Mourenx is best understood as a planned town rather than an old village centre enlarged by chance. It lies between Orthez and Pau in the Béarn, and its modern layout grew from the industrial transformation of the Lacq basin. INSEE’s municipal census figure for the whole commune was 5,695 in 2023, at a density of 898.3 people per square kilometre. That same statistical series records an average annual population decline of 2.1% from 2017 to 2023. The number is a dated census reference, not a live headcount; the total reference population is different because it also includes people counted apart.
The city’s story reaches back before its apartment blocks. The tourism authority describes the original rural bourg as having 218 residents and dates the discovery of Lacq gas to 1949. Mourenx’s municipal history says the town plan was designed in spring 1957 by Douillet, Maneval and Coulon, with construction beginning that July. The new settlement was planned for 12,000 people; the intercommunal authority records more than 3,000 homes built from 1957 to 1961. The first residents, called the Pioneers locally, moved into housing as it was delivered. The design is still legible in the broad central square and two intersecting axes, then in the change from four-storey blocks and towers to attached houses and larger detached homes at the edge.
This is also a place where employment figures need context. INSEE counted 2,860 jobs located in the commune in 2023 and 181 employer establishments at the end of 2024. Of those establishments, 55.2% were in trade, transport and varied services, 26.5% in public administration, education, health or social action, and 12.7% in industry. Those percentages describe establishments, not the share of jobs held in each sector. The industrial basin remains part of Mourenx’s identity, but the official tourism account says gas extraction at Lacq ended in 2013 and describes a wider transition in fine chemistry and lower-carbon energy activity.
A visitor can read the town’s geometry on foot. The current Lacq-Orthez walking page lists the Histoire de Mourenx trail at 5.61 km, about 1 hour 50 minutes, with 75 metres of ascent; it labels the route very easy but not accessible to people with reduced mobility and supplies a GPX file. Its descriptive text still carries a note that the write-up is in progress, so check the route page, ground conditions and signs before setting out. The Belvédère gives a view across the planned town and, according to the tourism office, toward the Pyrenees. Guided visits are offered in summer and for groups by appointment; dates and booking availability change.
The MI[X] makes the centre more than a planning-history stop. Its current institutional directory groups a media library, digital hub, science centre, contemporary gallery, modest-art display, theatre company, two-screen Ciné M cinema and café-brasserie. The official schedule separates the venues and changes around school holidays; cinema weekends follow the screening programme. The nearby swimming complex and the Tèrra Aventura treasure trail add other options, but opening times and access conditions should be confirmed. Industrial facilities in the Lacq basin are not open as sightseeing visits: the tourism authority says guided bus circuits may be booked for groups, while the Seveso-classified plants themselves cannot be visited.
