Oloron-Sainte-Marie

The town was founded by the Romans in the 1st century, then known as Illoronensium.[https://books.google.com/books?id=IsWoon8OAyQC&dq=Illoronensium&pg=PA141 El euskera arcaico: extensión y parentescos, pag. 141] Situated on the Roman way between the important towns of Dax and Saragossa, its position was strategic. Today known as Saint-Grat, Gratus of Oloron became in 506 the first known archbishop of the Ancient Diocese of Oloron then known as "Iluro".

The history of the town during the Migration Period is little known. In 1080, the viscount Centule V, Viscount of Béarn built the new city of "Oloron" (medieval version of the Roman name Iluro) on the opposite side of the river from the diocese center. Centule V restored the Roman walls and founded the strong city of Oloron that was to be used as a base to retake Aragon held by the Moors. The Oloron Cathedral was built at the beginning of the 12th century. The viscountal town of Oloron and the episcopal town of Sainte-Marie were then rivals, but Oloron strove on its textile industry and commerce with neighbouring Spain. Sainte-Marie became economically dependent upon Oloron.

The 18th century was the beginning of revival for Sainte-Marie as the end of French Wars of Religion allowed for restorations and new religious constructions in the town : cathedral, seminary, church Saint-Pierre. Moreover, the continued boom of commerce with Spain accelerated the construction of better communication and transportation routes to Oloron and Sainte-Marie.

With the French Revolution, Oloron lost its diocese to Bayonne but gained administrative importance by becoming one of the sous-préfectures of the new Republic. In 1858, the regent Empress Eugénie imposed the reunification of the towns of Oloron and Sainte-Marie.

Situated at the feet of the Pyrénées, 50 km from the Spanish border and 100 km from the Atlantic ocean, Oloron-Sainte-Marie is at the confluence of two torrents (gaves), the Gave d'Aspe and the Gave d'Ossau, that merge to form the Gave d'Oloron. Capital of the Haut-Béarn, Oloron-Sainte-Marie is also at the point of origin of the three Haut-Béarn valleys : the Aspe Valley, the Ossau Valley and the Barétous Valley.

Neighboring communes: Esquiule, Moumour, Ledeuix, Estos, Cardesse, Monein, Goès, Précilhon, Escout, Herrère, Ogeu-les-Bains, Buziet, Arudy, Escot, Asasp-Arros, Lurbe-Saint-Christau, Eysus, Gurmençon, Bidos, Agnos, Ance and Féas.

The town has an oceanic climate, with mild and humid winters and cool or moderately warm summers. Rain is quite abundant (above 900 mm per year) and is mostly concentrated during cold season.

{{Historical populations

|source = INSEE[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-64422#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE

|percentages = pagr

|align = none

|graph-pos = right

|1968 |13028

|1975 |12332

|1982 |11513

|1990 |11067

|1999 |10992

|2007 |11141

|2012 |10678

|2017 |10684

}}

The Oloron economy is dominated by two well known manufacturing businesses:

: * Lindt & Sprüngli have a chocolate factory in Oloron.

: * Safran Landing Systems have a plant in the adjacent commune of Bidos which manufactures landing gear for aircraft.

Oloron is also famous, among hat enthusiasts, as the capital of the basque beret, although the beret business has fallen victim to the widespread collapse of the European textile business as well as changing fashions. Today only one beret business survives in Oloron. This is the Béatex company which employs approximately 80 people.

The area also benefits from an active agriculture sector, involving animal rearing and general agriculture as well as maize production. It is also part of the AOC defined districts entitled to produce the ewes' cheese, Ossau-Iraty.

The Pau–Canfranc railway passes through Oloron. Oloron railway station is served by TER Aquitaine, which operate eight trains per day to Pau and six to Bedous.

Public transport in the town is provided by a company called La Navette, which operate three bus routes.

Oloron - Herrère Aérodrome is an aerodrome five kilometers southeast of Oloron. It is predominantly used for light aviation and leisure.

The local vernacular language is the Béarnese dialect, a dialect of Gascon language. One of the eight primary schools of Oloron is a Calandreta, a French/ Béarnese bilingual school.

The demonym corresponding to Oloron-Sainte-Marie is Oloronais.{{Cite web|url=https://www.habitants.fr/pyrenees-atlantiques-64#COMA|title=Le nom des habitants de Pyrénées-Atlantiques|website=Habitants.fr}}

File:A Oloron (Béarn) - Fonds Ancely - B315556101 A MALBOS 2 010.jpg]]

The town received the label French Towns and Lands of Art and History in November 2006.

Oloron's architectural and historical landmarks :

• the 13th-century Tour de Grède
• the former town hall and prison, classified in 1987 among as Monument historique
• the fortified walls
• the 16th-century Legugnon castle
• the 17th-century building in the rue Pomone, classified in 1943 as Monument historique
• the Parc Pommé
• the "Maison du Patrimoine"
• the Médiathèque public library that was awarded the Équerre d'Argent architectural award in 2010 (architect : Pascale Guédot).
• the Oloron Cathedral
• the Sainte Marie church

Tour-Grede 001.jpg|Tour de Grède

Oloron Pomme 02.JPG|Parc Pommé

Oloron cathédrale ste marie 2.JPG|Cathedral Sainte Marie

Oloron N-Dame 01.JPG|Eglise Notre Dame

Oloron SainteMarie Tour.JPG|Cathedral Sainte Marie

Oloron St-Grat 01.JPG|Saint Great

{{Commons category-inline|Oloron-Sainte-Marie}}

Oloron is home to a number of festivals :

• the jazz festival Des Rives & Notes on the first weekend of July,
• the "Amateur web film festival", organised every spring season to showcase the best short films published on the internet,
• the "Book without borders" fair held on the second weekend of June.

Oloron-Sainte-Marie has a theatre and concert venue (espace Pierre Jéliote).

The town is renowned for its hearty vegetables, beans and meat soup, the garbure, for the Ossau-Iraty cheese, and for a delicacy invented by a local baker in 1925, the pastry "le Russe".

Oloron-Sainte-Marie was the birthplace of:

• Louis Barthou (1862–1934), politician of the Third Republic
• Jean-Jacques Caux (Cataline) (1830–1922), explorer of the Canadian West
• Suzanne Honoré (1909-2000), archivist at the National Library of France
• Ketty Lapeyrette (1884–1960), opera singer
• Camille Lopez (born 1989), rugby player

{{Weather box|width=auto

|metric first=y

|single line=y

|collapsed = Y

|location = Oloron-Sainte-Marie (1981–2010 normals, extremes 1964–2012)

|Jan record high C = 26.0

|Feb record high C = 27.8

|Mar record high C = 29.6

|Apr record high C = 32.2

|May record high C = 35.8

|Jun record high C = 38.4

|Jul record high C = 39.5

|Aug record high C = 40.6

|Sep record high C = 38.0

|Oct record high C = 34.5

|Nov record high C = 27.0

|Dec record high C = 27.0

|Jan record low C = -16.0

|Feb record low C = -11.3

|Mar record low C = -9.2

|Apr record low C = -2.5

|May record low C = 0.8

|Jun record low C = 2.6

|Jul record low C = 7.3

|Aug record low C = 4.9

|Sep record low C = 2.3

|Oct record low C = -2.5

|Nov record low C = -9.3

|Dec record low C = -10.1

|Jan high C = 11.9

|Feb high C = 13.0

|Mar high C = 15.7

|Apr high C = 17.3

|May high C = 20.9

|Jun high C = 24.0

|Jul high C = 26.1

|Aug high C = 26.3

|Sep high C = 24.1

|Oct high C = 20.4

|Nov high C = 15.2

|Dec high C = 12.5

| year high C = 19.0

|Jan mean C = 6.9

|Feb mean C = 7.6

|Mar mean C = 10.0

|Apr mean C = 11.7

|May mean C = 15.4

|Jun mean C = 18.5

|Jul mean C = 20.6

|Aug mean C = 20.7

|Sep mean C = 18.2

|Oct mean C = 14.8

|Nov mean C = 10.1

|Dec mean C = 7.6

| year mean C = 13.5

|Jan low C = 1.9

|Feb low C = 2.2

|Mar low C = 4.4

|Apr low C = 6.1

|May low C = 9.9

|Jun low C = 13.1

|Jul low C = 15.2

|Aug low C = 15.1

|Sep low C = 12.3

|Oct low C = 9.3

|Nov low C = 5.0

|Dec low C = 2.7

| year low C = 8.1

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 122.6

|Feb precipitation mm = 103.3

|Mar precipitation mm = 106.7

|Apr precipitation mm = 138.0

|May precipitation mm = 123.7

|Jun precipitation mm = 101.6

|Jul precipitation mm = 82.3

|Aug precipitation mm = 93.1

|Sep precipitation mm = 96.6

|Oct precipitation mm = 117.7

|Nov precipitation mm = 137.4

|Dec precipitation mm = 118.2

|year precipitation mm = 1341.2

|unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm

| Jan precipitation days = 12.1

| Feb precipitation days = 11.0

| Mar precipitation days = 11.5

| Apr precipitation days = 14.0

| May precipitation days = 13.6

| Jun precipitation days = 11.0

| Jul precipitation days = 9.0

| Aug precipitation days = 9.8

| Sep precipitation days = 9.4

| Oct precipitation days = 12.0

| Nov precipitation days = 11.6

| Dec precipitation days = 11.7

| year precipitation days =136.7

|source 1 = Meteociel{{cite web

|url=https://www.meteociel.fr/obs/clim/normales_records.php?code=64422004

|title=Normales et records pour Oloron-Ste-Mari (64)

|publisher=Meteociel

|access-date=22 November 2024}}}}

• Oloron Cathedral
• Gave d'Oloron
• Gave d'Ossau
• Gave d'Aspe
• Ancient Diocese of Oloron
• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category}}

{{Pyrénées-Atlantiques communes}}

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Category:Communes of Pyrénées-Atlantiques

Category:Subprefectures in France

Category:Pyrénées-Atlantiques communes articles needing translation from French Wikipedia

Category:Béarn