Circus of Gavarnie
Gavarnie (Gavarnia in Occitan Gascon) is a former French commune, located in the Hautes-Pyrénées department, in the Occitanie region, which on January 1, 2016 became a delegated commune within the new commune of Gavarnie-Gèdre.
The inhabitants of Gavarnie are called the Gavarniens.
Gavarnie has long aroused astonishment. His fame was built by the various explorations he was able to generate. Botanists, scientists, romantics, painters, poets, mountain people in search of exploits or sensations have, since the 16th century, made Gavarnie the cradle of what is called Pyreneanism.
The circus became legendary when Victor Hugo, in his illustrious poem 'God', called it 'an impossible and extraordinary object', 'the colosseum of nature'.
Now, here you are in front of this stupendous wall 1700 meters high and 14 kilometers in circumference. This orchestration of concentric tiers of striking symmetry is framed by a procession of giants: Mont Perdu (3352m), Pic du Marboré (3248m), Taillon (3144m) and the very famous Brèche de Roland, place of so many legends.
You can observe one of the highest waterfalls in Europe with its 413 m of free fall.
Localisation
Located in the Pyrenees, Gavarnie is a small mountain village (about 1,400 meters above sea level) on the border with Spain. In 1997, the Mont-Perdu massif, of which the cirque de Gavarnie is part, was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for both natural and cultural landscape.
Gavarnie-Gèdre is the southernmost French commune crossed by the Greenwich meridian.
Gavarnie borders Spain (Aragon), the French municipality of Cauterets and the delegated municipality of Gèdre. To the west and southwest, Gavarnie is bordered by the Ara Valley which depends on the Spanish municipality of Torla-Ordesa