Aire-sur-l'Adour is a commune in the Landes département in Aquitaine

Aquitaine

Aquitaine , archaic Guyenne/Guienne , is one of the 27 regions of France, in the south-western part of metropolitan France, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Pyrenees mountain range on the border with Spain. It comprises the 5 departments of Dordogne, :Lot et Garonne, :Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes...

 in south-western France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

It lies on the river Adour

Adour

The Adour is a river in southwestern France. It rises in High-Bigorre , at the Col du Tourmalet, and flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Bayonne. It is long, of which the uppermost as the Adour du Tourmalet. At its final stretch, i.e...

 in the wine area of southwest France. It is an episcopal see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...

 of the Diocese of Aire and Dax. The nearest large towns are Mont-de-Marsan

Mont-de-Marsan

Mont-de-Marsan is a commune and capital of the Landes department in Aquitaine in southwestern France.Mont-de-Marsan airbase « Constantin Rozanoff » is a major installation of the French Air Force. The base includes CEAM , an air defense radar command reporting centre, and an air defence control...

 to the north and Pau to the south.

History

Aire (Atura, Vicus Julii) was the residence of the kings of the Visigoths

Visigothic Kingdom

The Visigothic Kingdom was a kingdom which occupied southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to 8th century AD. One of the Germanic successor states to the Western Roman Empire, it was originally created by the settlement of the Visigoths under King Wallia in the province of...

. In 506, Alaric II

Alaric II

Alaric II, also known as Alarik, Alarich, and Alarico in Spanish and Portuguese or Alaricus in Latin succeeded his father Euric on December 28, 484, in Toulouse. He established his capital at Aire-sur-l'Adour in Aquitaine...

 drew up his famous code, the Breviarium Alaricianum

Breviary of Alaric

The Breviary of Alaric is a collection of Roman law, compiled by order of Alaric II, King of the Visigoths, with the advice of his bishops and nobles. It was promulgated on February 2, year 506, the twenty-second year of his reign...

.

Main sights

• Aire Cathedral, built in the 11th century but renovated in the 14th and 17th centuries.
• The Gothic
  Gothic architecture
  Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
  
   church of Sainte-Quitterie is dedicated to Saint Quiteria, who, according to Christian
  Christian
  A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
  
   tradition, was beheaded
  Decapitation
  Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
  
   here in the fifth century. This church was on the pilgrimage
  Pilgrimage
  A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance. Typically, it is a journey to a shrine or other location of importance to a person's beliefs and faith...
  
   route called the Way of St. James
  Way of St. James
  The Way of St. James or St. James' Way is the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried....
  
  .

Personalities linked to the commune

• Florian Cazalot
  Florian Cazalot
  Florian Cazalot, is a rugby union player, who plays as prop or hooker for FC Lourdes ....
  
  , rugby union
  Rugby union
  Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
  
  player, born 1985 in Aire-sur-l'Adour

External links

• History of CNES base devoted to launch stratospheric balloons
• Image of city's cathedral