Hauts LieuxChapels, sanctuaries & legends

Hauts Lieux›All places›Gers

Bastide (planned town)Gers

Bastide de Valence-sur-Baïse

Valence-sur-Baïse

Dimensions
The square of the town hall with its arcades typical of the bastides, the 14th-century church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste flanked by two towers, of which the northern one was built outside the walls in the 19th century, the ramparts of 1,275 metres, the longest of the bastides of the Gers, the porte de l'Hérisson on the rampart walk, the tour du Gardès of the 13th century, the washhouse of Hount de Las, and below the abbey of Flaran with the marina and its locks on the Baïse.
Period
Abbey of Flaran founded in 1151; bastide of 1274; 14th-century church; tour du Gardès of the 13th century; merger with Ampeils in 1839.
What stands there
The abbey of Flaran, property of the department, has been partly classified as a monument historique since 1914 and partly inscribed in 1981 and 1999. The ramparts of Valence, 1,275 metres long, are the longest of all the bastides of the Gers.

Valence-sur-Baïse is a defensive bastide set on a rocky shelf, at the confluence of the Baïse and the Auloue, overlooking the valley from more than fifty metres. It was founded in 1274 in paréage by the abbot of Flaran and the Count of Armagnac Géraud VI, and borrows its name, like other new towns of the period, from a prestigious city, Valencia in Spain, as a pledge of success. Its ramparts, the longest of all the bastides of the Gers at 1,275 metres, can be followed along the rampart walk as far as the porte de l'Hérisson; the square of the town hall has kept its arcades, and the 14th-century church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste is flanked by two towers. Below, the Cistercian abbey of Flaran, founded in 1151 from L'Escaladieu, is today the department's heritage conservation centre.

Further reading

Getting there : Free access to the village. The abbey of Flaran, heritage conservation centre of the Gers, can be visited.

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

See it on the map OpenStreetMap Directions

Ambient sound

Bastide de Valence-sur-Baïse
Aymericleguide · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Nearby

In the same department

All places — Gers (34).