To be honest, Oloron is rather a grim little town. It does, however, boast two notable churches. The delights of the Eglise de Sainte-Croix are something of a closed book to amateurs, but the oldest Romanesque church in the Béam region sports an unusual 13thC dome with an eight-pointed star picked out in brickwork by Spanish artisans echoing the Grand Mosque at Cordoba. This, apparently, will enchant architectural and ecclesiastical historians. Otherwise, the interior restoration work can be described as crude at best.

The highlight of the former cathedral, Sainte-Marie, is a truly wonderful portal commissioned by Count Gaston IV, a veteran of the First Crusade, and carved from Pyrenean marble. Beneath a Descent from the Cross, the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse strum serenely on stringed instruments and wave the odd rattle, while Man bustles about his seasonal calender of fattening geese and slaughtering pigs. The noble count and his steed put in an heroic appearance trampling careless Saracens; while those that escape are chained to the central pillar.