Perpignan

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. It probably derives from the Roman name Perpennius.

Perpignan circa 1780

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.

Perpignan circa 1905

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.

On June 2020, it was reported that the National Rally's Louis Aliot won the mayor election in Perpignan. it would be the first time that the Marine Le Pen’s party has won a city of more than 100,000 people.[9][10]

More than 10 000 students from 2 to 12 years old attend 61 preschools and primary schools in the city.[14] Perpignan also has 26 highschools.[15]

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.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist was begun in 1324 and finished in 1509.[20]

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.[21]

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.[22]

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, etc. There is a bar and central eating court with a range of tapas, burgers, omelettes and food from around the world.[23]

Place de la République and theatre

Sadi Carnot and Vauban walkways and the river Bassa

• Paul Alday (c.1763–1835), violinist, composer, and music publisher
• 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
• 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, 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.[24] 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.[25] 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").[26]

Perpignan train station

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  Le Castillet
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  Bridge over river Basse
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  Mermaids fountain
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  City centre
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  Cinéma Le Castillet
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  Château Roussillon: tower of the old castle (13th and 14th centuries)
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  Château Roussillon: Sainte-Marie and Saint-Pierre chapel (11th and 12th centuries)
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  Cathédrale Saint-Jean
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  Perpignan Cathedral
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  François Arago Lyceum
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  Panoramic view of the Perpignan Cathedral
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  Palace of the King of Mallorca
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  The bridge

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department

• Alícia Marcet, Histoire de Perpignan, la fidelíssima (1995), Perpinyà [Perpignan] : Llibres del Trabucaire, ISBN 9782905828613

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Perpignan.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Perpignan.

• City council website (in Catalan and French)
• History of Perpignan (in French)
• Perpignan Tourist Office
• Museum guide
• Unofficial guide to Perpignan Airport
• Companie Transports – Public Bus System (in French)
• INSEE commune file