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Aire, Landes, France

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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Aire, Pas-de-Calais, France

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A town of south-western France, in the department of Landes, on the left bank of the Adour, 22 m. S.E. of Mont-deMarsan on the Southern railway between Morcenx and Tarbes. Pop. (1906) 2283. It is the seat of a bishopric, and has a cathedral of the 12th century and an episcopal palace of the 11th, 17th and 18th centuries. Both have undergone frequent restoration. They are surpassed in interest by the church of St Quitterie in Mas d'Aire, the suburb south-west of the town. The latter is a brick building of the 13th and 14th centuries, with a choir in the Romanesque style, and a fine western portal which has been much disfigured. The crypt contains several GalloRoman tombs and the sarcophagus (5th century) of St Quitterie. Aire has two ecclesiastical seminaries.

Aire (Atura, Vicus Julii ) was the residence of the kings of the Visigoths, one of whom, Alaric II., there drew up his famous code. The bishopric dates from the 5th century.