Saint-Girons | |
Commune Status: | Subprefecture and commune |
Image Coat Of Arms: | Blason ville fr Saint-Girons (Ariège).svg |
Arrondissement: | Saint-Girons |
Canton: | Couserans Ouest |
Insee: | 09261 |
Postal Code: | 09200 |
Mayor: | Jean-Noël Vigneau[1] |
Term: | 2020 - 2026 |
Intercommunality: | Couserans-Pyrénées |
Coordinates: | 42.9858°N 1.1467°W |
Elevation M: | 391 |
Elevation Min M: | 387 |
Elevation Max M: | 1200 |
Area Km2: | 19.13 |
Saint-Girons (pronounced as /fr/; oc|Sent Gironç) is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.
Unlike its close neighbour Saint-Lizier, Saint-Girons isn't an ancient city; there was however a lucus on its present territory where some Roman finds were made during the construction of the train station in the beginning of the twentieth century. Modern-days district Le Luc is considered to owe its name to this ancient lucus.
The city is named after Saint Girons, a saint from fifth-century Landes who evangelized Novempopulania. In the ninth century some of his relics were supposedly buried in Saint Girons' Church, around which the city later developed.
Saint-Girons has a moderate but warm oceanic climate, that is quite prone to temporary vast extremes in temperature as a result of its inland position.
Inhabitants of Saint-Girons are called Saint-Gironnais.
Stage 8 of the 2009 Tour de France finished in Saint-Girons, after travelling 176 km from Andorra la Vella.
Stage 9 of the 2013 Tour de France started here.