Pau is a historic town at the foot of the Pyrenees, famous for the magnificent Bourbons Castle, where King Henry IV was born.
Pau was founded in the 12th century around the castle belonging to the Bearn family. Due to its location, it was for centuries contested territory between France and Spain. In the 15th century, it became part of the Kingdom of Navarre, and in the next century it fell into the hands of the Bourbons. In 1553, Henry IV was born in the local castle.
The main attraction of Pau is the National Museum and Pau Castle surrounded by the Castle Garden. It is a Renaissance building in which a number of halls and rooms with period decorations have been made available to visitors. It presents furniture and arts and crafts from the collections of the National Museum. The collection includes tapestries, porcelain, clocks, glass and jewelry, as well as paintings and sculptures. Equally attractive are the Gardens of the Pau Castle, decorated in the French style.
In addition to the castle, there are also other traces of the past in Pau. They include, among others Romanesque cathedral of the Virgin Mary, the 16th century building where the Navarre parliament used to meet and the Beaumont Palace built at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
