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 ...
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous c ...
province of
Labourd
Labourd ( eu, Lapurdi; la, Lapurdum; Gascon: ''Labord'') is a former French province and part of the present-day Pyrénées Atlantiques ''département''. It is one of the traditional Basque provinces, and identified as one of the territorial c ...
.
Sights
The town is attractive, with traditional Labourd houses and a castle. The protected sixteenth-century church, Saint-Etienne, has a Baroque altarpiece, and its graveyard has many traditional Basque discoidal tombstones.
Notable people
* Agnès Souret, the first woman ever chosen as Miss France, in 1920, is buried in Espelette. She died in Argentina, aged 26, in 1928, and her body was repatriated to Espelette by her mother, who sold most of her possessions to provide a resting place for her daughter.
* Father
Armand David
Father Armand David (7 September 1826, Espelette – 10 November 1900, Paris) was a Lazarist missionary Catholic priest as well as a zoologist and a botanist.
Several species, such as Père David's deer, are named after him — b ...
(1826–1900), a Lazarist missionary Catholic priest as well as a zoologist and a botanist, was born in Espelette.
Red peppers
Espelette is known for its dried red peppers, used whole or ground to a hot powder, used in the production of
Bayonne ham
Bayonne ham or is a cured ham that takes its name from the ancient port city of Bayonne in the far southwest of France, a city located in both the cultural regions of Basque Country and Gascony. It has PGI status.
Production
The area conc ...
. The peppers are designated as
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée
An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical bo ...
and are hung to dry outside many of the houses and shops in the village during the summer. The peppers are sold in the town's Wednesday covered market and are honoured in a festival on the last Sunday in October.
See also
*
Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department
The following is a list of the 546 communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following intercommunalities (as of 2020):Ezpeleta in the Bernardo Estornés Lasa — Auñamendi Encyclopedia (Euskomedia Fundazioa) * Piment d'Espelette site dedicated to the pepper
Image:France-Espelette-Piments sur façade-2005-08-05.jpg, Traditional Espelette house with peppers drying on the walls
Image:France-AOC Piment d'Espelette-2005-08-05.jpg, ''Piments d'Espelette'', Espelette peppers
Image:Espelette WWF.jpg, Plaque of WWF in front of Father
Armand David
Father Armand David (7 September 1826, Espelette – 10 November 1900, Paris) was a Lazarist missionary Catholic priest as well as a zoologist and a botanist.
Several species, such as Père David's deer, are named after him — b ...