Auch
Template:Use dmy dates Template:For-multi Template:Infobox French commune
Auch ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}; Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Occitanie, it is the capital of the Gers department.
GeographyEdit
LocalizationEdit
The commune of Auch is located in the arrondissement of Auch and in the Gers valley, roughly in the centre of the Gers département. Auch is Template:Convert west of Toulouse, the capital of the Occitanie region, and Template:Convertfrom Montauban, Template:Convert from Agen, Template:Convert from Mont-de-Marsan, Template:Convert from Pau and Template:Convert from Tarbes, the capitals of the neighbouring départements. It is 162 km from Bordeaux, Template:Convert from Marseille and Template:Convert from Lyon, the capitals of the neighbouring regions, and Template:Convertsouth-west of Paris.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The commune covers an area of Template:Convert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Surrounding communesEdit
Auch borders thirteen other communes: Barran, Castillon-Massas, Castin, Duran, Lasséran, Leboulin, Montaut-les-Créneaux, Montégut, Ordan-Larroque, Pavie, Pessan, Preignan and Roquelaure.
Geology and reliefEdit
Auch has a minimum altitude of Template:Convert and a maximum of Template:Convert. Its average altitude is Template:Convert, while that of its town hall is Template:Convert<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The town and its surroundings have a hillside landscape.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}.</ref>
The commune covers an area of Template:Convert, making it the third largest in the département.<ref>Répertoire géographique des communes [Geographical directory of municipalities], published by IGN</ref>
Centred on the middle Baïse valley, Armagnac is distributed along an east-west axis between Eauze and Auch. It includes Fezensac and Vic.
The commune is located in seismicity zone 1 (very low seismicity).<ref>Plan séisme</ref>
HydrographyEdit
The Gers, a tributary of the Garonne, flows through the town and divides the city between the upper town, on the left bank, the site of the medieval city built on a hill where most of the ancient monuments are to be found, and the lower town, built on the plain on the right bank. The upper town is linked to the banks of the Gers by the medieval "pousterles", typical narrow streets with steep inclines, and by the monumental staircase inaugurated in 1863. The north of the town is also watered by the Arçon and Talouch rivers, tributaries of the Gers.
The lower town was devastated on several occasions (1897, 1952 for the most significant river overflow) before the course of the Gers was recalibrated following the 1977 floods in Gascony.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
TransportationEdit
Auch is well connected to nearby cities and towns such as Agen, Toulouse and Tarbes by Routes Nationales and by train to Toulouse<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>.
ClimateEdit
History and populationEdit
Template:Historical populations
Auch is a very ancient town, whose settlement was noted by the Romans during their conquest of the area in the Template:Nowrap. At that time, it was settled by an Aquitanian tribe known to the Romans as the Ausci. Their name for the town was Climberrum<ref name=eb9>"Template:Cite EB9</ref> or Elimberris.<ref name=eb11>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> This has been tentatively etymologized from the Iberian iltir ("town, oppidum") and a cognate of the Basque berri ("new"), although another Iberian settlement in Granada recorded by the Romans as "Iliberi" probably had no contact with proto-Basque speaking peoples.<ref>Leopold von Ranke: Französische Geschichte. Essen 1996. p.182. [in German]</ref> The Romans renamed the town Augusta Auscorum or Ausciorum ("Augusta of the Ausci"). Augusta Auscorum was one of the twelve civitates of the province of Novempopulana (Gascony) and became the provincial capital after the 409 destruction of Eauze by the Vandals.
The common term Augusta was eventuallyTemplate:When dropped and the name evolved into the modern Gascon Aush and French Auch.
In 732, Abdul Rahman's army inflicted severe damage upon the town as they advanced towards Bordeaux, securing victory over Odo in the Battle of the River Garonne, and ultimately meeting defeat in the crucial Battle of Tours.
The town became the seat of a Catholic archdiocese which lasted until the French Revolution. Its archbishops claimed the title of Primate of Aquitaine, Novempopulana, and Navarre.
Sites of interestEdit
- Renaissance Cathédrale Sainte-Marie with its magnificent organ, carved stalls and rose stained-glass windows
- La Tour d'Armagnac, a 14th-century prison, as well as a statue of d'Artagnan who was based on the real life person, Charles de Batz, Comte d'Artagnan born nearby in the château de Castelmore, and written about by Alexandre Dumas.
- Template:Ill, formerly known as the Musée des Jacobins
- Template:Ill
- Escalier monumental Built in the 19th century
Notable peopleEdit
Auch was the birthplace of:
- Jacques Fouroux (1947–2005), rugby union player
- Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse (1750–1812), admiral
- Dominic Serres (1719–1793), painter
- Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange (1877–1964), Dominican and prominent Neo-Thomist theologian
- Nicolas Portal (1979–2020), Professional cyclist for AG2R Prévoyance and Director Sportif of World Tour cycling team Ineos (ne Sky)
- Patrick Pilet (born 1981), racing driver
- André Daguin (1935–2019), chef
See alsoEdit
- Gascony Show – English language radio in Auch
- Communes of the Gers department
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Official website (in French)
- Unofficial website about Auch (in French)
Template:Préfectures of départements of France Template:Gers communes