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English
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On the edge of the Adour, the historic capital of Bigorre, capital of the Hautes-Pyrénées, has the highest peaks of the Pyrenees as its horizon. Tarbes is a university town. It turned to high-tech industries, in particular those of aeronautics.
Its historic center conceals many architectural treasures from different eras.
Tarbes is also the city of horses with its national stud farm. Created in 1806, under Napoleon, it extends over 8 hectares in the heart of the city. Stallions, Anglo-Arabs, Merens ponies, draft horses live peacefully on this listed site, a veritable living museum where the horse house has taken up residence, a fun and museum space. A festival dedicated to the horse, Equestria, takes place every year in July around many animations.
Tarbes is home to the birthplace of Marshal Foch (1851-1929). It is a Bigourdane house, dedicated to the man who accompanied France to victory during the First World War. He will also be elected to the French Academy. The visit of his house, and the many period documents allow the visitor to immerse himself in the great history.
Another Tarbes figure, Placide Masseys (1777-1853) was a naturalist and a landscape painter who officiated at Versailles. In his hometown, he created an English-style park that bears his name and which covers 15 hectares of many rare species (sequoias, cedars, soap trees, Siberian elms, Virginia persimmon... It is classified as a Remarkable Garden. The park houses a 19th century kiosk, the Masseys museum (European paintings from the 16th to the 19th century, and the collection of hussars - light cavalry regiments - from 1545 to 1945) as well as the cloister of the abbey of Saint-Sever-de -Rustan, returned to the city in 1830.
Built in the 12th century, the formerly fortified Notre Dame de la Sède cathedral was remodeled from the 14th to the 19th centuries. A baroque marble baldachin shelters the altar.
The city also has a magnificent Baltard-style hall, all in glass and steel, the Marcadieu hall. On the eponymous square is held on Thursday morning a large market.
Tarbes is also a bustling town around its Place de Verdun, the nerve center, the very commercial rue de Brauhauban and the new district (rehabilitated in 2014) of the arsenal.
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On the edge of the Adour, the historic capital of Bigorre, capital of the Hautes-Pyrénées, has the highest peaks of the Pyrenees as its horizon. Tarbes is a university town. It turned to high-tech industries, in particular those of aeronautics.
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