Located on the ancient Ténarèze road, which since prehistoric times has led people from the Pyrenees to the Garonne River through Gascony, Barbaste was an important commercial crossroads.
Barbaste is home to the Moulin des Tours, a magnificent building with four square towers built in the 13th century on the right bank of the Gélise River. It is also home to the 12th-century Romanesque bridge with ten arched spans. Some 30,000 visitors come each year to stroll around the site where the future King Henry IV sometimes stayed before traveling around the region and hunting.
Beyond the Moulin des Tours, Barbaste is also, on the edge of the Landes forest, a green holiday resort with sunny summers, mild winters, early springs, and bright autumns. Its population of 1,600 doubles in summer thanks to tourist residences, a holiday village, numerous gîtes and guesthouses, as well as the Albret and Cap Cauderoue golf courses.
For culture and leisure, the town of Barbaste has a proper performance hall: cinema, theater, concerts, live broadcasts on the big screen of national and international shows (opera, variety shows, etc.).
Rich in traditions and ancestral know-how, Barbaste has always been a village of artisans linked to the river and the nearby forest: millers, cork makers, lumberjacks, and resin collectors all worked side by side here.
Roman bridge over the Gélise (listed building) leading to Henri IV's mill, known as Moulin de Barbaste – Moulin des Tours – Nearby, you can see the recently restored Maison Aunac. Barbaste Castle (restored) housing the post office – Cauderoue Castle – Pepperpot turrets – Traces of moats – 19th-century Barbaste Church with tall bell tower – 15th-century Gothic Lausseignan Church: bell tower, square tower, porch, apse, Romanesque – 18th-century church in Béas – Dovecote in Lacazeneuve – Lac des Martinets lake – Site of the gélise and surroundings of the Moulin d’Henri IV – Côtes de Buzet vineyards (Lausseignan – Domaine de Langlès) – Forest (2,800 hectares of pine, oak, and cork oak forest, etc.)
Key events:Street painting competition at Pentecost, international Baroque music workshop for one week in February, Mill Festival on the third weekend in June, as well as exhibitions, crafts, and photography.
For more information:See detailsof Barbaste'sarchitectural heritageormovable heritage.
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