Stage town for the 4th time
Prefecture of Gers (32)
Population: 23,100 (Auscitains, Auscitaines). 39,000 inhabitants in the Grand Auch Cœur de Gascogne community of communes.
Personalities: D'Artagnan (musketeer). Jacques Fouroux, Frédéric Torossian, Yannick Bru, Julien Hériteau (rugby union), Raymond Mastrotto, Nicolas Portal (cycling), Eric Carrière (football). André Daguin (chef).
Specialities: black Bigorre pork, foie gras, duck in all its forms (confit, magret, rillettes), Lectoure melon, Saint-Mont and Côtes de Gascogne wines, Armagnac, Floc de Gascogne, etc.
Sport: RC Auch (rugby), Auch Football, Auch Basket Club. Event: Pedestrian Corrida
Economy: Auch Hyper Distribution (E.Leclerc), JCB Aéro, Positronic Industries, Cartonnages d'Auch. Tourism. Gastronomy.
Festivals: Éclats de voix (classical music, June) / Indépendance(s) et création (cinema, October) / Festival CIRCa (contemporary circus) / Welcome in Tziganie (in Seissan) / Auch, le Goût ! (gastronomy)
Labels: Ville active et sportive : Town of Art and History / APIcité / Tourisme et handicap / Villes et Villages Fleuris 4 Fleurs
Websites / social networks: www.mairie-auch.fr / www.auch-tourisme.com / www.gers.fr
AUCH AND CYCLING
The prefecture of the Gers will be hosting the Tour de France for the 4th time, after three consecutive visits between 1975 and 1977. Eddy Merckx was the first rider to be crowned in the town during the Tour in a 37.4km individual time trial that was far from easy. The Cannibal had a puncture 4km from the finish and lost 20 seconds, all the more precious as he had only beaten Bernard Thevenet by nine seconds at the finish. The following year, the same time trial took place between Fleurance and Auch, with another Belgian winner, but instead of the expected Freddy Maertens, victory went to Ferdinand Bracke. Fleurance-Auch again in 1977, but for a road stage won surprisingly by Frenchman Pierre-Raymond Villemiane.
Auch is also the birthplace of late Team Sky sports director Nicolas Portal, whose moving funeral took place in the cathedral in March 2020. Another native of Auch, and another tragic end, was that of Raymond Mastrotto, who died of a ruptured aneurysm in 1984 at the age of 49 while cycling. Sixth in the 1960 Tour de France, winner of the Criterium du Dauphiné in 1962 and of a stage in the Tour in 1967, he had already had to interrupt his career in 1968 after being hit by a car.
SIGHTS
Tour d'Armagnac
Construction : 14th century
Style : medieval
History : built in the 14th century, it was originally a prison attached to the palace of the archbishopric of Auch. Over time, due to a lack of prisoners, it was used as a warehouse for religious archives. In the 19th century, the tower was returned to its original function, as part of the prison on Place Salinis. It was definitively disused when Auch prisons were built behind the new courthouse in the 1860s.
Characteristics : the 40-metre-high keep stands at the top of Auch's monumental staircase. The gaols have been preserved: in the lower section, there are three barrel-vaulted cells and in the upper section, there are seven cells with ceilings, one on each floor. Access is via a spiral staircase.
Listed as : historical monument in 1945.
Sainte-Marie d'Auch Cathedral
Construction : 15th to 17th centuries
Style : Flamboyant Gothic
History : begun in July 1489, at the instigation of François de Savoie, on the ruins of the Romanesque cathedral of Saint-Austinde, it was consecrated on 12 February 1548 but took two centuries to complete. It is in the flamboyant Gothic style, strongly influenced by the Renaissance. A Corinthian façade and porch were added at the end of the 17th century. It comprises a group of 21 chapels.
Characteristics : the cathedral was built on a Latin cross plan with a nave (main nave and aisles), peripheral chapels and a transept that does not overhang. Access is via five portals: three to the west, leading to the nave and aisles, and one at each end of the transept. In 1672, architects Pierre Mercier and Pierre Miressus began work on the last two storeys of the towers. Their sculpted decoration, completed in 1680, is the work of François Auxion.
Special features : it is famous for its stained-glass windows by Arnaud de Moles. The choir contains a set of 113 solid oak stalls depicting more than 1,500 figures. The central portal bears the coat of arms of Jean-François de Montillet de Grenaud, Archbishop of Auch in the 18th century. On the route to Santiago de Compostela, this cathedral was a hospice for pilgrims.
Listed as : historical monument in 1906. UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Pilgrim's Way to Santiago de Compostela.
Cloister of the Cordeliers
Construction : 14th century
Style : Gothic
Characteristics : It was built in the 14th century by the Franciscans, who had been living in Auch since 1259. All that remains of this building are eighteen bays set against the north wall of the old church. The capitals are moulded but have no sculptures; they support the marble columns, most of which were removed and scattered around the town.
Special feature : the cloister was opened to the public for the first time during the 2012 European Heritage Days.
Current use : the former convent is now a municipal hall and the former church a restaurant. The cloister between the two is partly private.
Listed as : historical monument in 1923.
Museum of the Americas
Construction : 15th century. Museum opened : 1979
History : founded on 16 December 1793, the museum is one of the oldest in France. It houses over 20,000 objects, including more than 8,000 works of pre-Columbian art. For some years now, the museum has been working closely with the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. The building housing the museum is a Jacobean convent dating from the early 15th century, which has French MH listing. The museum was transferred there in 1979 following a major restoration campaign.
Characteristics : it houses the second largest collection of pre-Columbian artefacts in France after the Quai Branly-Jacques-Chirac Museum in Paris. Most of the collection comes from Guillaume Pujos, an Auch-born arts lover living in Chile, who brought the pieces back home in 1906.
Listed as : Historical Monument in 1976. Museum of France. National reference centre.
Fedel House
Construction : 15th century
Style : timber-framed house
History : Maison Fedel is representative of medieval urban housing. It is one of the oldest houses in the town. The stone ground floor originally housed a shop enclosed by two shutters (one to form a canopy, the other to form a stall). The son of the last tinsmith, Albert Fedel, became a renowned teacher and was a member of the Public Instruction Superior Council before the 1940 war. He donated the half-timbered house to the town of Auch.
Characteristics : set on stone corbels, the three storeys are timber-framed and have a fine infill of flat bricks laid in regular rows in mortar (squares, rhombuses and fishbones).
Listed as : Historical Monument in 1932.
National Circus Centre (CIRCa)
The CIRCa is a reference centre responsible for promoting the development of circus arts. To this end, its missions as a national circus centre are implemented through the various aspects of its project: cultural season, support for creation, cultural actions, circus festival, local actions, etc. To carry out its missions, Circa has had a unique facility at its disposal since 2012: CIRC, the Circus Innovation and Research Centre.
Circa, which today employs a team of 18 permanent staff, has a singular history and a number of different developments.
TO EAT
André Daguin's duck breast
A Michelin-starred chef at the Hôtel de France until his death in 2019, André Daguin, a former rugby union player, is best known as the inventor (and promoter) of the now unmissable dish of duck breast (magret de canard). In 1959, he was the first to come up with the idea of cooking duck breast like a steak and serving it with a green pepper sauce. Previously, duck had been served as a confit, more rarely as a whole roast. His recipe for foie gras cooked in a cloth also made him famous in the United States, where in 1985 his daughter Ariane set up the D'Artagnan company in New York, which supplies chefs and private individuals with foie gras, meat and charcuterie. To grill a duck breast, André Daguin recommended preheating the oven to 180°C, then starting cooking in a cold pan, to allow the fat to begin to melt, before crisping. The duck breast is then placed in the oven, with the fat on top. No more than 5 or 6 minutes.
