Aleu (; ) is a commune in the Ariège department in the Occitanie region of southwestern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Geography

Aleu is located some 10 km south-east of Saint-Girons and 30 km west by south-west of

Foix Foix ( , ; ; ) is a commune, the former capital of the County of Foix. It is the capital of the department of Ariège as it is the seat of the prefecture of that department. Foix is located in the Occitanie region of southwestern France ...

. It can be accessed by the D618 road coming from the west and following the northern border of the commune continuing to Biert in the east. The only access to the village by vehicle is by a small mountain road branching from the D618 at Castet d'Aleu. There is a small unsealed airstrip north-east of the village at approx 1000m altitude. The commune is very rugged with extensive forests. Apart from the village, there are numerous hamlets: Castet d'Aleu, Galas d'en Bas and Galas d'en Haut, La Trappe, La Bordasse, Biech, Pinsou, La Rouere and Fontale.Google Maps
/ref> The ''Ruisseau d'Aleu'' rises in the south of the commune and flows north through the centre of the commune and the village gathering many tributaries and continues to join the ''Arac'' which forms the entire northern border of the commune. The ''Ruisseau de Loule'' forms most of the eastern border and also flows into the Arac. In the west the ''Ruisseau de Regude'' forms most of the border and flows north-west to join the Arac north-west of the commune.

Neighbouring communes and villages

History

The commune of Aleu was created in the French Revolution superseding the Community of Aleu which was detached in 1776 from that of Soulan.

Administration

List of successive mayors

Population

The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Aleudiens'' or ''Aleudiennes'' in French. Aleu Mairie

Sites and monuments

*Joubac, a small peak just above Aleu, has an

altiport An altiport is an aerodrome for small airplanes and helicopters, situated on or within mountainous terrain. Altiports are generally characterized by having a runway with an atypical slope to fit in the local topography. Ultimately, this slope help ...

with a view of all the surrounding mountains and the

Mont Valier Mont Valier (Languedocien: ''Mont Valièr'') () is a mountain of the Pyrenees in Ariège, France. Its name comes from ''Valerius'' (Saint Valier, ca. 452), the mythical first bishop of Couserans, who climbed the peak. Bernard de Marmiesse, anoth ...

mountain chain *The Church of Saint Benedict contains a 12th-century

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

which is registered as an historical object.Ministry of Culture, Palissy *Church of Saint Roch and Saint Germaine at Castet d'Aleu (windows from the 19th century) *Castelet of Castet at Aleu dating from the 12th or 13th century

Notable people linked to the commune

*Léopold Galy, born in Aleu on 12 March 1908 and died at Toulouse on 17 February 2001, was a French aviator and test pilot

References

External links

Aleu on the old IGN website

Aleu on Géoportail
National Geographic Institute (IGN) website
''Aleu'' on the 1750 Cassini Map
{{authority control Communes of Ariège (department)