This town took its name from the stakes; they used to build its fences, pronounced « paû » in Bearnese.

Pau is a small city but it is the most important city in the Pyrenees Atlantique. It is the capitale of Bearn, court for the Navarre’s kings, a protestant town, eventually returning to Catholicism, then recaptured by the English. They have helped shape Pau in the twelth centuries.

There are 80 610 inhabitants and (150 000 inhabitants in an urban area). They are called Palois.

Pau is a city in bloom. It is a modern town with ancient areas.

There is a river flowing from Pyrenees (120km); it flows through Lourdes and Pau. It is called a Gave.

The means of transports are cars, bikes, and walking of course.

Pau is the third economic pole in the South-west of France.

There are three powerful industrial sectors: the aviation, the chemistry and the food-processing.

There are a château of Pau (XIII^th - XVI^th centuries), the national museum, the Béarnais 

museum; the Beaux-Arts museum and the Bernadotte museum. (Linked with the history of Norway and Sweden).

The Palais Beaumont remodelled that has become an International Conference Center.