Rabastens-de-Bigorre (Rabastens-de-Bigorre)

Rabastens-de-Bigorre

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Rabastens de Bigorre is one of the very rare royal bastides founded in the Middle Ages. New town established on the lands of the king-count of Bigorre, this bastide was founded in February 1306 by the representative of the king in Bigorre, Seneschal Guillaume de Rabastens (a Tarnais), who gave it his name and coats of arms (3 raves, by changing the background, which changes from black to red and adding a break, a fleur-de-lys on a gold chevron).
This first real Bigourdane country house was a success; wooden and stone houses, a vast wooden hall, six mills, a large church dedicated to Saint-Louis, a Hospital, a Carmelite friars convent and powerful fortifications and pebbles (walls, gates, castle) mark the XVth century the power of the city.
Of this past, hardly anything remains. Only the Saint-Louis church remains with its Gothic portal and its apse - the Carmelite convent partly survives, integrated into private dwellings - of the castle there remains a wall and traces of a moat.
Rabastens de Bigorre is currently the capital of a canton of 1,425 inhabitants whose markets have made it famous. They are held on Mondays in the central square and in the Parc du Val d'Adour for the cattle market.
To have :
the central hall
the Napoleon III fountain (built under the Second Empire in 1863)
the central fountain (fountain with the goat 1911)
the statue of Pyrene (cast in 1980 by the artist Clavaret)
three old wash houses
and 2 mills.
Today there is a desire to revive the past of Rabastens de Bigorre thanks to volunteers and a free guided tour of the town "to discover an old royal bastide and its history" is possible. Information and registration with the Tourist Office