Arles-sur-Tech

Arles-sur-Tech is located in the canton of Le Canigou and in the arrondissement of Céret.

Arles-sur-Tech is situated in the southernmost valley in mainland France before Spain, the Vallespir, through which the {{convert|84|km|0|abbr=on}} long river "Tech" flows. This small town is surrounded by the eastern Pyrenees which dominate the skyline around Arles-sur-Tech. The town sits on the only main road which passes through the valley, the D 115, making it accessible from Spain in the west and the plane of Roussillon and Perpignan in the east. It is located close to the larger and more well-known spa town of Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda.

File:Map commune FR insee code 66009.png

{{Adjacent communities|width=auto

| CENTER=Arles-sur-Tech

| NORTHWEST=Corsavy

| NORTH=Montbolo

| NORTHEAST=

| WEST=Montferrer

| EAST=Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda

| SOUTHWEST=

| SOUTH=Saint-Laurent-de-Cerdans

| SOUTHEAST=

}}

At the end of the Spanish Civil War Arles-sur-Tech was the site of a camp housing Republican escapees from Spain. It was used as an initial sorting camp.{{cite book |last1=Beevor |first1=Antony |title=The Battle for Spain |date=2006 |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |location=London |isbn=978-0-7538-2165-7 |pages=455 & 456}}

Arles-sur-Tech is twinned with:

• {{flagicon|ESP}} Cubelles, Spain{{in lang|ca}} [http://www.cubelles.cat/content/view/2539/8/ Infos on Cubelles municipal website] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100921084710/http://www.cubelles.cat/content/view/2539/8/ |date=September 21, 2010 }}

{{Historical populations

|source = INSEE[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-66009#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE

|percentages = pagr

|align = none

|1968 |2760

|1975 |2945

|1982 |2889

|1990 |2837

|1999 |2700

|2007 |2719

|2012 |2671

|2017 |2705

}}

• Abbey of Saint Mary : Arles-sur-Tech is best known for its abbey, which allegedly holds the relics of Saints Abdon and Sennen in a sarcophagus called Sainte Tombe, traditionally believed to have been brought from Rome by Abbot Arnulf in the middle of the tenth century.Joan Evans, Cluniac Art of The Romanesque Period (Cambridge University Press, 1950). Citing L'abbé Joseph Gibrat, Aperçu historique sur l'abbaye d'Arles-sur-Tech, page 15 (Céret, L. Roque, 1922. In-8°, 93 p.). Its waters are traditionally believed to hold miraculous healing properties.Milburg Francisco Mansfield, Castles and chateaux of old Navarre and the Basque provinces: including also Foix, Roussillon and Béarn (I. Pitman, 1908).
• The Caixa de Rotllan, a dolmen.
• Saint-Stephen church
• Saint-Saviour church
• Saint-Peter church
• Holy Cross church
• The Fou canyon, said to be the world's narrowest.

• Abbé Adolphe Crastre, Histoire du martyre des saints Abdon et Sennen, de leurs reliques, de leurs miracles, de leur culte et de l'eau miraculeuse du sarcophage (Amélie-les-Bains, 1932). Facsimile reprint, Nîmes: Les Éditions Lacour-Ollé, 2005. {{ISBN|2-7504-1045-2}}

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department

{{Reflist}}

{{Wikivoyage|Arles-sur-Tech}}

{{Commons category|Arles-sur-Tech}}

• [http://www.ville-arles-sur-tech.fr Official site]

{{Pyrénées-Orientales communes}}

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Category:Communes of Pyrénées-Orientales

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