Arette
Commune
Town hall
Coat of arms
Location of Arette
Arette Show map of France Arette Show map of Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Coordinates: 43°05′46″N 0°42′56″W / 43.0961°N 0.7156°W / 43.0961; -0.7156
Country	France
Region	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Department	Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Arrondissement	Oloron-Sainte-Marie
Canton	Oloron-Sainte-Marie-1
Intercommunality	Haut Béarn
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Pierre Casabonne[1]
Area 1	92.23 km2 (35.61 sq mi)
Population  (Jan. 2021)[2]	1,071
• Density	12/km2 (30/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	64040 /64570
Elevation	292–2,315 m (958–7,595 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Arette (French pronunciation: [aʁɛt]; Occitan: Areta) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of southwestern France. It is located in the arrondissement of Oloron-Sainte-Marie and the canton of Oloron-Sainte-Marie-1.

Arette Village.

The War Memorial.

The Primary School.

Arette Church.

The fronton.

The Vert d'Arette.

Geography

Arrete is located some 15 km south by south-west of Oloron-Sainte-Marie and some 4 km south-east of Aramits. It lies close to both the French Basque region and borders Spain in the south. It is within the borders of Béarn, one of the traditional French provinces.

Access to the commune is by French rail SNCF to Pau, and a short bus ride to Arrete. Less scenic is the automobile route: D918 road from Lanne-en-Barétous in the north-west coming south-east to the village then continuing east to Issor. The D132 goes south from the village down the length of the commune following a tortuous mountain route before exiting the southern border of the commune over the Col de la Pierre St Martin (1,760m), which is also the border with Spain, and becoming the Spanish NA-137 which continues to Isaba. The D341 also goes south-east from the village then south, connecting with the D241 at the Col de Labays (1,351m) going east to join the E7 highway south of Sarrance, then continuing along the south-western border to join the D441 south of the commune. The D133 also goes north from the village to Aramits.^[3]

Bus Route 848 of the Intercity Network of Pyrénées-Atlantiques (Transports 64) links Arette to Oloron-Sainte-Marie.

Arette is a very large commune and has a land area of 92 km². It is also mountainous (the La Pierre Saint-Martin ski resort is within its borders, for example) and its highest peak is the 2,315 m Soum Couy, which is situated not far from the 2,504 m Pic d'Anie, the highest peak in the western Pyrenees. From Pic d'Anie the mountain range extends downwards for approximately 20 km, forming both sides of the Aspe Valley to the north-west. The Vert d'Arette (a tributary of the Vert) flows through this valley. The ancient village (also named Arette) from which the commune extends is located at an altitude of 316 m in the valley of Barétous, which lies between the aforementioned Aspe valley, to its east, and the Basque province of Soule, to its west.

Toponymy

The commune name in béarnais is Arèta (according to the classical norm of Occitan). The name comes from the Basque ar- meaning "stone" and from the locative suffix -eta meaning "stony place".^[6]

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)^[4]
• Grosclaude: Toponymic Dictionary of communes, Béarn, 2006 (in French)^[6]
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750^[7]
• Ldh/EHESS/Cassini: Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Arette, EHESS (in French).

Origins:

• Barcelona: Titles of Barcelona.^[8]
• Luntz:^[9]
• Census: Census of Béarn^[10]
• Barétous: Titles of the Valley of Barétous
• Cour Major: Regulations of the Cour Major^[11]
• Reformation: Reformation of Béarn^[12]
• Insinuations: Insinuations of the Diocese of Oloron^[13]
• Notaries: Notaries of Oloron^[14]
• Regulation: Regulation of Arette^[15]

History

In 1385 there were 87 fires in Arette and it depended on the Bailiwick of Oloron.^[4]

On 13 August 1967 the village of Arette was 80% destroyed by an earthquake that killed one person. The ruined clock tower of the church indicated the exact time of the earthquake: 11:10 p.m. Seismic waves were felt from Pau to Tarbes and Bayonne.^[16]

Heraldry

Arms of Arette

Blazon: Quarterly, 1 and 4 Gules with two cows of Or hooved, collared, belled, and horned in Azure one above the other; 2 and 3 Argent with a boar of Sable.

Administration

List of Successive Mayors^[17]

Mayors from 1942

Demography

In 2017 the commune had 1,057 inhabitants.

Economy

The economy of the commune is primarily oriented toward agriculture and livestock (cattle and sheep) and logging. The town is part of the Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) zone designation of Ossau-iraty.

Culture and Heritage

Religious heritage

The Retable in the church

The former Lay Abbey (17th century) is registered as an historical monument.^[22]

The Arette Church contains several items that are registered as historical objects:

• A Chandelier (18th century)^[23]
• An Altar and Retable (18th century)^[24]
• An Eagle-Lectern (15th century)^[25]
• A Statue: Virgin and child (16th century)^[26]

Facilities

Notable people linked to the commune

• Jacques I d'Arette de Béarn-Bonasse, baptized around 1600 in Béarn and died in 1666 in Saint-Castin, was a lord of Bonasse and lay abbot of Arette.
• Henri Pellisson , Félibrige and member of the Escole Gastoû Febus affiliated to Félibrige (1846-1912), first at the Acadèmia dels Jòcs Florals (Academy of Floral Games) of Toulouse in 1898 for his poem Notre Dame de Sarrance.
• Renée Massip, born in 1907 at Arette and died in Paris in 2002, he was a French writer, winner of the Prix Interallié in 1963.
• Pierre Aristouy born on 18 October 1920 at Arette and died on 20 April 1974. A former French rugby player who played with the French team and in the Section Paloise in the position of second line or prop.
• Paul Ambille, born in 1930 at Béziers and died in 2010 in Arette, was a French painter.
• Nelson Paillou, president of the CNOSF (French Olympic Committee) lived in Arette.
• Marie Bourdet Well known cheese farmer in Southern France; Sonoma Valley communities

See also

• Col de la Pierre St Martin
• GR 10 footpath
• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

References

External links

• Arrete on the 1750 Cassini Map

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arette.