Perpignan

Perpignan is located in the center of the Roussillon plain, 13 km west of the Mediterranean coast. It is the southernmost city of metropolitan France.

File:Map commune FR insee code 66136.png|Map of Perpignan and its surrounding communes

File:Perpignan Pyrenees-Orientales.png|Location within the Pyrénées-Orientales département.

Perpignan is crossed by the largest river in Roussillon, the Têt, and by one of its tributaries, the Basse. Floods have occurred, as in 1892 when the rising of the Têt in Perpignan destroyed 39 houses, leaving more than 60 families homeless.{{cite web|author=Fabricio Cardenas |url=http://vieuxpapierspo.blogspot.fr/2014/03/inondations-en-novembre-1892.html |title=Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales: Inondations en novembre 1892 |website=Vieuxpapierspo.blogspot.fr |date=2 March 2014 |access-date=2016-12-17}}

Perpignan has a typical hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa), similar to much of the Mediterranean coastline of France. One might expect rain to be rare in the city, but the annual precipitation levels are similar to the national average. However, the city is known for its patchy rains, with weeks or even months of rain falling in a matter of hours, followed by several weeks without a drop of water. Perpignan experiences very hot summers and fairly mild winters. Temperatures can reach 40 °C (104 °F), while there has been little snow for decades. Most precipitation occurs in the cold season, with summers being extremely dry. A fresh north-westerly wind often blows, the Tramontana (French: Tramontane, pronounced [tʁamɔ̃tan]), keeping the sky clear much of the time and resulting in high annual sunshine. But the presence of this wind makes winters colder than would be expected from the geographical position of the city.

{{Weather box|location = Perpignan (1991–2020 normals), extremes since 1924

|metric first = Yes

|single line = Yes

|Jan record high C = 25.0

|Feb record high C = 26.5

|Mar record high C = 28.0

|Apr record high C = 32.4

|May record high C = 34.4

|Jun record high C = 42.4

|Jul record high C = 40.5

|Aug record high C = 39.9

|Sep record high C = 36.8

|Oct record high C = 34.2

|Nov record high C = 28.1

|Dec record high C = 26.7

|year record high C = 42.4

|Jan high C = 12.7

|Feb high C = 13.4

|Mar high C = 16.4

|Apr high C = 18.7

|May high C = 22.3

|Jun high C = 26.8

|Jul high C = 29.5

|Aug high C = 29.4

|Sep high C = 25.6

|Oct high C = 21.2

|Nov high C = 16.3

|Dec high C = 13.3

|year high C =

|Jan mean C = 8.7

|Feb mean C = 9.2

|Mar mean C = 12.0

|Apr mean C = 14.2

|May mean C = 17.8

|Jun mean C = 22.0

|Jul mean C = 24.6

|Aug mean C = 24.5

|Sep mean C = 20.9

|Oct mean C = 17.0

|Nov mean C = 12.3

|Dec mean C = 9.3

|year mean C =

|Jan low C = 4.8

|Feb low C = 5.0

|Mar low C = 7.6

|Apr low C = 9.7

|May low C = 13.3

|Jun low C = 17.2

|Jul low C = 19.7

|Aug low C = 19.7

|Sep low C = 16.1

|Oct low C = 12.9

|Nov low C = 8.4

|Dec low C = 5.3

|year low C =

|Jan record low C = -8.2

|Feb record low C = -11.0

|Mar record low C = -5.9

|Apr record low C = 0.2

|May record low C = 2.4

|Jun record low C = 7.4

|Jul record low C = 11.2

|Aug record low C = 10.4

|Sep record low C = 5.0

|Oct record low C = 1.2

|Nov record low C = -5.7

|Dec record low C = -6.3

|year record low C = -11.0

|precipitation colour = green

|Jan precipitation mm = 60.1

|Feb precipitation mm = 40.9

|Mar precipitation mm = 51.6

|Apr precipitation mm = 66.1

|May precipitation mm = 45.6

|Jun precipitation mm = 23.6

|Jul precipitation mm = 15.1

|Aug precipitation mm = 22.7

|Sep precipitation mm = 43.0

|Oct precipitation mm = 82.1

|Nov precipitation mm = 72.6

|Dec precipitation mm = 54.9

|year precipitation mm =

|unit precipitation days = 1 mm

|Jan precipitation days = 5.0

|Feb precipitation days = 3.8

|Mar precipitation days = 4.9

|Apr precipitation days = 6.2

|May precipitation days = 5.7

|Jun precipitation days = 3.8

|Jul precipitation days = 2.6

|Aug precipitation days = 3.1

|Sep precipitation days = 4.4

|Oct precipitation days = 5.0

|Nov precipitation days = 4.9

|Dec precipitation days = 4.7

|year precipitation days =

|Jan humidity = 70

|Feb humidity = 68

|Mar humidity = 64

|Apr humidity = 64

|May humidity = 66

|Jun humidity = 62

|Jul humidity = 59

|Aug humidity = 63

|Sep humidity = 68

|Oct humidity = 73

|Nov humidity = 71

|Dec humidity = 71

|year humidity = 67

|Jan sun = 141

|Feb sun = 164

|Mar sun = 207

|Apr sun = 220

|May sun = 241

|Jun sun = 268

|Jul sun = 300

|Aug sun = 273

|Sep sun = 224

|Oct sun = 175

|Nov sun = 147

|Dec sun = 131

|year sun =

|source 1= Météo France{{cite web

| url = https://donneespubliques.meteofrance.fr/FichesClim/FICHECLIM_66136001.pdf

| title = Fiches climatologique, Perpignan (66)

| publisher = Météo France

| language = fr

| access-date = 27 September 2023

}}

|source 2 = Infoclimat.fr (humidity, 1961–1990){{cite web

| url = http://www.infoclimat.fr/climatologie-07747-perpignan-rivesaltes.html

| title = Normes et records 1961-1990: Perpignan - Rivesaltes (66) - altitude 42m

| language = fr

| publisher = Infoclimat

| access-date = 7 January 2016}}

|date=August 2010

}}

;Roads

The A9 motorway connects Perpignan with Barcelona and Montpellier.

;Trains

Perpignan is served by the Gare de Perpignan railway station, which offers connections to Paris, Barcelona, Toulouse, and several regional destinations. Salvador Dalí proclaimed the station to be the "Cosmic Centre of the Universe" after experiencing a vision there in 1963.{{cite web|last=Coppens|first=Philip|title=Salvador Dalí: painting the fourth dimension|url=http://www.philipcoppens.com/dali.html|access-date=2012-06-18}}

;Airport

The nearest airport is Perpignan–Rivesaltes Airport.

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

{{see also|Timeline of Perpignan}}

{{Quote box |width=30em |align=left |bgcolor=#FFFCCC

|title=Historical affiliations

|fontsize=85% |quote=*{{flagicon image|Flag of Roussillon.svg}} County of Roussillon 927–1172

• {{flagicon image|Siñal d'Aragón.svg}} Principality of Catalonia ({{flagicon image|Siñal d'Aragón.svg}} Crown of Aragon) 1172–1276
• {{flagicon image|Flag of the Kingdom of Majorca (1269).png}}7px{{flagicon image|Bandera del Reino de Mallorca.svg}} Kingdom of Majorca 1276–1344
• {{flagicon image|Siñal d'Aragón.svg}} Principality of Catalonia ({{flagicon image|Siñal d'Aragón.svg}} Crown of Aragon) 1344–1463
• {{flagicon image|Pavillon royal de la France.svg}} Kingdom of France 1463–1493
• {{flagicon image|Siñal d'Aragón.svg}} Principality of Catalonia ({{flagicon image|Siñal d'Aragón.svg}} Crown of Aragon, {{flag|Spanish Empire}}) 1493–1659
• {{flagicon image|Pavillon royal de France.svg}}7px{{flagicon image|Flag of France (1790–1794).svg}} Kingdom of France 1659–1792
• {{flagicon image|Flag of France (1790–1794).svg}}7px{{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794-1815).svg}} French Republic 1792–1804
• {{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794-1815).svg}} French Empire 1804–1815
• {{flagicon image|Royal flag of France during the Bourbon Restoration.svg}}7px{{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg}} Kingdom of France 1815–1848
• {{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg}} French Republic 1848–1852
• {{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg}} French Empire 1852–1870
• {{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg}} French Republic 1870–1940
• {{flagicon image|Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg}} French State 1940–1944
• {{flag|French Republic}} 1944–present

}}

File:Perpignan - Ecole militaire (vers 1780).jpg

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. Shortly afterwards, 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 subsequent decades are considered the city's historical golden age. It prospered as a centre of cloth manufacture, leatherwork, goldsmithery, 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.

File:Perpignan - Avenue de la Gare (vers 1905).jpg

In 1344 Peter IV of Aragon annexed the Kingdom of Majorca and Perpignan once more became part of the Principality of Catalonia. 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.{{sfn|Pigaillem|2008|p=109}}

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 thereafter remained a French possession.

In June 2020, Louis Aliot of the National Rally was elected mayor of Perpignan. This was the first time since 1995 that the far-right party had won a city of more than 100,000 people.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-perpignan/far-right-to-win-southern-french-town-of-perpignan-exit-poll-idUSKBN23Z0PM|title=Far-right to win southern French town of Perpignan: Exit poll|newspaper=Reuters|date=28 June 2020}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20200628-france-s-greens-makes-gains-macron-loses-ground-in-low-turnout-local-elections|title = France's Greens make gains, Macron loses ground in low-turnout local elections|website=France24.com|date = 28 June 2020}}

File:Perpignan Hotel-de-Ville facade.jpg (City Hall)]]

The Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) dates back to 1318.{{cite web|url= https://www.mairie-perpignan.fr/culture-patrimoine/patrimoine/monuments/lhotel-de-ville|title=L'Hôtel de Ville|publisher=Mairie Perpignan|access-date=7 November 2024}}

{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in France}}

;Twin towns – sister cities

Perpignan is twinned with:

;Partner towns

More than 10,000 students between the ages of 2 and 12 attend 61 preschools and primary schools in the city.{{cite web|url=https://www.mairie-perpignan.fr/fr/education-et-petite-enfance/ecoles|title=Écoles|website=Marie de Perpignan|access-date=16 January 2020}} Perpignan also has 26 high schools.{{cite web|url=https://www.journaldesfemmes.fr/maman/ecole/perpignan/ville-66136|title=ECOLES À PERPIGNAN (66000)|website=Journaldesfemmes|access-date=16 January 2019}}

{{Historical populations

| align = none

| cols = 2

| percentages = pagr

| source = EHESS{{Cassini-Ehess|26522|Perpignan}} and INSEE (1968-2017)[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/4515315?geo=COM-66136#ancre-POP_T1 Population en historique depuis 1968], INSEE

| graph-pos = bottom

|1793 | 9134

|1800 | 10415

|1806 | 12499

|1821 | 14864

|1831 | 17114

|1836 | 17618

|1841 | 20792

|1846 | 22706

|1851 | 21783

|1856 | 23301

|1861 | 23462

|1866 | 25264

|1872 | 27378

|1876 | 28353

|1881 | 31735

|1886 | 34183

|1891 | 33878

|1896 | 35088

|1901 | 36157

|1906 | 38898

|1911 | 39510

|1921 | 53742

|1926 | 68835

|1931 | 73962

|1936 | 72207

|1946 | 74984

|1954 | 70051

|1962 | 83025

|1968 | 102191

|1975 | 106426

|1982 | 111669

|1990 | 105983

|1999 | 105115

|2007 | 116041

|2012 | 120489

|2017 | 120158

}}

File:Sanch perpignan 2007 (18).jpg" folklore celebrated in Perpignan, Arles-sur-Tech, and Collioure.]]

Since 2004, the free three-day Guitares au Palais has been 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).

Each September, Perpignan hosts the internationally renowned Visa pour l'Image festival of photojournalism. Free exhibitions are mounted in the Couvent des Minimes, Chapelle des Dominicaines and other buildings in the old town.{{Cite web|url=http://anglophone-direct.com/festival-visa-pour-limage/|title=Visa Pour l'Image|date=22 August 2017|website=Anglophone-direct.com}}

In 2008, Perpignan became Capital of Catalan Culture.{{cite web|url=http://www.vilaweb.cat/www/diariescola/noticia?id=2688762 |title=VilaWeb - Diari escola: Perpinyа, Capital de la Cultura Catalana 2008 |website=Vilaweb.cat |date=2016-04-20 |access-date=2016-12-17}} Many street name signs in the city are in both French and Catalan.

File:Straatnaambord-in-Perpignan-trimmed.jpg and Catalan.]]

File:Stade Gilbert Brutus 11112013.jpg.]]

Like the rest of the south of France, Perpignan is a rugby stronghold. Their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, are regular competitors in the European Rugby Champions Cup and have been champions of the French Top 14 seven times (most recently in 2009). They play at the Stade Aimé Giral.

Their rugby league team Catalans Dragons plays in the British Super League. The Dragons' games in Perpignan against the Northern English-based sides are usually very popular with British rugby fans, with thousands descending on the city on the day of the game, including many holidaying fans travelling up from the Spanish Costa Brava to join those who came directly from the UK. The club was founded in 2000 as a merger of XIII Catalan with the nearby team AS Saint Estève to form Union Treiziste Catalane in 2000 who changed their name to Catalans Dragons upon transfer from the French to British rugby league system. The Dragons became the first non-English team to win the Challenge Cup when they defeated Warrington Wolves in the 2018 final. They are based at Stade Gilbert Brutus. AS Saint Estève's youth teams still operates as Saint-Estève XIII Mavericks in the National Division 2, while a new Elite One Championship club was formed in 2000 under the name Saint-Estève XIII Catalan which is in effect Catalans Dragons reserves; both play at the Stade Municipal in the suburb of Saint-Estève.

The local association football team is Canet Roussillon FC.

There is also an Australian rules football club, Perpignan Tigers, and American football club Grizzlys Catalans.

The Roussillon Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor racing event that was held between 1946 and 1949 in the streets of Perpignan.

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.

Construction work on Perpignan Cathedral began in 1324 and finished in 1509.{{cite web |url=http://histoireduroussillon.free.fr/Thematiques/Batiments/Histoire/CathedralePerpignan.php |title=Cathédrale St Jean-Baptiste |trans-title=Cathedral of St. John the Baptist |work=Histoire du Roussillon |access-date=15 November 2011}} {{in lang|fr}}

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 likewise been designed by Vauban, were razed in 1904 to accommodate urban development. The main city gate, the Castillet is a small fortress built in the 14th century, which has been preserved. It was also used as a prison until the end of the 19th century.{{cite web|author=Fabricio Cardenas |url=http://vieuxpapierspo.blogspot.fr/2014/03/la-prison-du-castillet-1892.html |title=Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales: La prison du Castillet, 1892 |website=Vieuxpapierspo.blogspot.fr |date=20 March 2014 |access-date=2016-12-17}}

The Hôtel Pams is a lavishly-decorated mansion designed for Jules Pams that illustrates the artistic tastes of the wealthy bourgeois at the turn of the 20th century.{{citation|url=http://appvcv.free.fr/patrimoine/periodes/19esiecle/hotelpamsperpignan/hotelpamsperpignanpedagogique.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://appvcv.free.fr/patrimoine/periodes/19esiecle/hotelpamsperpignan/hotelpamsperpignanpedagogique.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |title=Fiche Pédagogique - Hôtel Pams de Perpignan|language=fr|publisher=Association Pédagogique de la Plaine, du Vallespir et de la Côte Vermeille|access-date=2015-12-31}}

Les Halles de Vauban are a new addition to the banks of the city's canal. Opened in November 2017, the indoor markets are privately owned and cost €1.5 million. Split into two locations, vendors offer fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, flowers, cheese, and other items. There is a bar and central eating court with a range of tapas, burgers, omelettes and food from around the world.{{Cite news|url=https://anglophone-direct.com/les-halles-vauban/|title=Indoor markets bring new life to Perpignan {{!}} P-O Life|date=2017-12-19|work=anglophone-direct|access-date=2018-10-14|language=en-GB}}

File:Place de la République Perpignan Panorama.jpg

File:Perpignan panorama le quai Sadi Carnot et le quai Vauban le long de la rivière la Basse.jpg

{{clear}}

• Paul Alday (c.1763–1835), violinist, composer, and music publisher
• Christian Andreu (born 1976), guitarist
• Anna Maria Antigó (1602–1676), abbess
• François Arago (1786–1853), physicist, astronomer, and liberal politician
• Alexandre Artus (1821–1911), composer and conductor
• Amédée Artus (1815–1892), composer and conductor
• Frédérick Bousquet (born 1981), freestyle and butterfly swimmer
• Robert Brasillach (1909–1945), fascist author and journalist
• Eugène Collache (1847–1883), French Navy officer who fought in Japan
• Mary Elmes (1908–2002), Irish aid worker
• Jean-Luc Escayol (born 1972), footballer
• François de Fossa (1775–1849), classical guitarist and composer
• Jacques-François Gallay (1795–1864), French horn player and composer
• Philippe Georget (born 1962), novelist
• Louise Labé (1524–1566), Lyons poet of the Renaissance
• Aristide Maillol (1861–1944), sculptor and painter
• André Marty (1886–1956), communist leader
• Menachem Meiri (1249–c.1310), Catalan rabbi, Talmudist, and Maimonidean
• Isabelle Pasco (born 1966), actress
• Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659–1743), painter

Following a visit in 1963, the Catalan surrealist artist Salvador Dalí declared the city's railway station the centre of the Universe, claiming that he always had his best ideas sitting in its waiting room. Dalí's painting La Gare de Perpignan commemorates his vision of "cosmogonic ecstasy" there on 19 September 1963.{{cite web|url=http://www.philipcoppens.com/dali.html |title=Salvador Dali: painting the fourth dimension |website=Philipcoppens.com |access-date=2016-12-17}} 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.Elliott King in Dawn Adès (ed.), Dalí, Bompiani Arte, Milan, 2004, p. 448. Above the station is a monument in Dali's honour, and across the surface of one of the main platforms is painted, in large letters, «perpignan centre du monde» (French for "perpignan centre of the world").{{cite web|url=http://railfaneurope.net/pix/fr/electric/emu/TGV/Duplex/misc/pix.html |title=Picture Gallery - Directory: /pix/fr/electric/emu/TGV/Duplex/misc |website=Railfaneurope.net |access-date=2016-12-17}}

File:Gare-de-perpignan.jpg

Perpignan Castillet 1.jpg|Le Castillet

Perpignanrivierebasse.jpg|Bridge over the Basse

Font sirenes Perpinya.jpg|Mermaids fountain

086 Perpignan Rue.JPG|City centre

Le cinéma art nouveau "le Castillet" (Perpignan) (8846519405).jpg|Cinéma Le Castillet

ChateauRoussillon Tour.jpg|Château Roussillon: tower of the old castle (13th and 14th centuries)

ChateauRoussillon ChapelleStPierre 01.jpg|Château Roussillon: Sainte-Marie and Saint-Pierre chapel (11th and 12th centuries)

087 Perpignan La Loge de Mer -1397, agrandi au XVIème-.JPG

Perpignan Cathedral 2020 - Nave.jpg|Cathédrale Saint-Jean

Lycée françois arago.jpeg|François Arago Lyceum

Palaisdesrois.jpg|Palace of the Kings of Mallorca

Perpignan bridge.JPG|The bridge

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department
• Gare de Perpignan murders

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{See also|Timeline of Perpignan#Bibliography|l1=Bibliography of the history of Perpignan}}

• {{cite book |title=Anne de Bretagne epouse de Charles VIII et de Louis XII |first=Henri |last=Pigaillem |publisher=Pygmalion |year=2008 }}
• Alícia Marcet, Histoire de Perpignan, la fidelíssima (1995), Perpinyà [Perpignan] : Llibres del Trabucaire, {{ISBN|9782905828613}}

{{Commons}}

{{wikivoyage|Perpignan}}

• {{Official website}}
• [http://histoireduroussillon.free.fr/Villages/Histoire/Perpignan.php History of Perpignan] {{in lang|fr}}
• [http://www.perpignantourisme.com/ Perpignan Tourist Office]
• [http://www.anglophone-direct.com/Perpignan-Museums Museum guide]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20130623030239/http://www.perpignanairport.net/ Unofficial guide to Perpignan Airport]}}
• [http://www.ctpmperpignan.com/ Companie Transports – Public Bus System] {{in lang|fr}}

{{Geographic location

|title = Neighbouring communes and cities

|Northwest = Peyrestortes

|North = Rivesaltes, Pia

|Northeast = Bompas,
Villelongue-de-la-Salanque

|West = Saint-Estève,
Baho,
Le Soler

|Center = Perpignan

|East = Canet-en-Roussillon

|Southwest = Toulouges,
Canohès

|South = Pollestres, Villeneuve-de-la-Raho

|Southeast = Cabestany,
Saleilles
Théza (by a quadripoint)

}}

{{Pyrénées-Orientales communes}}

{{Prefectures of departments of France}}

{{Cities in France}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Communes of Pyrénées-Orientales

Category:Cities in Occitania (administrative region)

Category:Capitals of former nations

Category:Northern Catalonia

Category:Prefectures in France

Category:Vauban fortifications in France

Category:Cities in France