Auch is built on the summit and sides of a hill at the foot of which flow the yellow waters of the Gers.
Auch is the seat of an archbishopric, a prefect and a court of assizes, and has tribunals of first instance and of commerce, a chamber of commerce, a lycee, training-colleges, a school of design, a branch of the Bank of France and an important lunatic asylum.
Auch (Elimberris) was the capital of a Celtiberian tribe, the Ausci, and under the Roman domination was one of the most important cities in Gaul.
Till 732, Auch stood on the right bank of the Gers, but in that year the ravages of the Saracens drove the inhabitants to take refuge on the left bank of the river, where a new city was formed.
In the 10th century Count Bernard of Armagnac founded the Benedictine abbey of St Orens, the monks of which, till 1308, shared the jurisdiction over Auch with the archbishops - an arrangement which gave rise to constant strife.
