Perpignan (as a Catalan: Perpinyà ) is a common French located in the department of the the Eastern Pyrenees and the area Languedoc-Roussillon. In the Eastern Pyrenees, Perpignan is located in the Comarque (micro natural area) of the Roussillon and is the capital.

Old Capital Unintermitting ale of the Kingdom of Majorque, Perpignan the Catalan makes the bridge between the Iberian peninsula and the Southern of the France.

The inhabitants of Perpignan are called the Perpignanais .

Geography

Situation

Localization

Perpignan is in the center of the Plaine of Roussillon on the Têt, which is bordered in the south by the chain of the the Pyrenees, in the west by the area of the Corbières and in the east by the the Mediterranean.
It is southernmost of the big cities of France métropolitaine.

Climate

The winters are soft, the summers are hot and dry.

Transport

  • At the road level, the city is connected to Narbonne in north and Barcelona in Catalogne in the south by the highway A9, which constitutes the backbone of the regional and international network. Moreover, one network of fast tracks connects Perpignan to Rivesaltes and Barcarès in north, Canet-in-Roussillon in the east, the Vermilion Côte in the south and Island-on-Small fireclay cup in the west (road of Andorre).
  • the city moreover is equipped with a railway star with international vocation with the Ligne Narbonne - Port-Bou and future the Ligne Perpignan - Figueres (Line at mixed high speed with FREIGHT), which should be operational in 2009. The back-country is connected to the city by the Ligne Perpignan - Villefranche-of-Conflent which is prolonged by the Ligne of Cerdagne towards Mount-Louis. An increase in the service FOR THE THIRD TIME on this network is envisaged, with inter alia the introduction of new railway halts (Technosud-University in the south of Perpignan) and of shuttles given rhythm Villefranche-with-Conflent - Elne every 40 minutes at the rush hours.
  • the Agglomération of Perpignan has a network of bus developed well. In order to increase the capacity by it, a North-South axis in exclusive right of way through the city should be carried out from here with 2012, with a completion of the first phase in 2008. A development in the tram-train is considered at the horizon 2020 if the traffic justifies it, even if no serious evaluation of this possibility were not to date carried out.

Site

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Urban organization

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History

Heraldic

August 1st

Toponymy

The oldest mention of the name of the town of Perpignan goes back to a document of the year 927 collated by B.Alart in the Cartulaire Roussillonais.
It is then “Perpinianum” which one finds later in other texts in the following forms: “Perpiniano Villa” (959); “Pirpinianum” with; Perpiniani (1176); Perpenya with.
The significance of the name of Perpignan has been treated in many works for several centuries. Two assumptions dominent.

the legend of the plowman named Pinya Father, name francized as a Pierre Pine cone.

This name Pinya corresponds itself to the Catalan word “pinya” indicating the small nut which one collects in Catalonia by shaking apples of certain pines. The seed, " pine cone " , contained in this nut is used in many receipts Catalan pâtissières, for example some will tourons. From where probably the popularity of this légende.
But the legend also adds that Pere Pinya would be descended from the mountain to found the city. There is perhaps there the trace owing to the fact that before the Romans the close mountain was richer than the plain. Grace in particular to its iron mines. The proof is in a sentence of a poem of Avénius, poet Roman, who opposes the richness of the country located on the side of the Pyrenees, with the state of the plaine.

the assumption of an owner named “Perpennius” or “Perpennis”.

According to the defenders of this assumption the Cognomen (= nickname chosen by its carrier) Roman “Perpennius”, or sometimes Perpennis, would be attested in the Roman world, like itself derived from a Roman family name “Perpenna”, itself correctly attested by the fact that a Roman chief of army carried this nom.
In 77 before JC, this Perpenna came with its army to reinforce, in the Hispania, the troops of Sertorius statesman and Roman general. Later, in -72, Perpenna assassinated Sertorius then was carried out for this crime.
Thus the name of origin would be “Perpennianum”, the suffix “- anum” letting suppose that the place was the property of a man named Perpennius or Perpennis. But it was even written that Perpenna, referred to above, would have reconsidered like veteran (graded army reprocessed) a place known by him at the time of its countryside hispanique.

Origins with the Kingdom of Majorque

The city is resulting from the development from a oppidum préromain, capidale of Sordes, one of the large people of Celtic Mediterranean. It is with the Moyen-âge, as from the 10th century, that the city makes its great strides. It is indeed the capital of the Comté of Roussillon as of this time, gaining in importance until attracting the bishop, residing normally at Elne.
In 1172, it is integrated into the Couronne of Aragon.
In 1197, Perpignan receives a communal charter which sets up its communal organization. Its inhabitants have extended privileges, like that to elect consuls, one by “hand” representing each one of a social class. One thus distinguishes major, average hand and mineure.

The capital of the Kingdom of Majorque

Between 1276 and 1344, Perpignan knows its golden age; the city is then the capital of the Royaume of Majorque, its population and its surface quadruples in less than one century. It is the time of the large building sites, those of the cathedral Saint-Jean-Baptist and the Palais of the kings de Majorque.

Annexation with the Kingdom of Aragon to fastening in France

In 1344, it loses its statute of capital by the absorption of the kingdom of Majorque in the crown of Aragon. As of 1346 it is hard touched by the Black Death. The city will not go back pas.
from there Become advanced place of Spanish monarchy vis-a-vis in France since 1479, Perpignan does not enter a military logic, locked up in powerful ramparts reinforced at all the times, it is not any more but one stake between the two great powers. Taken by the armies of Louis XIII in 1642, it is annexed with the remainder of Roussillon to the kingdom of France by the Traité of the Pyrenees of 1659.

The modern time

In spite of its new statute of provincial capital, sits of an intendance and of the Sovereign Council, Perpignan vegetates: the city of the beginning of the 19th century is more or less the same one as with the 14th siècle.
The ramparts are demolished at the beginning of the 20th century, and the city is spread out over the plain of Roussillon.
Its agglomeration concentrates today the majority of the inhabitants of the department. For a few years, the city had seemed to find a certain dynamism, inter alia thanks to the bringing together between the local authorities and the Généralité of Catalonia (self government of Spanish Catalonia).
Unfortunately, a delay of several years for the Perpignan-Barcelon connection in the TGV, the difficulties of finalizing the public-private partnership in favor of the construction of the Theater of the Archipelago , signed by the famous architect Jean Nouvel, the absence of truths economic poles except that of St Charles (devoted to the import-export of fruit and vegetables) are as many handicaps which penalize the relaunching of the ville.

Military history

August 1st
  • 53 {{E}} regiment of infantry

Policy and Administration

Political administration

August 1st

Mayors of Perpignan

List successive mayors:

  • February 19th, 1790 - December 4th, 1790: Marquis d' Aguilar
  • January 2nd, 1791 - September 16th, 1792: Joseph Guiter
  • September 16th, 1792 - December 3rd, 1792: François Xavier Llucia
  • December 3rd, 1792 - October 27th, 1793: Bonaventure To be occupied
  • October 27th, 1793 - January 25th, 1794: Valérius Parizot
  • January 25th, 1794 - July 7th, 1795: Pons - Cantagrill
  • July 7th, 1795 - October 21st, 1795: François Roger
  • October 21st, 1795 - December 10th, 1804: Jean-Baptiste Duchalmeau
  • December 10th, 1804 - September 29th, 1806: François Joseph, Baron de Palmarole
  • September 29th, 1806 - May 4th, 1807: Jean Amanrich
  • May 4th, 1807 - May 8th, 1809: François Joseph Baron de Palmarole
  • May 8th, 1809 - September 6th, 1809: Jean Amanrich
  • September 6th, 1809 - July 10th, 1813: Bernard Arnaud
  • May 27th, 1813 - August 4th, 1815: Jean Delhom-Ripoll
  • August 4th, 1815 - December 28th, 1819: Jean Méric
  • December 28th, 1819 - August 28th, 1827: Joseph Baron Després
  • August 28th, 1827 - August 31st, 1830: Andre Grosset
  • August 31st, 1830 - March 7th, 1831: Eugene Boudon Lacombe de Saint-Michel
  • March 8th, 1831 - November 16th, 1831: Pancou-Lavigne, Justin Durand, Theodore Guiter, Henri Delcros, occupy the functions of mayor, “jointly”
  • November 16th, 1831 - July 3rd, 1835: Alexis Sèbe, colonel
  • July 3rd, 1835 - August 25th, 1837: Laurent Astruc
  • August 25th, 1837 - February 20th, 1841: Augustin Pons, colonel
  • June 20th, 1841 - September 4th, 1846: Raymond Guiraud de Saint-Marsal, colonel
  • September 4th, 1846 - March 6th, 1848: Andre Ribeill
  • March 6th, 1848 - May 2nd, 1848: Hippolyte Picas
  • August 22nd, 1848 - August 4th, 1852: Auguste Lloubes
  • August 4th, 1852 - June 26th, 1855: Joseph Aragon
  • June 26th, 1855 - February 26th, 1862: Etienne Jouy d' Arnaud
  • February 26th, 1862 - August 6th, 1863: Justin Durand
  • August 6th, 1863 - November 7th, 1868: François Passama
  • November 7th, 1868 - September 11th, 1870: Joseph Tournal makes function of mayor
  • September 11th, 1870 - January 30th, 1874: Lazare Escarguel
  • January 30th, 1874 - July 7th, 1876: Joseph Tournal
  • July 7th, 1876 - January 16th, 1881: Paulin Testory
  • January 16th, 1881 - December 29th, 1882: Jean Mercadier
  • December 29th, 1882 - May 20th, 1888: Alphonse Simon
  • May 20th, 1888 - July 9th, 1888: César Drogart
  • August 19th, 1888 - January 17th, 1890: Thomas Amadis
  • February 16th, 1890 - May 15th, 1892: Elie Delcros
  • May 15th, 1892 - March 10th, 1894: Joseph Galté
  • April 28th, 1894 - May 17th, 1896: Eugene Bardou
  • May 17th, 1896 - May 1st, 1904: Louis Caulas
  • May 1st, 1904 - May 13rd, 1907: Eugene Sauvy
  • October 25th, 1907 - July 25th, 1910: Edouard Tarrène
  • July 25th, 1910 - May 17th, 1911: Edmond Benoit
  • May 17th, 1911 - May 19th, 1912: Leon Nérel
  • May 19th, 1912 - May 19th, 1929: Joseph Denis
  • May 19th, 1929 - May 19th, 1935: Victor Dalbiez
  • May 19th, 1935 - May 29th, 1937: Jean Payra
  • June 30th, 1937 - December 1st, 1940: Laurent Baudru
  • December 1st, 1940 - March 4th, 1941: Antoine Castillon
  • March 4th, 1941 - August 19th, 1944: Ferdinand Coudray
  • August 19th, 1944 - March 11th, 1949: Felix Mercader
  • April 15th, 1949 - March 20th, 1959: Felix Depardon
  • March 20th, 1959 - March 31st, 1993: Paul Alduy (UDF-PSD)
  • since June 16th, 1993: Jean-Paul Alduy (UDF-PSD then UMP)

Twinnings and partnerships

Perpignan is twinned with:

Partners cities:

Area partner:

  • , to see Web site

Population and company

Demography

The city is divided into 9 cantons:

Teaching

August 1st

Health

August 1st

Demonstrations and festivities

August 1st

Sport

The city is before a a whole town of Rugby. One of the emblems of the city being the club of Rugby to XV of Usap (Sporting union harlequins perpignanais), which evolves/moves in the Top 14.

The city also has a club of Rugby has XIII, the Catalan Dragons.

Media

August 1st

Characters related to the city

Perpignan is the birthplace of:

Perpignan also accommodated:

  • François Arago (1786 - 1853), physicist, astronomer and liberal policy who has work with the abolition of slavery in the French colonies in 1848, born in a nearby village, Estagel. The city counts many places named in its honor, of which a college and a place where throne its statue.
  • the marshal Joffre, born with Rivesaltes, made there the first part of its secondary studies.
  • Pablo Picasso, of Andalusian origin but which was formed in Barcelona, remained of very many times at Perpignan between 1950 and 1953 with the Hotel of Lazerme (current Rigaud museum).
  • El Salvador Dalí, inspired by its visit of August 27th 1965, declared that the frontage of the station of Perpignan was the “cosmic center of the world”. It also indicated on the square of the station a " chou".

Economy

The economic activities of Perpignan are the agro-alimentary one and the metallurgy. Perpignan is the seat of the Chamber of commerce and industry of Perpignan and of the Eastern Pyrenees. It manages the port of Port-Vendres and the airport of Perpignan.

Since a few years, a certain number of " zones économiques" were born with the periphery of the city:

  • the large Saint-Charles in the west (equivalent of Rungis, fruit and vegetables)

  • Space Polygon in north
  • Technosud in the south (undertaken of point)
  • Torremila close to the airport

Culture and inheritance

Monuments

August 1st

  • the Castillet , and carries Notre-Dame, old entry of the ramparts (now destroyed), old prison, today (small) Catalan museum of arts and popular traditions ( Casa Pairal ).

  • the Palate of the Kings de Majorque , built as from the 13th century
  • the Cabin of Sea , old commercial and maritime jurisdiction (15th century)
  • the Town hall 14th century and 17th century
  • the Palate of the Delegation , former local delegation of the general information, the institution of government of Catalonia 15th century
  • the Cathedral Saint-Jean-Baptist built 14th century at the 16th century (1324-1509).
  • the Campo Santo (old cloister-cemetery) of the 14th century.
  • Saint-Jean-the-Old man , old collegial Romance with which the new Gothic cathedral associated.
  • the church Saint-Jacob 13th century and 18th century
  • the church Our-Lady-the-Réal 14th century
  • the church Saint-Mathieu 16th century
  • the Couvent of Dominican the 13th century
  • the remainders of the convent of the Carmelite friars 13th century destroys partly at the 19th century and by the Germans in 1944
  • the convent of Tiny the 16th century
  • the convent of the Clarisses (Monastery of Clarisses founded in Perpignan in the years 1250.) : The clarisses lived various places of the city. The royal convent of Passion was built on the order of Charles Quint. Transformed into military hospital then in prison 16th century. The clarisses are today in the district of Vernet where the mounting of Antigo Mother is visible.
  • remainders of the convent of Franciscains 13th century
  • the tourist bureau and the palate of the congresses to the contemporary architecture.

Gastronomy

Kitchen of the Catalan area of Perpignan east obviously .

  • Garlic mayonnaise (in Catalan aloli, garlic and oil): only garlic and oil
  • Gamba S with the planxa
  • Catalan Cream
  • Rousquille S of Vallespir
  • white Touron: soft Nougat
  • black Touron: hard nougat
  • Cargolade: dish containing snails ( cargols as a Catalan) roasted
  • Boles of picolat: meat pellets chopped out of sauce
  • Ollade: traditional beef stew
  • Escalivade: vegetables roasted and marinaded in the Olive oil
  • Tuna with the Catalan woman, very known out of box
  • Chicken with the Gambas
  • Pa I all: bread and garlic
  • Bouillinade: Catalan equivalent of the Bouillabaisse
with final re-electing the dependant article -->

Vineyards of Roussillon

See also: Wine of Roussillon

Music

  • Jordi Bars (Chanteur in Catalan)

  • Joan Pau Giné (singer as a Catalan)
  • Pascal Comelade (Compositeur)
  • Tekameli (Catalan Musique Gitane)
  • AGRAM, group founded in 1975. Sing as a Catalan of the songs of his composition, texts from other French authors or abroad all translated and adapted as a Catalan, Catalan traditional songs
  • Blues of Picolat (Blues and Folk as a Catalan) name being a word game with “[[boles of picolat]”, flat Catalan, to see above]
  • Chorissimo (Together Vocal of Perpignan)
  • HushPuppies (group of “garage” French Rock'n'roll)
  • Cali (French pop singer, born the May 28th 1968)
  • Dani (Chanteuse Pop French, born on October 1st 1945)

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