Labastide-d'Armagnac

Labastide-d'Armagnac

Labastide-d'Armagnac is the most famous bastide of the Landes and one of the most engaging of the south-west. Founded in 1291 under the name Bolonia by Count Bernard VI of Armagnac, with the authorisation of the king of England Edward I, who ratified its charter in 1294, it occupies a crossroads of routes between the Landes and the Gers, near the Douze. Its chequerboard plan converges on the place Royale, a vast rectangle of thirty-nine metres by fifty-six entirely lined with arcades, on to which give timber-framed houses and the church of Notre-Dame, Romanesque of the 12th century, with a massive bell-tower of the 15th. Henry of Navarre, the future Henry IV, liked to stay there; tradition has it that this square inspired his place des Vosges. Attached to the Landes in 1850, the town has lost only its enclosure; the rest is an intact medieval setting in the heart of the Bas-Armagnac.

Getting there : Free access to the town and to the place Royale. The commune houses the tourist office of the Landes d'Armagnac; the medieval charter provided for a weekly market and two fairs, without the present day being documented in the texts.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound