Montauban is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Toulouse.
The town, built mainly of a reddish brick, stands on the right bank of the Tarn at its confluence with the Tescou.
| Country | France |
|---|---|
| Region | Occitanie |
| Department | Tarn-et-Garonne |
| Mayor (2020-2026) | Brigitte Barèges |
| Area1 | 135.17 km2 (52.19 sq mi) |
| Population (2017-01-01) | 60,810 |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
Economy
The commercial importance of Montauban is due rather to its trade in agricultural produce, horses, game and poultry, than to its industries, which include nursery-gardening, cloth-weaving, cloth-dressing, flour-milling, wood-sawing, and the manufacture of furniture, silk-gauze and straw hats.
However, due to the proximity of Toulouse and the cheaper cost of industrial grounds, more and more mechanical products are being manufactured there.
Montauban Industrial Zone
In Montauban there are three industrial zones:
- Albanord (or Aussonne) industrial zone: this activity zone is the most extensive in the city. It brings together more than 400 companies and around 4,000 jobs.
- Sapiac Industrial Zone: This activity zone is smaller than that of Albanord. It brings together 131 companies and employs 1,280 people.
- Albasud Industrial Zone: this site has 230 companies and 3,700 jobs.
Health
Montauban has a hospital center, located rue Léon-Cladel. This hospital hosts a Nursing Training Institute (IFSI), which trains nurses and caregivers. Three private clinics are also located in Montauban: Cave clinic clinical cross St. Michael’s D r Boye and Thatch Bridge clinic.
Culture
Cultural events and festivities
- The city hosted the annual festival So … Sing! ! . which will move from 2016 to Castelsarrasin.
- Since 1991, the Autumn Letters Literature Festival , in mid-November, has hosted a writer for two weeks.
- Since 2009, the International Magic Festival has been taking place in Montauban in the Eurythmy room.
- Since 2015, the Montauban en Scènes festival created by the city of Montauban has been offering a balanced and diversified program all summer long of around forty events combining music, dance, humor, shows for children, street arts, workshops. discovery, etc.
- Since 2019, the Mars en Danse Festival has been performing at the Olympe-de-Gouges theater.
- Since 2019, a Gwoka festival takes place on the second Saturday in August “Place au Gwoka”
Places and monuments
Its fortifications have been replaced by boulevards beyond which extend numerous suburbs, while on the left bank of the Tarn is the suburb of Villebourbon, which is connected to the town by a remarkable bridge of the early 14th century. This bridge is known as Pont Vieux (i.e. “Old Bridge”). It is a pink brick structure over 205 metres (224 yards) in length, but while its fortified towers have disappeared, it is otherwise in a good state of preservation. The bridge was designed to resist the violent floods of the Tarn, and indeed it successfully withstood the two terrible millennial floods of 1441 and 1930
The Musée Ingres, on the site of a castle of the Counts of Toulouse and once the residence of the bishops of Montauban, stands at the east end of the bridge. It belongs chiefly to the 17th century, but some portions are much older, notably an underground chamber known as the Hall of the Black Prince (Salle du Prince Noir).
the Ingres-Bourdelle museum .
The Place Nationale is a square of the 17th century, entered at each corner by gateways giving access to a large open space surrounded by pink brick houses supported by double rows of arcades.
The préfecture is located in the palace built by the intendant of Montauban , and is a large elegant 18th century mansion, built of pink bricks and white stone, with a steep roof of blue gray slates, in a style combining northern and southern French styles of architecture.
Buildings and remarkable public places
The town has 43 monuments listed in the inventory of historical monuments and 140 places and no monument or place listed in the general inventory of cultural heritage.
Some buildings and architectural complexes stand out:
- The Ingres museum inner courtyard
- Courtyard of the Former Jesuit College of Montauban.
- View of the National Square
- Plaque commemorating the 800 th anniversary of the founding of Montauban
- The arcades of the Place Nationale .
- The old bridge
- Former Jesuit college of Montauban
- Place Antoine-Bourdelle
Place Nationale .
Parks and green spaces
Montauban has many green spaces it also has three flowers of the flower town label :Pont du Jardin des Plantes in Montauban.
- The Jardin des Plantes : This arboretum , open to the public in 1861 , brings together a large number of plant species from all over the world: cedars , tulip trees , ginkos biloba,
- The rose garden : Located in the heart of the eastern districts of the city, this rose garden, inaugurated in 1983 , is one of the most important in Europe . It has nearly 12,000 roses divided into 1,100 varieties, including hybrids with large flowers .
- Itzhak Rabin Park,
- The Cours Foucault,
- Treil park and Pissote island,
- Alignments of plane trees.
Museums
- The Ingres-Bourdelle museum houses works by two famous Montalbanais, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and Antoine Bourdelle .
- The Victor Brun natural history museum
- The Museum of Resistance and Deportation .
- The Montauban Toy Museum
- Mini Museum
Cultural facilities
- Memo media library, located in the Chaumes district.
- Cinema : the city has a multiplex and a room facing Arthouse : the “Paris”. There is also an association of cinephiles, Eidos.
- The Academy of Montauban.
- The Conservatory with departmental influence (music and dance).
- The city’s concert and performance hall , the Eurythmy Hall , inaugurated in 2000.
- The Rio Grande.
- Baroque orchestra ” Les Passions “.
- Theaters: the Olympe-de-Gouges theater.
Sports
Montauban was a stage town of the Route du Sud (see its results and statistics ) and stage town of the Tour de France 1998 , it also hosted the Trophée de France for Young Cyclists 2018. In terms of infrastructure, the town has the Sapiac Stadium with a capacity of 11,000 seats, the Fobio Stadium with 5,000 seats, 2 golf courses, the Allègres racecourse as well as numerous fields and gymnasiums.
- The Montalbanese Racing club,
- Kin-ball Montalbanais,
- Montauban Football Club,
- Le Montauban athletics,
- The CANOM diving club, specializing in children’s diving,
- The MBC ( basketball ) evolving in National 3 Men, etc.
Montauban is also a town which has a Handisport club : the Montauban Handisport which includes, in particular, a wheelchair rugby section : Les Pandas . They compete for the Elite 1 championship (first division) at the end of the 2010s.
