Tourist guide

PAMIERS TODAY

AN ORGANIC CANTEEN

Pamiers has been among the very first towns to create a canteen for school children providing organic and local food exclusively. Launched on January 4, 2000, the Las Parets canteen now receives more than 1,000 pupils who are treated to healthy and tasty food products.
A decade after the start of the experience, dining halls and kitchens have been created in every school so that the children no longer have to go to Las Parets as meals can now be prepared in the original canteen and cooked on the school premises. Only fresh products are being used while frozen goods or industrial products are banned. Local farmers provide season vegetables and meat bred on grain while a local laboratory checks the quality of the food.

PAMIERS : THE STORY

GABRIEL FAURÉ, FROM PAMIERS TO THE MADELEINE

The son of a Pamiers schoolteacher, Gabriel Fauré became the most famous composer of his time but never forgot where he came from. It is in Foix, in which his father was named director of the Ecole Normale that the young Gabriel revealed exceptional skills for the piano and harmonium. He was only nine when his father accepted to send him as a pupil to the Niedemeyer school for sacred music in Paris. Gabriel learnt his art with Camille St Saens as his teacher before being named organist at La Madeleine church and director of the Paris conservatory of music. Maurice Ravel or Nadia Boulanger were among his pupils. Fauré often returned to Ariege, always glad to be reunited with his cousins in Pamiers and he stayed in town for the last time in 1921, three years before his death. His harmonic sense and the perfect balance of his compositions made him the master of French melody. A plaque reminds his birthplace at number 17, rue Gabriel Peri.
Every summer in June then in September, the Music in Fauré’s land festival turns Pamiers into a haven of classical music. In 2010, the great opera singer Mady Mesplé was the guest of honour and invited her many friends for a concert.

PAMIERS AND CYCLING

THE TOUR TAKES OVER FROM THE ROUTE DU SUD

The Tour de France loves Ariege, having stopped in nine towns in the department. But whereas Ax-les-Thermes or St Girons have been visited regularly, Pamiers had not been so lucky so far. The anomaly is now rectified for the biggest town in Ariege, with a population of 17,000.
Cycling is not unheard of in Gabriel Fauré’s hometown as it hosted the Route du Sud three times in the 1980s. in 1986, in a stage from Tarbes, the podium had been a prestigious one with Bernard Hinault the winner ahead of Charly Mottet and Ronan Pensec. Yet the five times Tour champion, runner-up to the race instigator Jacques Esclassan in the first edition in 1977, never won the final standings. Other stage winners in Pamiers were Steve Bauer in 1985 and Henri Abadie in 1989.
Further back in time, it is worth mentioning Jacque Dupont, the kilometre Olympic champion in London in 1948 and French road champion in 1954, who also won Paris-Tours twice. Dupont was born in the village of Lezat-sur-Leze, near Pamiers, and rode three Tours in the early 50s.

PAMIERS : TIMELINE

5TH century	Visigoth king Theodoric 1 gave his son Frederic a land by river Ariege.
507	Martyrdom of Antonin, Frederic’s son, who converted to Christianity. Creation of the St Antonin abbey, first mentioned in 961.
11th century	The creation of canals boosts the town development .
1111	A deal is passed between St Antonin’s abbot and the Count of Foix which gives the name of Apamea to the castle built on the Castella hill.
1295	Faithful to the Church against the Cathar heresy, Pamiers becomes a bishop see thanks to pope Boniface VII.
1790	Foix is chosen instead of Pamiers as the Ariege prefecture.
1817	Construction of the metal works which will bring Pamiers most of its wealth.

PAMIERS : PLACES TO SEE

ST ANTONIN CATHEDRAL

The church, a cathedral since 1499, was built in Toulouse brick, typical of the region. From the original 12th century church, only a portion of the gate survived. The Religion Wars only spared the bell-tower, which could be used as a watchtower. The rebuilt nave was only completed in 1689. It is often attributed to architect Francois Mansart, which is not impossible but other sources think it was the work of his nephew Jules Hardouin-Mansart.

NOTRE DAME DU CAMP

(Our Lady in the fields) has been thus called because it is located outside of town. Started in the 12th century it was built for the most part two centuries later, especially its brick front wall, which is all that was left after the church destruction by the Huguenots in 1577.

LUCHON TODAY

LUCHON CELEBRATES TELEVISION

Every year in February, television and broadcasting professionals meet in Luchon to celebrate their profession and deliver awards to the best productions. The Golden Pyrenees is the most prestigious award handed to the programme chosen by a jury of professionals. Awards also go for the best acting performance, for revelations, best script and best series. The festival, created in 1999 and whose jury was chaired last year by film director Claude Chabrol also introduces the best of the production to come. The festival is headed by respected director and journalist Serge Moati. Being in Luchon, the festival never neglects the arts of the table and many a contract have been signed or discussed on a ski slope. Every year, the focus is put on the television of a foreign country.

BAGNÈRES-DE-LUCHON : THE STORY

PYRENEISM

Pyreneism was launched in the late 19th century by Pyrenees enthusiasts, who saw it as the local equivalent of alpinism. Their idea was not only to climb, explore and conquer new summits but also to celebrate the romanticism of their mountains. The word Pyreneist first appeared in 1898 in the writings of Henri Beraldi at the times when celebrities of arts and literature like Lamartine, Heredia or Maupassant flocked in Luchon and other spas in the Pyrenees. Beradli spent a lot of time in Luchon and was a seasoned trekker who said he had climbed up the Port de Venasque several times. His masterpiece, 100 years in the Pyrenees, comprising seven volumes, collected all the texts written about the Pyrenees up to his time. Before Beraldi, others like Ramond de Carbonnieres were probably pyreneists even if they did not use the word. Closer to Bagneres de Bigorre than to Luchon, Ramond was the first to reach the top of the Mont Perdu and named several Pyrenean summits. His most famous emulators were Emilien Frossard, Charles Packe or Henry Russell, who also inaugurated several mountains. Octave Lapize, the first to reach the top of the Tourmalet on a bike in 1911 was a pyreneist of sorts.

LUCHON AND CYCLING

LUCHON IS NOT PARIS

A look at the roll of honour of Luchon stage finishes implies that it is always good to win here: Octave Lapize, Firmin Lambot, Ottavio Bottecchia, Nicolas Frantz, Antonin Magne, Sylvere Maes, Jean Robic, Hugo Koblet, Federico Bahamontes, Eddy Merckx and Luis Ocana all won in Luchon before winning the Tour.
Yet there were exceptions. In 1983, thanks to his exceptional performance in the Pyrenees, Frenchman Pascal Simon was convinced he had seen the worst. “I’ve made a big step towards final victory,” he said in Luchon.
Famous last words… The next day, the 1982 Tour de l’Avenir winner crashed near Lannemezan. His collarbone broken, Simon spent five days in hell, the yellow jersey on his back. It hurt so much that the Frenchman suffered intense pain when putting the leader’s jersey on while his team-mate Frederic Brun was in charge of feeding him during stages. Pascal Simon went as far as he could but was forced to call it quits in the stage leading to L’Alpe d’Huez. He never had a second chance. His 7th place in1984 was his best in 11 participations.
Since the first Tour stay in the Pyrenees in 1910, Luchon has been on the road-book 50 times, serving as a base-camp before tackling the Peyresourde pass on one hand or the Portillon on the other. The last stage winner here was Italian Rodolfo Massi in 1998. For the last quarter of a century, Luchon has mostly held stage starts – five times out of six since 1986. This stage is the 7th Luchon – Pau since WW2 and the classic course has seen victories by Jean Robic, Federico Bahamontes or Bernard Hinault.

LUCHON : TIMELINE

Roman period	A legionnaire from the Pompey army discovered the virtues of Luchon’s water. In 25 BC, Emperor Tiberius Claudius developed the baths, which were deemed the best in the world after Naples.
Middle Ages	A border town, remote from the world’s quarrels, Luchon lived on a local form of Christianity that never ruled out good food or womanising.
1200	Knights Templar established a house in Luchon to host pilgrims on this alternative St James Way.
1759	The intendent of Gascony, Baron Antoine Megret d’Etigny reorganised Luchon and developed the spa.
1763	The Duke of Richelieu came to Luchon to take waters. He returned a year after with most of the Royal Court. The Luchon Thermal Baths were on their way to success.
1854	Empress Eugenie launched the trend for hydrotherapy. The jet set of the time rushed to Luchon.
1880	Building of the casino.
1911	The Super-Bagneres ski resort is created.

LUCHON : PLACES TO SEE

ALLEES D’ETIGNY

Luchon’s main avenue is exceptional by its long line of remarkable buildings reflecting diverse inspirations: 18th century neo-classicism, neo-gothic, Victorian style, Swiss or Russian chalets, Art-Deco houses can all be found here side by side. The huge Vaporarium, typical of the 1960s, is among the most surprising features of the alleys.