“The monumental staircase, completed in 1863, links the historic town to the new town over a 35 m drop with 234 steps (374 in total with double flights).
On the first landing in front of the fountain, there has been a contemporary sculpture since 1992: “the Observatory of Time” by Catalan artist Jaume Plensa. The engraved text is the biblical evocation of the Flood and recalls the catastrophic floods that ravaged the city in 1977. The glass eye, like a symbolic lookout, scans the sky. The other part of the work: “the impossible shelter” is at the end of the footbridge on the opposite bank.
From the lower landing, beautiful view over the Gers valley. On the southern horizon, behind the line of the hills, we can see, on a clear day, the chain of the Pyrenees.
On the landing, lower down, the bronze statue, the work of Michelet, bears the effigy of the most famous of the Gascon people: Charles de Batz, better known under the name of d'Artagnan, Captain of the King's Musketeers, born at the castle of Castelmore in Lupiac, a village located about forty kilometers from Auch. "
