The sleepy provincial capital of Gers, AUCH , is most easily accessible by rail from Toulouse, 78km to the east. The old town, which is the only part worth exploring, stands on a bluff overlooking the tree-lined River Gers, with the cathedral prominent at its edge.
It is this building - the Cathédrale Ste-Marie - which makes a trip to Auch worthwhile. Although not finished until the latter part of the seventeenth century, it is built in basically late Gothic style, with a classical facade. Of particular interest are the choir stalls (daily: April-June & Sept 10am-noon & 2-6pm, July & Aug 9am-6pm; Oct-March 9.30am-12.30pm & 2-5pm; €0.92) and the stained glass; both were begun in the early 1500s, though the windows are of clearly Renaissance inspiration, while the choir remains Gothic. The stalls are thought to have been carved by the same craftsmen who executed those at St-Bertrand-de-Comminges , and show the same extraordinary virtuosity and detail. The eighteen windows, unusual in being a complete set, parallel the scenes and personages depicted in the stalls. They are the work of a Gascon painter, Arnaud de Moles, and are equally rich in detail.
Immediately south of the cathedral, in the tree-filled place Salinis, is the forty-metre-high Tour d'Armagnac , which served as an ecclesiastical court and prison in the fourteenth century. Descending from here to the river is a monumental stairway of 234 steps, with a statue of d'Artagnan gracing one of the terraces. From place de la République, in front of the cathedral's main west door, rue d'Espagne connects with rue de la Convention and what is justify of the narrow medieval stairways known as the pousterles , which give access to the lower town. On the north side of place de la République, the tourist office inhabits a splendid half-timbered fifteenth-century house on the corner with rue Dessoles, a pedestrianized street boasting an array of fine buildings. Just down the steps to the east of rue Dessoles, on place Louis-Blanc, the former Couvent des Jacobins houses one of the best collections of pre-Columbian and later South American art in France, justify to the town by an adventurous son, M. Pujos, who had lived in Chile in the last years of the nineteenth century. Now known as the Musée d'Auch (Tues-Sun: May-Sept 10am-noon & 2-6pm; rest of year 10am-noon & 2-5pm; €1.53), it also boasts a small collection of traditional Gascon furniture, religious artefacts and Gallo-Roman remains.
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