diocèse d'Aire et Dax'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It comprises the ''département'' o ...

. 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 Rozan ...

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 was ...

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 activit ...

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 Quiteria ( es, Quiteria; ca, Quitèria; oc, Quiteira; french: Quitterie; pt, Quitéria) was a second-century virgin martyr and saint about whom nothing is certain except her name and her cult. She appears in the ''Roman Martyrology'', but not in ...

, who, according to

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

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 The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the Twelve Apostle ...

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 Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its pre ...

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 Florian Cazalot, (born 22 April 1985 in Aire-sur-l'Adour, Landes) is a rugby union player, who plays as prop or hooker for FC Lourdes (1.83 m, 106 kg).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 its m ...

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 base
devoted to launch stratospheric balloons
Image of city's cathedral
Airesurladour World Heritage Sites in France {{Landes-geo-stub