Éauze is a commune in the department of Gers, in the Occitania region, France. Eauze and its region live mainly on agriculture. Eauze is recognized as the “capital of Armagnac.” It is in fact in the most prestigious appellation zones of Bas-Armagnac.
The main agricultural productions of the surrounding countryside are vines and corn, as well as the breeding of geese and ducks for the cannery, and a high production of red label farm chickens (Poulets Fermiers du Gers). The Gers has a heritage of mixed farming which still exists with other varied activities (sunflower, wheat, oats, barley, cattle breeding, for meat and milk, etc.).
Eauze is also a town with a few industrial companies, either linked to the processing of agricultural products, wine cooperative cellar, sawmills and wood processing industries, canning factories, or directly linked to agriculture: sale and maintenance of agricultural equipment.
A green holiday resort, Eauze is a city where tourism is developing thanks to its strengths: its history and heritage, its setting and its gastronomy, its festivals and its dynamism.
Tourism and main sights
Eauze is an old town (capital of Novempopulamie at the end of the Gallo-Roman period (third to fifth century; bishopric until the seventh century) with many vestiges of the past. The vestiges of the ancient city of Elusa are to the east of the current city. We can distinguish the medieval city, located inside the old ramparts now transformed into boulevards and of which some vestiges remain, and the modern city, which grows outside.
Saint-Luperc Cathedral. The cathedral on Place d’Armagnac is dedicated to Saint Luperc, an evangelist who converted Anatole and Dassin.
Built from 1467 to 1521, by Bishop Jean Marre de Condom. It is a 22 m high Gothic vessel, with a single nave, and low chapels between the buttresses, with an octagonal bell tower. Roman bricks were reused in the walls. Its high windows have sixteenth and nineteenth century stained glass windows. The building houses a tribune organ made in 1842 by the organ builder Daublaine-Callinet with a neo-Gothic buffet then augmented by the organ builder Magen.
The Archbishop of Auch François-Augustin Delamare made the church a cathedral again in 1865.
Cloister of the former priory, rebuilt in the eighteenth century, but of which there is a Gothic doorway arch dating from the fourteenth century, place Saint-Taurin. Became a minor seminary in 1841, it was transformed into a private college in 1906.
Doat castle, built in the fifteenth century, is the private residence of the Sabbathier family from Lafontan.
The remains of the old ramparts, remains of the first medieval wall.
The imperial water tower, the first modern water tower in France, built on the orders of Napoleon III.
The St Jacques chapel of the old hospital.
A small Art Nouveau building in the Pyrenean style (route de Sauboires) labelled by Heritage Foundation.
The Eauze archaeological museum, where an important Roman treasure is exhibited, found on 18 October 1985 near the old train station, in the district known as “la Cieutat” (the City). It includes 28,003 coins in silver, some in gold and bronze, jewellery and precious objects. The objects and documents evoking the life of the inhabitants of ancient Elusa are also available. The whole prehistoric period is also presented there.
Gallo-Roman villa of Séviac is an archaeological site located in Montréal-du-Gers in the Gers department. Since 2008, the Villa has been part of the ELUSA Capitale Antique archaeological center.
Cuisine and restaurants
The best restaurants are in the Old Town. The best-known local products are Armagnac, floc de Gascogne (aperitif made with Armagnac and grape juice) and duck and goose foie gras.
Transport and how to get to?
The town is at the crossroads of RD 626, ex-RN 626 (Mimizan – Saint-Justin – Vic-Fezensac – Auch – Lombez – Pamiers) and RD 931, ex-RN 131 (Agen – Condom – Manciet extended until in Aire-sur-l’Adour).
Shortest distance by car from the nearest French cities:
From Paris (tolls): 7 hr 11 min (724 km) via A10
From Rochefort (tolls): 3 h 25 min (294 km) via A10
From Le Château-d’Oléron (tolls): 3 h 33 min (310 km) via A10
From Saint-Palais-sur-Mer (tolls): 3 h 25 min (266 km) via A10
From Soulac-sur-Mer (tolls): 3 h 11 min (241 km) via D1215
From Niort (tolls): 3 h 26 min (325 km) via A10
From Saintes (tolls): 3 h 23 min (259 km) via A10
From La Baule-Escoublac (tolls): 5 h 34 min (564 km) via A83 and A10
From Saint-Nazaire (tolls): 5 h 31 min (550 km) via A83 and A10
From Pornic (tolls): 5 h 17 min (529 km) via A83 and A10
From Les Sables-d’Olonne (tolls): 4 h 43 min (474 km) via A10
From Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie (tolls): 4 h 53 min (478 km) via A10
From Noirmoutier-en-l’Île (tolls): 5 h 32 min (523 km) via A10
From Jard-sur-Mer (tolls): 4 h 30 min (399 km) via A10
From Nantes (tolls): 4 h 45 min (485 km) via A83 and A10
From Cognac (tolls): 3 h 25 min (261 km) via A10
From Angoulême (tolls): 3 h 25 min (259 km) via N10
From Arcachon (tolls): 2 h 18 min (169 km) via D626
From Royan (tolls): 3 h 25 min (262 km) via A10
From Biarritz (tolls): 2 h 11 min (172 km) via A63 and D824
From Bayonne (tolls): 2 h (158 km) via D824
From Dax: 1 h 31 min (108 km) via D824
From Lourdes: 1 h 37 min (106 km) via D935
From Pau (tolls): 1 h 25 min (105 km) via A65
From Périgueux: 2 h 53 min (185 km) via N21
From Saumur (tolls): 4 h 48 min (444 km) via A10
From Bordeaux (tolls): 1 h 48 min (145 km) via A62 and N524
From La Rochelle: 3 h 26 min (323 km) via A10
From Toulouse: 1 h 54 min (129 km) via N124 and N124
From Carcassonne (tolls): 2 h 41 min (221 km) via A61
From Nice (tolls): 6 h 57 min (688 km) via A8
From Cannes (tolls): 6 h 43 min (662 km) via A8
From Saint-Tropez (tolls): 6 h 42 min (634 km) via A9
From Marseille (tolls): 5 h 33 min (531 km) via A9 and A61
From Avignon (tolls): 4 h 48 min (458 km) via A9 and A61
From Montpellier (tolls): 4 h 3 min (370 km) via A61
From Béziers (tolls): 3 h 28 min (309 km) via A61
From Perpignan (tolls): 3 h 37 min (335 km) via A61
From Narbonne (tolls): 3 h 11 min (279 km) via A61
Shortest distance by car from the European cities:
From Andorra (tolls): 4 h 13 min (312 km) via N124
From Monaco (tolls): 7 h 9 min (711 km) via A8
From Barcelona: 5 hr 44 min (523 km) via AP-7 and A61
From Madrid: 6 hr 57 min (663 km) via A-1
From Moscow: 37 hr (3,544 km) via E30/M1
From Belgrade: 20 hr 15 min (2,016 km) via E70
From Istanbul: 30 hr (2,965 km) via E70
From Bern: 9 hr 18 min (957 km) via A89
Main information
Area: 71 sq. km
Population: 4 000
Languages: French
Currency: euro
Visa: Schengen
Time: Central European UTC +1
GPS coordinates: 43°51′44″N 0°06′07″E
See here Pyrenees travel guide
See here France travel guide
See here Spain travel guide
