“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, since 1992, there has been a contemporary sculpture: “The Observatory of Time” by the Catalan artist Jaume Plensa. The engraved text is the biblical evocation of the Flood and recalls the catastrophic floods which devastated the city in 1977. The glass eye, like a symbolic lookout, scans the sky. The other part of the work: “the impossible shelter” is located 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 likeness of the most famous Gascon: Charles de Batz, better known under the name of d'Artagnan, Captain of the King's Musketeers, born at the Château de Castelmore in Lupiac, a village located about forty kilometers from Auch. »
