It is the second largest metropolitan area of the old Midi-Pyrénées region, after Toulouse.
Name
The city is named for the first time during the 5th century like Civitas Turba ubi castrum Bigorra. It is also an important city of the Novempopulania.[N 1]Gregory of Tours, in the 7th century, called the city as Talvam vicum.
During the Middle Ages, the city was named as Tarbe (1214), Tursa, Tarvia (1284) and also Tarbia.
A small town founded in the 3rd century B.C. became a Romancolony under the name of Tarba. It was destroyed by the Vikings in 840 and rebuilt by the Bishop of Bigorre or Tarbes.
From the twelfth century on, Tarbes became the capital of the County of Bigorre.[N 2] During the religiouswars, the cathedral was burnt in 1569 by Protestants but the bishop had it rebuilt in 1652.
In 1790, Tarbes became the capital of the new department of Hautes-Pyrénées.
Geography
Tarbes is located in the southwest of France, at the foot of the Pyrenees, in a fertile plain of the valley of the river Adour, at 20 km (12 mi) to the northeast of Lourdes, 70 km (43 mi) to the southeast of Auch, 144 km (89 mi) to the east of Bayonne and 155 km (96 mi) to the southwest of Toulouse.
It has an area of 15.33 km2 (6 sq mi) and its average altitude is 304 m (997 ft); at the city hall, the altitude is 311 m (1,020 ft).[1]
Two rivers flow through the city: the Adour by the east and the Échez by the west.
Neighboring municipalities
Tarbes and its neighboring communes
The following municipalities (communes) are around Tarbes:
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