Millau, Aveyron Département, Occitanie, France

🇫🇷 Millau is a commune in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. One of two subprefectures in Aveyron alongside Villefranche-de-Rouergue, it is located 70 km to the south-east of the prefecture, Rodez. It is situated at the confluence of the rivers Tarn and Dourbie, surrounded by the landscapes of Gorges du Tarn and Causse du Larzac. It is part of the former province of Rouergue where people also communicate through a form of Occitan language: the Rouergat dialect. Its inhabitants are called Millavois and Millavoises. The territory of the commune is part of the Regional Natural Park of Grands Causses, part of the larger Causses and Cévennes UNESCO World Heritage Site.

History The town dates back nearly 3000 years when it was situated on the Granède hills which dominate the town. In the second or first century B.C, it would move to the alluvial plain on the left bank of the Tarn. The plain gave the town its Gallic name of Condatomagus (Contado meaning confluence and magus for the market). The site of Condatomagus was identified in the 19th century by Dieudonné Rey; it was close to the major earthenware centre in the Roman Empire, La Graufesenque. This is where luxury ceramics such as red terra sigillata were made. Despite major new developments in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the centre of the old Roman and medieval town on the opposite (left) bank of the Tarn remains poorly excavated, and the newly renovated Maison du Peuple, almost on the site of the old Roman forum, saw no archaeological dig prior to the excavation of the new, very deep, foundations. The local museum sits almost adjacent to this site.

By the second century A.D. trade had collapsed from competition, and subsequent barbarian invasions during the fourth and fifth centuries saw the town relocate to the opposite bank, changing its name to Amiliavum, then to Milhau en Rouergat (in the Millhau language), then to the French Millhau.

By the ninth century the town had grown. It a seat of viguerie, a mediaeval administrative court, and a centre for the production of lambskin gloves. Ramparts surrounded the town. The tenth and eleventh centuries saw the creation of the Viscount of Millau and subsequently passed to the Counts of Provence, the Counts of Barcelona and eventually, in 1112, to the father of the future King of Aragon, Béranger III following his marriage to the daughter of the Viscount of Millau. In 1187, the King of Aragon grants him the seal and communal freedom of Provence by Consular Charter. A consulate was thus created, and was responsible for administering the city to raise taxes and to apply justice. In 1271, Millau passed to the crown of the kings of France.

In 1361, during the Hundred Years War, the city came under English rule. The return to peace in the fifteenth century gave the city a boost. It is Louis XI which connects Millau to the crown in 1476 by letters patent.

In the Middle Ages the town had one of the main mediaeval bridges across the river Tarn. It had 17 arches, but after one poorly-maintained arch collapsed in the 18th century, the bridge was mostly demolished. Only one arch remains, with a mill that is now an art gallery, as testament to this significant trading route from north to south across pre-Renaissance France.

In 1999, José Bové, a local Larzac anti-globalisation activist demolished the Millau McDonald's as it was being built, in symbolic protest of the decision by the Court of the World Trade Organization to allow the United States to overtax the import of the local cheese called Roquefort, in retaliation for the European Union refusing the import of US hormone-treated meat. It was also an opportunity to protest against the spread of fast food, Americanization, and the spread of 'Genetically Modified Organisms/crops' (GMO). The McDonald's was soon rebuilt, and Bové spent a few weeks in jail. He is now a representative at the European Parliament.

The Millau Viaduct was completed in 2004, eliminating traffic jams from the town centre. The town is now a tourist centre with one of the largest campsites in central France, benefiting from the attractive surrounding landscape, and the architecturally-acclaimed Millau viaduct. It is also a major centre for outdoor sporting activity.

Heraldry

The traditional arms of the city of Millau are "Gold with four pallets gules, a chief azure three gold fleurs-de-lis".

This has been the arms of the Crown of Aragon since 1187, but since 1271 surmounted with the leader of France (Azure three fleurs de lys) indicating that this is a bonne ville (good town), i.e. a commune reporting directly to the king. The city itself was administered through elected consuls – like Toulouse and its sheriffs – while the king was the sole and direct lord. Few cities in France enjoyed such an autonomous regime.

Geography

The territory of this town lies across a southern portion of the Massif Central. It covers a large area of some 16,823 hectares (41,570 acres), which makes it the 25th largest metropolitan town in France. The municipality lies at the heart of the Grands Causses, a part of the Causse Rouge (east of the plateau Lévézou), and part of Larzac as well as part of the Black Causse. The city county seat is located in the lower part of the town, in a large depression at the confluence of the Tarn and Dourbie, at an altitude of about 340 m.

The territory surrounding the town of Millau is characterized by livestock production and the maintaining of natural grasslands, fields and temporary pastures. A multitude of gorges, ravines and defiles give the landscape its character. These predominantly agricultural rural areas like the rest of this fragile region, are protected by the Regional Natural Park of Grands Causses.

The area's flora consists of over 2000 species. There is a triple-leaved asparagus, Montpellier aphyllanthe, honeysuckle from the Etruria region of Italy. During the summer, the highest land of the municipality does not retain rain water and becomes arid. Some game in the area is protected and regulated by the hunting missions which gather quails, Hobby falcon, hawks, lizards, deer, wild boars, deer and mountain sheep.

The expansion of the bed of the river Tarn in the city and the creation of a raw discharge linked to its expansion has slowed and lowered the level of the river that now sees the proliferation of aquatic buttercup which is reveling in the stagnant water. This has also led to a decline in wild populations of brown trout in this sector. Also waterproofing concrete and paving large areas has increased significantly water from rain discharged directly to the river inducing a phenomenon called "flush" that is quite destructive to aquatic fauna and the banks.

Administration Millau is a sub-prefecture of the Aveyron department in the Occitanie region.

The 'Community of Communes of Millau Grands Causses' was created on June 22, 1989, comprising Aguessac, Compeyre, Creissels, Millau and Paulhe. Today the community consists of 15 towns with the addition of Comprégnac, Saint-Georges-de-Luzençon, La Roque-Sainte-Marguerite, Saint-André-de-Vézines, Mostuéjouls, Peyreleau, Rivière-sur-Tarn and Veyreau.

Education The education establishments in the town of Millau report to the Academy of Toulouse. The Public school is the College Marcel Aymard, a technological and professional General School. The Private school is the College and Lycée Jeanne d'Arc. Vocational education can be found at the 2iSA (Computer Institute South Aveyron). Higher Education includes the Institute of Nursing Training (IFSI), BTS qualifications can be done at Jean Vigo High School, and Higher Education at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM) of Millau.

Transport The Millau Viaduct, the tallest cable-stayed road bridge in the world, which carries the A75 autoroute across the valley of the Tarn near Millau, relieves the town of much traffic, especially during the summer months.

Economy The city is the seat of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of South Aveyron Millau. The municipality operates the airfield of Millau-Larzac. Having been recognised for over a century as the "capital of leather and glove" Millau is renowned for its activity tannery (leather gloves). The town is best known for its sheepskin gloves, for which it led the French fashion industry for two centuries. It gained the title of "City and Art Professions" in 2000.

Agricultural production, including Roquefort cheese made from raw sheep's milk, is essential to the economic activity of the region are 43 farms in this town and their activities strongly shape the landscape. Since 1993, a series of four major night markets, organized by farmer-producers associated among Farmers of Aveyron, currently take place in the evening from July to August on Mandarous Square, the main square of the city center. Since that time, in November, the autumn fair of farm products is organized by the same association of farmers and runs for two days at Victory Park in Millau.

Tourist Industry • The glove museum • The Jardin botanique des Causses, a botanical garden • The Place du Maréchal Foch, a square with 12th century arcades, one of which carries the inscription Gara qué faras or Watch what you are doing • Église Notre-Dame-de-l'Espinasse. This church allegedly once possessed a part of the Crown of Thorns, making it an important pilgrimage centre in the Middle Ages. The church was destroyed in 1582 but rebuilt in the 17th century. The frescoes from 1939 are by Jean Bernard, the stained-glass windows from 1984 by Claude Baillon. • The Passage du Pozous is a 13th-century fortified gateway • The Belfry, a 12th-century square tower topped by an octagonal 17th-century tower on the place Emma Calvé • Millau is the main centre in France for paragliding • Micropolis; the city of insects, is at nearby Saint-Léons • The medieval walled Knights Templar town of La Couvertoirade is nearby • The nearby caves for Roquefort cheese production

Historical buildings There are 11 listed buildings are historical monuments in the town of Millau: • The archaeological site Graufesenque, two km from Millau, is a remnant of the Gallo -Roman city of Condatomagus which was a major centre of ceramic production in the Gallo- Roman era. • Notre- Dame de l'Espinasse built in the twelfth century. It takes its name from a relic of the crown of thorns once kept in his treasure. Destroyed in the sixteenth century, it was rebuilt a century later through taking a toll on the river Tarn. Its bell tower is Toulouse style. • Belfry of Millau is composed of two parts corresponding to two different eras. The square tower was built in the twelfth century on the site of the original castle of the Counts of Millau. He assured the safety of the fortifications in the south-west corner. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the consuls of Millau did build above the octagonal tower. The square tower was used as a prison from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century and especially during the revolutionary period. The building was burned by lightning July 29, 1811. After climbing the 210 steps, it has a 360 ° view. • Washhouse of the Ayrolle. The roof dates from the eighteenth century. • Old Mill and Old Bridge (on the Tarn). • Hotel Sambucy de Sorgues also called Sambucy castle and its gardens. Built between 1672 and 1674 Jacques Duchesne, advisor to the king, especially master of waters and forests of Rouergue and receiver of the election of Millau. After his marriage it becomes the home of Mark Antony Sambucy, capitoul of Toulouse in 1745. • Hotel Sambucy de Miers, acquired in the seventeenth century by Antoine de Sambucy. • The Halls (1899): metal construction of the Belle Époque. • La rue Droit: Roman road. • The hotel Pégayrolles built in 1738, which now houses the museum. The Millau Museum has a rich collection of pottery called Samian from the Gallo-Roman as well as collections of tannery and glove on the history of the glove time. • The Church of the Sacred Heart (the largest church in the city) dated nineteenth century, neo-Byzantine style. The church has a carillon of 21 bells.