Mont-de-Marsan (;

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts o ...

: ''Lo Mont de Marçan'') is a commune and capital of the Landes department,

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...

, southwestern France.

Population

Military installations

The

French Air and Space Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the French Air F ...

operates the '' Constantin Rozanoff'' Mont-de-Marsan Air Base about 2 kilometres north of the town. The base includes CEAM (the French air force military experimentation and trials organisation), an air defense radar command reporting centre and an air defence control training site. Mont-de-Marsan Air Base was formerly home to France's first operational squadron of nuclear bombers, the

Dassault Mirage IV The Dassault Mirage IV is a French supersonic strategic bomber and deep-reconnaissance aircraft. Developed by Dassault Aviation, the aircraft entered service with the French Air Force in October 1964. For many years it was a vital part of the ...

Sights

* The Donjon Lacataye is the keep of a 14th-century castle * Despiau-Wlérick Museum (1930s sculpture by two local artists) * Dubalen Museum * Maréchal Foch's equestrian statue

Culture

Stade Montois Club Omnisports is the city's main sports club: Stade Montois rugby and Stade Montois football are especially well-known. The city has around 9,000 sports licensees, which represents nearly 30% of its total population. Two historic

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

music festivals were held in Mont-de-Marsan's bullring in 1976 and 1977. The Festival Arte Flamenco international festival was established 1989 in Mont-de-Marsan by the council of the Landes department and is the largest

Flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

festival outside of Spain.

Economy

Overall, three sectors dominate the economic activity of Mont-de-Marsan: *The agri-food sector: centered around poultry (duck, chicken, foie gras), and primarily corn, with major companies based here (Delpeyrat, Maïsadour…); *The forestry sector: several companies contribute to the activities of the Industries and Future Maritime Pine competitiveness cluster; *The Military Aeronautical Experimentation Center: the Mont-de-Marsan Air Base (BA 118) is one of the main operational bases for the French Air Force.

Education

A campus of the University of Pau and the Adour Region is located in the town. It hosts research and teaching facilities of the College of Sciences and Technologies for Energy and the Environment.

Personalities

* Joël Bats,

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

(1957 – ) *

Patrick Biancone Patrick Louis Biancone (born June 7, 1952 in Mont-de-Marsan, Landes, France) is a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. He is currently based in the United States, but enjoyed success in both Europe and Hong Kong earlier in his career. His best known ...

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

trainer, (1952 – ) * Pierre Bosquet, Marshal of France, (1810–1861) *

Thomas Castaignède Thomas Castaignède (born 21 January 1975) is a rugby union footballer from Mont-de-Marsan. Born in Mont-de-Marsan, Aquitaine, Castaignède played as a junior and senior for Stade Montois in various positions, initially as fly-half or centre, ...

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer, (1975 – ) * Charles Despiau, sculptor, (1874–1946) * Pierre Gensous, trade unionist, (1925–2017) *

Alain Juppé Alain Marie Juppé (; born 15 August 1945) is a French politician. A member of The Republicans, he was Prime Minister of France from 1995 to 1997 under President Jacques Chirac, during which period he faced major strikes that paralysed the c ...

, politician and former

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers. The prime ...

, (1945 – ) * Gaëtan Laborde, association football player, (1994 - ) * Romain Larrieu, association football goalkeeper (1976 – ) * Louis-Anselme Longa, painter, (1809–1869) * Abdoulaye Loum, basketball player * Jean van de Velde, golfer, (1966 – ) * Fabien Vehlmann, comics writer, (1972 – ) * Geneviève Darrieussecq, the mayor of Mont-de-Marsan (2008–2017) and since 2017 Secretary of State to the Minister of the Armed Forces, (1956 – )

International relations

Mont-de-Marsan is twinned with: *

Tudela, Navarre Tudela is a municipality in Spain, the second largest city of the autonomous community of Navarre and twice a former Latin bishopric. Its population is around 35,000. The city is sited in the Ebro valley. Fast trains running on two-track electri ...

, Spain *

Alingsås Alingsås () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 24,482 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Geographically the city is situated by the outlet of the small rivulet Säv ...

, Sweden

Climate

References

External links

Official website
(in English) Communes of Landes (department) Prefectures in France {{Landes-geo-stub