Artix (; oc, Artics) is a

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

in the

Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pyrénées-Atlantiques (; Gascon Occitan: ''Pirenèus Atlantics''; eu, Pirinio Atlantiarrak or ) is a department in the southwest corner of France and of the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Pyrenees mountain range and the Atlant ...

department in the

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...

region of south-western

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Artisiens'' or ''Artisiennes''.

Geography

Artix is located some 12 km north-west of

Lescar Lescar (; oc, Lescar) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department and Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of south-western France. Lescar is the site of the Roman city known variously as Benearnum, Beneharnum or Civitas Benarnensium, the lo ...

and 14 km south-east of

Orthez Orthez (; eu, Ortheze; oc, Ortès, ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, and region of New Aquitaine, southwestern France. It lies 40 km NW of Pau on the Southern railway to Bayonne. The town also encompasses the sm ...

. Access to the commune is by main road D817 from

Lacq Lacq (; oc, Lac) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in southwestern France. It lies just northwest of the prefecture (department capital) Pau. Economy In modern times the local economy has been based on the industrial us ...

in the north-west passing through the commune and south of the town and continuing south-east to

Denguin Denguin () is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, southwestern France. It is located 14 km from Pau, Pyrenees-Atlantiques, the prefecture of the Department. See also *Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department T ...

. Access to the town from the D817 is on the D280 which links the two ends of the bypass. There are also the D263 road going north to Urdès, the D663 going north-east to Serres-Sainte-Marie, the D32 going east to Cescau, and the D281 going south-east to join the D33 north-west of Noguères. The

A64 autoroute The A64 autoroute is a motorway in southwestern France. It is also called the ''La Pyrénéenne'' and numbered the European route E80. It is a toll road for part of its length. Aligned East-West, it connects Toulouse to Bayonne via Tarbes and P ...

also passes through the north-eastern corner with Exit 9 exiting to the D817 in the commune.Google Maps
/ref> The

SNCF The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

Toulouse-Bayonne railway line also passes through the commune with Artix station just south of the town centre. The ''Interurban network of Pyrénées-Atlantiques'' busline has two routes passing through the commune: Route 801 (Orthez-Pau) and Route 802 (Artix-Pau). Apart from the town there are the villages of Cap de Lalanne and Le Plateau. Some 40% of the commune is residential with the balance farmland with patches of forest. The Gave de Pau flows north-west past the southern border of the commune with some branches touching the border. The ''Ruisseau Laulouze'' flows from the east through the south of the commune and joins ''Le Ruisseau'' which flows north-west parallel to the Gave de Pau until it joins the river west of the commune just south of

. The Agle also flows west through the northern corner of the commune to join the Gave de Pau south of Lacq.

Places and Hamlets

* Près l'Agle * Auta * Les Baigts * Baradat * Bernata * Cabille * Cambayou * Camous * Campagnolle * Candaus * La Castanhère (château) * Le Castérot * Cité * Cortigue * Cuyala (Cor de) * Les Esquirous * Geil * Les Grabes * Labourdette * Cap de Lalanne * Larrecq * Larrieu-Lôme * Lauguère * Laviecave * Lavignasse * Lavigne * Le Moulin * Pendix * Le Plateau * Pondix * Pont Mayou * Porte Neuve * Poumetche * Rémy * Rey * Saligot * Sarrailla * Taulat * Toch Géoportail
IGN, consulted on 15 April 2012

Toponymy

The name ''Artix'' appears in the forms: *''Artits'' (1286''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
Paul Raymond, Imprimerie nationale, 1863, Digitised from Lyon Public Library 15 June 2011, p. 14 ), *''Artics'' (13th century,

Fors de Béarn The Fors de Bearn, or fueros of Béarn, are a series of legal texts (privileges, rulings, judicial sentences, decrees, formularies) compiled over centuries (mostly the eleventh to thirteenth) in the Viscounty of Béarn. Together they formed th ...

Manuscript from the 14th century - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques ), *''Artidz'' (1350, Notaries of

Pardies Pardies (; oc, Pardias) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. Geography Neighbouring communes *North-East: Artix *North-West: Os-Marsillon *East: Bésingrand *West: Noguères *South-East: Parbay ...

Notaries of

- Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques ), *''Artitz'' (1385, Census of Béarn), *''Arthitz'' (1440, Census of Bastide-MonréjauManuscript of 1440 - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques ), *''Artixs'' (1538, Reformation of BéarnManuscript from the 16th to 18th centuries - Departmental Archives of Pyrénées-Atlantiques ), *''Artix'' in 1583, in the Reformation of Béarn, and on the

Cassini Map The Cassini Map or Academy's Map is the first topographic and geometric map made of the Kingdom of France as a whole. It was compiled by the Cassini family, mainly César-François Cassini (Cassini III) and his son Jean-Dominique Cassini (Ca ...

of 1750.

Michel Grosclaude Michel Grosclaude (; oc, Miquèu; 1926–2002) was a philosopher and French linguist, and an author of works on grammar, lexicography and Occitan onomastics. Biography Born on 8 July 1926 in Nancy at (Meurthe-et-Moselle). He was the son of ...

, ''Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn'', Edicions reclams & Édition Cairn - 2006, 416 pages, Cassini Map 1750 - Artix
/ref> Its name in béarnais is ''Artics''.

indicated that the name ''Artix'' possibly was formed from the mediterranean radical ''arte'' ("green oak" then "undergrowth") and the collective and locative basque suffix ''-itz''. He proposed them in the sense "Vegetation of the undergrowth". ''Laviecave'' is a hamlet mentioned in 1863''Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees''
p. 97 but Paul Raymond recommended the spelling ''La Vie-Cave'', meaning the sunken way or path: ''la via cava''.

History

The commune once had a Lay Abbey, vassal of the Viscounts of Béarn. In 1385 Artix was a small village under the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...

of Pau with only 10

fires Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are pr ...

grouped around the church. In 1880 the old church was demolished. The new church was opened in 1899. The village became a city after the creation of the ''Royal Road'' under

Henri IV Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarc ...

which then became Imperial Route 117, then the

Route nationale A ''route nationale'', or simply ''nationale'', is a class of trunk road in France. They are important roads of national significance which cross broad portions of the French territory, in contrast to departmental or communal roads which serve ...

117. This opening up allowed the market at Artix to flourish and the city to grow in importance.

Brigitte Jobbé-Duval Brigitte Jobbé-Duval is a French historian and linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects ...

, ''Dictionary of place names - Pyrénées-Atlantiques'', 2009, Archives and Culture,

Heraldry

Administration

List of Successive Mayors

Inter-communality

The commune is part of five inter-communal structures: * the Communauté de communes de Lacq-Orthez; * the SIVU for the Agle and the Lacq; * the association for water and sanitation of Trois Cantons; * the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques; * the inter-communal association for defence against flooding of the Gave de Pau;

Twinning

Artix has twinning associations with: *

Sacedón Sacedón is a city located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2007 census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given popul ...

(Spain) since 1992. * Song-naaba (Burkina Faso) since 1995.

Demography

In 2017 the commune had 3,428 inhabitants.

Economy

Artix has a prevention plan for technological risks due to some chemical establishments in the commune, similar to Bésingrand, Os-Marsillon, Noguères,

Mourenx Mourenx (; oc, Morencs) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France. History A settlement of ''Mourengs'' existed in the eleventh century. A secular abbey existed, belonging to the Viscount of Béarn. In 138 ...

, and

. The ''Groupe Olano'' has a site in Artix specialising in the storage and transport of chocolate.

Culture and heritage

Religious heritage

The Parish Church of Saint-Pierre (19th century) is registered as an historical monument.

Cultural and environmental heritage

The Béarnais polyphonic group ''Los Pagalhós'', created in the 1970s, was born in Artix. Villages in

Béarn The Béarn (; ; oc, Bearn or ''Biarn''; eu, Bearno or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in southwest France. Along with the three B ...

are permitted to display street signs in Occitan. Artix was the first commune in

of more than 3,000 inhabitants to implement

Bilingual sign A bilingual sign (or, by extension, a multilingual sign) is the representation on a panel ( sign, usually a traffic sign, a safety sign, an informational sign) of texts in more than one language. The use of bilingual signs is usually reserved for ...

s throughout the commune in occitan ( Gascon béarnais) and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. Consequently, its signs show its name as "Artics", since the letter X is little used in the Bearnais dialect. Artix also has an Occitan language school or

Calandreta A Calandreta () is a bilingual school in Southern France where the Occitan language is a medium of instruction, alongside French. These schools are based on the same principle as the '' Diwan'' schools of Brittany, as well as the '' Gaelscoileanna' ...

Facilities

Education

Artix has two elementary schools (Moulin and Sarrailh), one college (College Jean Moulin), and one

calandreta A Calandreta () is a bilingual school in Southern France where the Occitan language is a medium of instruction, alongside French. These schools are based on the same principle as the '' Diwan'' schools of Brittany, as well as the '' Gaelscoileanna' ...

with a childcare nursery and a primary school.

Sports and associations

*Artix Basketball Club.Artix Basketball website

Notable people linked to the commune

* Maurice Plantier, born in 1921 at

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Spa ...

and died in 2006 at

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, was a French politician. He was mayor of Artix from 1960 to 1989. * Ramesh Kumar Nibhoria, born in

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

, India, inventor of many biomass energy equipment for space heating and cooking. He is winner of many awards including

Ashden Ashden is a London-based charity that works in the field of sustainable energy and development. Its work includes the annual Ashden Awards, advocacy and research in the field of sustainable energy, and mentoring and practical support for award w ...

Awards and has applied 16 patents. Since June, 2017, he started living here to explore bioenergy technologie
business
in France and Africa.