Mourenx

Mourenx is a town in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, located in Béarn, some 27 kilometres by road from Pau. It was born in the late 1950s as a new town to house the workers of the Lacq industrial complex, developed after gas and oil were discovered in the area: more than 3,000 homes were built between 1957 and 1961, and it is regarded as the first new town created in France. It preserves the Sainte-Madeleine church, from the 17th and 18th centuries, and since 2016 it has had the MIX cultural centre. In sport, its highlights are the Mourenx Basket Club and its swimming pool, where the swimmer Claude Mandonnaud set a European record. Mourenx has been designated European Town of Sport 2027, a title reserved for municipalities of fewer than 25,000 inhabitants, which will add it to the French representation of the ACES network.