Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales

Prades (French pronunciation: ​[pʁad]; Catalan: Prada de Conflent [ˈpɾaðə ðə kumˈflen]) is a commune and a subprefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. It is the capital of the historical Conflent comarca. Its inhabitants are called Pradéens and Pradéennes in French and Pradencs and Pradenques in Catalan; in 2017, Prades had a population of 6,124.

Prades

Prada de Conflent
Subprefecture and commune
Jacomet House
Coat of arms
Location of Prades
Prades
Prades
Coordinates: 42°37′05″N 2°25′22″E
CountryFrance
RegionOccitanie
DepartmentPyrénées-Orientales
ArrondissementPrades
CantonLes Pyrénées catalanes
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Jean Castex (LR)
Area
1
10.87 km2 (4.20 sq mi)
Population
 (2017-01-01)[1]
6,124
 • Density560/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
66149 /66500
Elevation300–745 m (984–2,444 ft)
(avg. 357 m or 1,171 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Geography

Prades is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades, in the Pyrenees Mountains next to the Canigó and Têt River. Its nearby towns include Codalet, Eus, Vinça, Villefranche-de-Conflent

Map of Prades and its surrounding communes

Politics and administration

Mayors
Mayor Term start Term end
Jean-François Denis 2001 2008
Jean Castex 2008 2015

Twin towns

Prades is twinned with:

Population and society

Demography
Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1968 5,937—    
1975 6,448+1.19%
1982 6,100−0.79%
1990 6,009−0.19%
1999 5,800−0.39%
2007 6,356+1.15%
2012 5,851−1.64%
2017 6,124+0.92%
Source: INSEE[2]

Events

The Prades Festival, which specialises in chamber music, was begun in 1950, when eminent musicians were invited to play with Casals to commemorate the bicentenary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach.[3] This followed a decade during which Casals had declined to play in public because of events in Spain. From the first festival, recordings of performances at Prades were released on the Columbia record label.

The festival moved to Perpignan in 1951, but returned to Prades the following year. It was renamed the Pablo Casals Festival in 1982.

Universitat Catalana d'Estiu

Every summer, since 1968, the Universitat Catalana d'Estiu (Catalan Summer University) is held at Prada de Conflent. It is an academic event which usually lasts ten days, open to everybody, where scholars, artists, and other personalities coming from all over the Catalan Countries lecture and discuss about a variety of topics of general interest.

Notable people

Prades was also the adopted home of cellist Pablo Casals and grammarian Pompeu Fabra during their exile from the Spanish Civil War. A small museum in Prades commemorates Casals.

See also

References
  1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  2. Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-04-27. Retrieved 2013-02-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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