I was looking at my cd rom vault and found me new pictures to my blog that should be here for you and me. I wanted to bring to life some of my memories with the help of my travel library , diaries,etc, Therefore, here is my take on this is Aire sur l’Adour !!! Hope you enjoy it as I.
The town of Aire-sur-l’Adour is located in the Landes department, no, 40, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of my belle France,It is crossed by the D824, in the heart of the Tursan AOC vineyard, 157 km from Bordeaux, 69 km from Pau, 32 km from Mont-de-Marsan, 727 km from Versailles, and 642 km from my current home, I went there on the N165, A83, to the A10 by Niort, around Bordeaux on the N230 , then Rocade A630 to connect with the A62 to connect with the A65 to exit /sortie 6 on the D824 to Aire sur l’Adour, It is located at the point where the Adour River enters the Landes department, at the junction of the Tursan, Armagnac, and Vic-Bilh areas. The town is connected to the A65 by the Aire-sur-l’Adour North Interchange and the Aire-sur-l’Adour South Interchange.
The Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste or St John the Baptist Cathedral is located at Rue Gambetta. The cathedral, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, is located in the lower town, where the bishops of this diocese, created in the 6C, resided and which operated until 1802 .
The severe 13C façade, raised by a slate-roofed tower, has a simple pointed arch as its portal. The sacristy is a 14C chapter house with Gothic vaults resting on central pillars, in Toulouse style, evoking the Jacobin “palm trees.” The nave has a 14C ribbed vault. The Romanesque capitals of the pillars near the transept are decorated with figures of monsters, perhaps representing Daniel in the lions’ den.The apse and the large rotunda of the chevet were built in the 18C, reusing some older materials. The choir features 18C woodwork. The sanctuary is surrounded by a marble balustrade dating from 1864, and the polychrome marble high altar was made around 1770. At the rear, stalls and woodwork from the late 17C are housed in an apse rebuilt in the 18C. On the north wall of the choir are remains of ancient Romanesque blind arcades.
Four apsidal chapels overlook the transept. They are dedicated, from left to right, to Saint Joseph, the Blessed Virgin , the Blessed Sacrament, and the Holy Relics. The stained-glass windows were installed in the 1860s. The paintings in the nave, transept, and side aisles date from the same period. There is no trace of ornamentation prior to the 19C, except in the choir. The chapels were first painted between 1828 and 1832. The organ was built in 1757-1759.
The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist marks a stop on the Via Podiensis, one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, which runs from Le Puy-en-Velay to Santiago de Compostela via the Roncesvalles Pass. Construction of the cathedral must have begun at the end of the 12C, but it was frequently remodeled until the 19C. However, as the archives of the bishopric of Aire were destroyed during the Wars of Religion, the history of the cathedral is little known. It is first mentioned in a bull of Clement V in 1309. Endowed, before the modern period, with a single nave and a fairly extensive sanctuary, the cathedral has a plan consistent with that of the Romanesque churches of Gascony. It can be linked to Cistercian buildings in Aquitaine and Spain.
The official Parish of Saint Quitterie on the Cathedral : https://saintequitterie.diocese40.fr/2021/04/10/la-cathedrale-saint-jean-baptiste/
Other things to see here me think are the City/town hall since 1927 occupies part of the former bishopric. It is a 17C building, with a stone staircase and coffered ceilings, a round tower with a 16C staircase, topped with a pepperpot. In the small archaeological museum of the town hall, stones carved with scallop shells. The 14C maison de l’officialité or official house, 6 rue Labeyrie, with mullioned windows, was the jurisdiction where the Jurats sat. The five-arched stone bridge over the Adour river dates from 1834, the octagonal grain market with large stone arches, dates from 1860. Sainte-Quitterie Church, rue Félix-Despagnet, on the hill of Mas is in the Gothic style of the 13-14C, except for the chevet which dates from the end of the 11C or the beginning of the 12C
A bit of history I like tell us that in the 5C, Aire was part of the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse; it became a royal residence under kings Euric (466-484) and Alaric II (484-507). In 470, Euric, who was an Arian, launched orders from Aire against the Nicene churches. Alaric II gathered in Aire, in February 506, an assembly of bishops and grandees, as well as jurists, who established a collection of laws intended for the Gallo-Romans of the kingdom and inspired mainly by the code of Theodosius of 438 , that is to say, Roman law. The breviary of Alaric would inspire medieval Roman law. A year later, Alaric was defeated by Clovis at the Battle of Vouillé. It was in lower Aire, in the fortified city bordering the Adour river, that an agreement was reached in the 12C between the King of England, Edward I, and the Bishop of Aturin, one granting his protection, the other a share of his revenues. Aire-sur-l’Adour is a stopover on the Via Podiensis of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. On March 2, 1814, Wellington’s English and Portuguese troops, returning from Spain, won a battle against those of Marshal Soult on the heights southwest of the city, with several hundred deaths. It went down in history as the Battle of Aire-sur-l’Adour.
The town of Aire sur l’Adour on its heritage : https://www.aire-sur-adour.fr/culture-et-traditions/histoire/
The local Aire Eugénie tourist office on Aire sur l’Adour : https://www.tourisme-aire-eugenie.fr/A-voir-a-faire/Patrimoine-et-Histoire
The Landes dept 40 tourist office on Aire sur l’Adour : https://www.landes-holidays.com/explore-the-destination/our-destinations/chalosse-and-tursan/aire-sur-ladour-the-town-full-of-history/
The Nouvelle Aquitaine region tourist office on the Way to Santiago by Aire sur l’Adour : https://www.nouvelle-aquitaine-tourisme.com/en/foret-des-landes-armagnac/the-camino-de-santiago-the-path-to-our-story
There you go folks, a wonderful area of the Landes of my belle France that this road warrior have criss cross several times ,and glad to find me more pictures!!! Need to have it in my blog for the memories of always . Again, hope you enjoy this post on this is Aire sur l’Adour !!! as I
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 