Travel Guide Tournan

Set on its ridge, this commune of 200 inhabitants keeps the memory of its ancient origins through the Gallo-Roman head sculpted in marble of Saint-Béat, visible on the north wall of the village church. This religious building, dedicated to Saint-Germier, was built in 1895 in the neo-Gothic style with a bell tower with a spire and follows several others built from the 10th to the 19th centuries. Like most of the churches in the canton, the one in Tournan has elements of decoration and furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries. On the north wall of the nave, notice this unusual large painting which serves as a war memorial. Guy Lafitte (1927-1998), world famous tenor saxophonist, who was one of the creators of Jazz in Marciac, lived in Tournan. He is buried in the village cemetery and the auditorium bears his name. Behind the church, there are picnic tables with a panoramic view of the entire Pyrenees chain.The village is home to an organic vegetable and egg producer (Serge and Danielle Damo), a farmer producing charcuterie and delicatessen (Maison Camajou), as well as an equestrian centre Les Ecuries du Grand Tournan run by Virginie Betis. The presence of the School of Arts offers a new cultural and tourist attraction. A shop of craftsmen opens from May to September in the courtyard of this former school which offers artistic workshops. Among the events in Tournan are the summer concerts with meals in the schoolyard, the pedestrian and mountain bike rally on thefirst Sunday in August, the village festivals on thefirst weekend after November 11, not forgetting, throughout the year, the jazz cabarets given in the Guy Lafitte auditorium.