HAGETMAU
Stage town for the second time.
Commune in the Landes department (40)
Population: 4,620
Specialities: Chalosse beef, Floc de Gascogne, Basque-style chicken. Landes pastis. Landes sand asparagus. Landes salad.
Famous people: Henry II of Navarre (died in Hagetmau in 1555). Diane d’Andoins (the beautiful Corisande). Jacques Clavé (rugby).
Sport: rugby (SA Hagetmautien), basketball (Hagetmau Doazit Chalosse), football (FC Hagetmau). Landes-style bull-running. France’s most sporting town in 2012 (under 20,000 inhabitants)
Economy: Hagetmau was long the centre of the region. The furniture industry remains the town’s flagship sector. Food processing. Metalworking.
Festivals: Hagetmau festivities (July–August). Féria du Novillo (August), Fête de la Chaise, Lire à Hagetmots (book fair).
Heritage: Crypt of Saint-Girons, Hagetmau bullring, Halco Lakes, Lake Agès. The Vézelay Route to Santiago de Compostela.
Motto: Labore Crescit (work brings growth).
Labels: active and sporting town.
Websites / FB / Twitter:
hagetmau.fr
guide-des-landes.com
HAGETMAU AND CYCLING
Hagetmau has never hosted the Tour de France, but this small town of nearly 5,000 inhabitants already had a taste of it in 2021, when the 19th stage passed through the town after starting in Mourenx, 40 km away. Slovenian Matej Mohoric won the stage in Libourne. The "Pearl of Chalosse", roughly equidistant from Pau and Mont-de-Marsan, is close to other towns that have hosted the world's greatest cycling race, such as Orthez (25 km away, in 2017), while five other towns in the Landes region had already had this honour, almost all of them located in the west of the department. In 2023, the 7th stage had already started in the Landes and its prefecture, Mont-de-Marsan, ending in Bordeaux, where Jasper Philipsen raised his arms in victory. The influence of another sprinter, André Darrigade, the greatest cyclist in the history of the Landes, certainly played a part in enabling Hagetmau to achieve this accolade. In addition, a baker from the town will be watching the race closely, as Jean-Robert Burgaudeau is the uncle of Mathieu Burgaudeau, the TotalEnergies team's breakaway rider, who has competed in five Tours de France since 2020 and won a stage of Paris-Nice in 2022.
HAGETMAU
Crypt of Saint-Girons
Construction: 12th century
Style: Romanesque
History: The abbey was built on the site of the martyrdom of Saint Girons, who evangelised the region in the 5th century. Its creation is thought to date back to Charlemagne, but no religious community is recorded until the 12th century. The abbey church was damaged during the Hundred Years’ War and the Wars of Religion, and completely destroyed in 1904.
Characteristics: Only the 12 m × 7.6 m crypt has been preserved. Its restored vault is supported by four central columns of red and black marble from a Gallo-Roman building, topped with historiated capitals. One depicts Lazarus and the rich man, evoking the punishment of avarice.
Listed as: Historic monument since 1862.
Church of Saint Mary Magdalene
Construction: 19th century
Style: Neo-Gothic
History and characteristics: Built to replace the dilapidated Saint-Girons abbey church, the foundation stone was laid in 1884 by Bishop Mgr Delannoy and the church inaugurated in 1886. Saint-Girons church was destroyed in 1904, leaving only the crypt.
Special features: The stained-glass windows (1886) by G-P Dagrand depict St. Girons to the south and St. Roch to the north. The south chapel of the choir contains a painting of Mary Magdalene in the desert by Louis-Anselme Longa (1840). Murals on the apse show Mary Magdalene, inspired by Joseph Castaing’s 1911 fresco in Pau.
Lake Agès
Characteristics: A private lake covering the former Agès pond, spanning 67 hectares. It is used for irrigation and low water level support, mainly fed by spring water from the Agès stream. Classified as a second-category lake, it is suitable for fishing white fish, carp, and predators.
Hagetmau Bullring
Construction: First permanent structure in 1963
Characteristics: Concrete municipal bullring with a capacity of 4,000–4,500 people. Replaced an older wooden bullring on Place du Marché and then Place des Arènes. Hosts Landes-style and Spanish-style bullfighting, mainly novilladas and becerradas. The main Landes-style festival is held in early August, including competitions for bullfighters and jumpers.
FOOD
Chalosse beef
Chalosse beef is a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) used for beef, associated with a Label Rouge. The PGI was awarded in 1996, the Label Rouge in 1991. The former guarantees the production area, namely the south of the French department of Landes and the north of Pyrénées-Atlantiques. The latter guarantees superior taste quality. The headquarters of the Bœuf de Chalosse Association is located in Hagetmau.
Within the territory defined by the PGI, cattle in the Bœuf de Chalosse sector are reared on a 100 pc plant-based diet: forage from the farm (hay or grass and maize silage) and exclusively plant-based supplements (alfalfa, flax). The animals must be of beef breeds: Blonde d’Aquitaine, Limousin or Bazadaise.
Chalosse beef is renowned for its tender, deep-red meat. Thanks to a long fattening period, it is particularly marbled.
boeufdechalosseigp.fr
