Perpignan

For the wine grape, see Perpignan (grape). For the Rugby Club, see USA Perpignan.
Perpignan

Perpignan seen from the Palace of the Kings of Majorca

Flag
Coat of arms
Perpignan

Coordinates: 42°41′55″N 2°53′44″E / 42.6986°N 2.8956°E / 42.6986; 2.8956Coordinates: 42°41′55″N 2°53′44″E / 42.6986°N 2.8956°E / 42.6986; 2.8956
Country France
Region Occitanie
Department Pyrénées-Orientales
Arrondissement Perpignan
Intercommunality Têt Méditerranée
Government
 • Mayor (2009–2014) Jean-Marc Pujol (UMP) (Radical-UMP)
Area1 68.07 km2 (26.28 sq mi)
Population (2013)2 118,238
 • Density 1,700/km2 (4,500/sq mi)
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
INSEE/Postal code 66136 / 66000
Elevation 8–95 m (26–312 ft)
(avg. 30 m or 98 ft)
Website

www.mairie-perpignan.fr (French)

www.ajuntament-perpinya.cat (Catalan)

1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Perpignan (French: [pɛʁ.pi.ɲɑ̃]; Catalan: Perpinyà [pərpiˈɲa]) is a city, a commune, and the capital of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in south-western France. Perpignan was the capital of the former province and County of Roussillon (Rosselló in Catalan) and continental capital of the Kingdom of Majorca in the 13th and 14th centuries.

In 2013 Perpignan had 118,238 inhabitants (Perpignanais, Perpinyanés) in the city proper. The metropolitan area had a total population of 305,837 in 2010.

Geography

Location

Perpignan is located in the center of the Roussillon plain, 13 km west of the Mediterranean coast.

Hydrography

Perpignan is crossed by the largest river in Roussillon, the Têt, and by one of its tributaries, the Basse. Floods often occur, as in 1892 when the rising of the Têt in Perpignan destroyed 39 houses, leaving more than 60 families homeless.[1]

Climate

Perpignan experiences a Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa) similar to much of the Mediterranean coastline of France.

Climate data for Perpignan (1981–2010 averages)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 25.0
(77)		 26.5
(79.7)		 28.0
(82.4)		 32.4
(90.3)		 34.4
(93.9)		 36.9
(98.4)		 40.5
(104.9)		 38.7
(101.7)		 36.8
(98.2)		 34.2
(93.6)		 28.1
(82.6)		 26.7
(80.1)		 40.5
(104.9)
Average high °C (°F) 12.4
(54.3)		 13.2
(55.8)		 16.0
(60.8)		 18.2
(64.8)		 21.8
(71.2)		 26.2
(79.2)		 29.2
(84.6)		 28.9
(84)		 25.4
(77.7)		 21.0
(69.8)		 15.9
(60.6)		 13.1
(55.6)		 20.1
(68.2)
Daily mean °C (°F) 8.3
(46.9)		 9.0
(48.2)		 11.5
(52.7)		 13.7
(56.7)		 17.0
(62.6)		 21.4
(70.5)		 24.1
(75.4)		 23.9
(75)		 20.5
(68.9)		 16.7
(62.1)		 12.0
(53.6)		 9.1
(48.4)		 15.6
(60.1)
Average low °C (°F) 4.4
(39.9)		 4.9
(40.8)		 7.4
(45.3)		 9.4
(48.9)		 12.9
(55.2)		 16.8
(62.2)		 19.4
(66.9)		 19.3
(66.7)		 16.0
(60.8)		 12.6
(54.7)		 8.1
(46.6)		 5.1
(41.2)		 11.4
(52.5)
Record low °C (°F) −8.2
(17.2)		 −11.0
(12.2)		 −5.9
(21.4)		 0.2
(32.4)		 2.4
(36.3)		 7.4
(45.3)		 11.2
(52.2)		 10.4
(50.7)		 5.0
(41)		 1.2
(34.2)		 −5.7
(21.7)		 −6.3
(20.7)		 −11.0
(12.2)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 65.4
(2.575)		 50.4
(1.984)		 40.3
(1.587)		 58.5
(2.303)		 47.3
(1.862)		 25.0
(0.984)		 12.2
(0.48)		 25.8
(1.016)		 38.2
(1.504)		 75.9
(2.988)		 59.2
(2.331)		 59.4
(2.339)		 557.6
(21.953)
Average precipitation days 5.4 4.3 4.2 6.0 5.5 3.8 2.3 3.5 4.4 4.8 4.5 5.3 54.0
Average snowy days 0.9 0.6 0.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.4 2.5
Average relative humidity (%) 70 68 64 64 66 62 59 63 68 73 71 71 66.6
Mean monthly sunshine hours 141.2 160.8 209.6 218.0 235.8 268.9 298.2 267.4 222.2 167.6 149.2 126.1 2,464.9
Source #1: Météo France[2][3]
Source #2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity and snowy days, 1961–1990)[4]

Transport

Perpignan is served by the Gare de Perpignan railway station, which offers connections to Paris, Barcelona, Toulouse, and several regional destinations. The motorway A9 connects Perpignan with Barcelona and Montpellier. The nearest airport is Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport.

Toponymy

Attested forms

The name of Perpignan appears in 927 as Perpinianum, followed in 959 by Villa Perpiniano, Pirpinianum in the 11th century, Perpiniani in 1176. Perpenyà, which appears in the 13th century, is the most common form until the 15th century, and was still used in the 17th century.

History

Though settlement in the area goes back to Roman times, the medieval town of Perpignan seems to have been founded around the beginning of the 10th century. Soon Perpignan became the capital of the counts of Roussillon. Historically, it was part of the region known as Septimania. In 1172 Count Girard II bequeathed his lands to the Counts of Barcelona. Perpignan acquired the institutions of a partly self-governing commune in 1197. French feudal rights over Roussillon were given up by Louis IX in the Treaty of Corbeil.

When James I the Conqueror, king of Aragon and count of Barcelona, founded the Kingdom of Majorca in 1276, Perpignan became the capital of the mainland territories of the new state. The succeeding decades are considered the golden age in the history of the city. It prospered as a centre of cloth manufacture, leather work, goldsmiths' work, and other luxury crafts. King Philippe III of France died there in 1285, as he was returning from his unsuccessful crusade against the Aragonese Crown.

In 1344 Peter IV of Aragon annexed the Kingdom of Majorca and Perpignan once more became part of the County of Barcelona. A few years later it lost approximately half of its population to the Black Death. It was attacked and occupied by Louis XI of France in 1463; a violent uprising against French rule in 1473 was harshly put down after a long siege, but in 1493 Charles VIII of France, wishing to conciliate Castile in order to free himself to invade Italy, restored it to Ferdinand II of Aragon.

Again besieged and captured by the French during the Thirty Years' War in September 1642, Perpignan was formally ceded by Spain 17 years later in the Treaty of the Pyrenees, and from then on remained a French possession.

Perpignan is one of the houses of Lancaster Girls' Grammar School, a grammar school in its twin city of Lancaster, England.

Government and politics

Mayors

Mayor Term start Term end
Edmond Benoit July 1910 May 1911
Léon Nérel May 1911 May 1912
Joseph Denis May 1912 May 1929
Victor Dalbiez May 1929 May 1935
Jean Payra May 1935 29 May 1937 (death)
Laurent Baudru June 1937 December 1940
Antoine Castillon December 1940 March 1941
Ferdinand Coudray March 1941 August 1944
Félix Mercader August 1944 11 March 1949 (death)
Félix Depardon April 1949 March 1959
Paul Alduy March 1959 May 1993
Jean-Paul Alduy June 1993 27 April 2009 (election of 2008 cancelled)
Bernard Bacou (retired magistrate acting as mayor) 27 April 2009 5 July 2009
Jean-Paul Alduy 5 July 2009 15 October 2009 (resignation)
Jean-Marc Pujol 22 October 2009

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Perpignan is twinned with:

Partner towns
  • Spain Girona, Catalonia, Spain, since 1988
  • Spain Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, since 1994
  • Spain Figueres, Catalonia, Spain, since 1996

Population and society

Demography

Events

Since 2004, the free three-day Guitares au Palais is held each year in the last weekend of August in the Palace of the Kings of Majorca. The festival has a broad mainstream focus with pop-related music as well as traditional acoustic guitar music and alternative music. The festival has attracted international guests like Caetano Veloso (2007), Rumberos Catalans, Pedro Soler, Bernardo Sandoval, Peter Finger, and Aaron and Bryce Dessner (2008).

The famous "Sanch Procession" folklore, once forbidden by the Church, is still celebrated in Perpignan, Arles-sur-Tech, and Collioure.
Perpignan street name sign in French and Catalan.

In 2008, Perpignan became Capital of Catalan Culture.[8] In Perpignan many street name signs are in both French and Catalan.

Sport

Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup and seven times champion of the Top 14 (most recently in 2009), while their rugby league side plays in the First Utility Super League under the name Catalans Dragons. The Dragons missed out on a victory as the first ever French club to make it to a Challenge Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in 2007, losing 30-8 against St. Helens in front of 84,000 people.

Economy

Traditional commerce was in wine, olive oil, corks (the cork oak Quercus suber grows in Perpignan's mild climate), wool, leather, and iron. In May 1907 it was a seat of agitation by southern producers for government enforcement of wine quality following a collapse in prices. JOB rolling papers are currently manufactured in Perpignan.

Sites of interest

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist was begun in 1324 and finished in 1509.[9]

The 13th-century Palace of the Kings of Majorca sits on the high citadel, surrounded by ramparts, reinforced for Louis XI and Charles V, which were updated in the 17th century by Louis XIV's military engineer Vauban.

The walls surrounding the town, which had been designed by Vauban, were razed in 1904 to accommodate urban development. The main city door, the Castillet is a small fortress built in the 14th century, which has been preserved. It had also been used as a prison until the end of the 19th century.[10]

The Hôtel Pams is a lavishly-decorated mansion designed for Jules Pams that illustrates the artistic taste of the wealthy bourgeois at the turn of the 20th century.[11]

Place de la République and theatre
Sadi Carnot and Vauban walkways and the river Bassa

Notable people linked to Perpignan

Natives
Others

Perpignan has a close connection with the sculptor Aristide Maillol, who attended school there.

Following a visit in 1963, the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dalí declared the city's railway station the centre of the Universe, saying that he always got his best ideas sitting in its waiting room. Dalí's painting La Gare de Perpignan commemorates his vision of "cosmogonic ecstasy" there on September 19, 1963.[12] He followed that up some years later by declaring that the Iberian Peninsula rotated precisely at Perpignan station 132 million years ago – an event the artist invoked in his 1983 painting Topological Abduction of Europe – Homage to René Thom.[13] Above the station is a monument in Dali's honour, and across the surface of one of the main platforms is painted, in big letters, «perpignan centre du monde» (French for "perpignan centre of the world").[14]

Perpignan train station

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Perpignan.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Perpignan.

References

  1. ↑ (French) Fabricio Cardenas, Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, Inondations en novembre 1892, 2 march 2014
  2. ↑ "Données climatiques de la station de Perpignan" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Climat Languedoc-Roussillon" (in French). Meteo France. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Normes et records 1961-1990: Perpignan - Rivesaltes (66) - altitude 42m" (in French). Infoclimat. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Hanover – Twin Towns" (in German). 2007–2009 HANNOVER.de – Offizielles Portal der Landeshauptstadt und der Region Hannover in Zusammenarbeit mit hier.de. Retrieved 17 July 2009. External link in |publisher= (help)
  6. ↑ "British towns twinned with French towns". Archant Community Media Ltd. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  7. ↑ "Sarasota Sister Cities Association, Sarasota Florida". Sarasotasistercities.org. Retrieved 15 September 2011.
  8. ↑ Perpinyà, Capital de la Cultura Catalana
  9. ↑ "Cathédrale St Jean-Baptiste" [Cathedral of St. John the Baptist]. Histoire du Roussillon. Retrieved 15 November 2011. (French)
  10. ↑ (French) Fabricio Cardenas, Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, La prison du Castillet, 1892, 20 march 2014
  11. ↑ Fiche Pédagogique - Hôtel Pams de Perpignan (PDF) (in French), Association Pédagogique de la Plaine, du Vallespir et de la Côte Vermeille, retrieved 2015-12-31
  12. ↑ Coppens, Philip. "Salvador Dalí: painting the fourth dimension". Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  13. ↑ Elliott King in Dawn Ades (ed.), Dalí, Bompiani Arte, Milan, 2004, p. 448
  14. ↑ "Picture Gallery – Directory: /pix/fr/electric/emu/TGV/Duplex/misc". Railfaneurope.net. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
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