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{{Infobox French commune
|name = Perpignan
|native name = Perpinyà
|image flag = Logo-perpignan.jpg
|image coat of arms = Arms of Perpignan.svg
|image = Perpignan.jpg
|region = [[Languedoc-Roussillon]]
|department = [[Pyrénées-Orientales]]
|arrondissement = Perpignan
|mayor = [[Jean-Marc Pujol]] ([[Union for a Popular Movement|UMP]])
|party = [[Radical Party (France)|Radical]]-[[Union for a Popular Movement|UMP]]
|term = 2009–2014
|intercommunality = Têt Méditerranée
|latitude = 42.6986
|longitude = 2.8956
|elevation m = 30
|elevation min m = 8
|elevation max m = 95
|area km2 = 68.07
|population = 118238
|population date = 2013
|INSEE = 66136
|postal code = 66000
|demonym = Perpignanais
|website = [http://www.mairie-perpignan.fr/ www.mairie-perpignan.fr] {{fr icon}}
[http://www.ajuntament-perpinya.cat/ www.ajuntament-perpinya.cat] {{ca icon}}
}}
'''Perpignan''' ({{IPA-fr|pɛʁ.piˈɲɑ̃}}, {{lang-ca|'''Perpinyà'''}} {{IPA-ca|pərpiˈɲa|}}) is a city, a [[Communes of France|commune]] and the capital of the [[Pyrénées-Orientales]] [[Departments of France|department]] in southern France. Perpignan was the capital of the [[provinces of France|former province]] and county of [[Roussillon]] (''Rosselló'' in Catalan) and continental capital of the [[Kingdom of Majorca]] in the 13th and 14th centuries.
In 2013 Perpignan had 118,238 inhabitants (''Perpignanais'', ''Perpinyanés'') in the city proper. The metropolitan area had a total population of 305,837 in 2010.
== Geography ==
=== Localisation ===
Perpignan is located in the center of the Roussillon plain, 13 km west of the Mediterranean coast.
<gallery>
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]] ''[[Departments of France|département]]''.
</gallery>
=== Hydrography ===
Perpignan is crossed by the largest river in Roussillon, the [[Têt (river)|Têt]], and by one of its tributaries, the Basse.
=== Climate ===
Perpignan experiences a warm [[Mediterranean climate]] ([[Köppen climate classification]] ''Csa''), similar to much of southern France.
{{Weather box|location = Perpignan 1981-2010 averages
|metric first = Yes
|single line = Yes
|Jan high C = 12.4
|Feb high C = 13.2
|Mar high C = 16.0
|Apr high C = 18.2
|May high C = 21.8
|Jun high C = 26.2
|Jul high C = 29.2
|Aug high C = 28.9
|Sep high C = 25.4
|Oct high C = 21.0
|Nov high C = 15.9
|Dec high C = 13.1
|year high C = 20.1
|Jan mean C = 8.3
|Feb mean C = 9.0
|Mar mean C = 11.5
|Apr mean C = 13.7
|May mean C = 17.0
|Jun mean C = 21.4
|Jul mean C = 24.1
|Aug mean C = 23.9
|Sep mean C = 20.5
|Oct mean C = 16.7
|Nov mean C = 12.0
|Dec mean C = 9.1
|year mean C = 15.6
|Jan low C = 4.4
|Feb low C = 4.9
|Mar low C = 7.4
|Apr low C = 9.4
|May low C = 12.9
|Jun low C = 16.8
|Jul low C = 19.4
|Aug low C = 19.3
|Sep low C = 16.0
|Oct low C = 12.6
|Nov low C = 8.1
|Dec low C = 5.1
|year low C = 11.4
|Jan precipitation mm = 66.2
|Feb precipitation mm = 50.5
|Mar precipitation mm = 42.6
|Apr precipitation mm = 58.9
|May precipitation mm = 51.2
|Jun precipitation mm = 24.9
|Jul precipitation mm = 12.8
|Aug precipitation mm = 25.9
|Sep precipitation mm = 41.3
|Oct precipitation mm = 75.0
|Nov precipitation mm = 61.1
|Dec precipitation mm = 59.5
|year precipitation mm = 569.9
|Jan rain days = 5.2
|Feb rain days = 4.7
|Mar rain days = 4.5
|Apr rain days = 5.9
|May rain days = 5.5
|Jun rain days = 4.1
|Jul rain days = 3.0
|Aug rain days = 3.9
|Sep rain days = 4.2
|Oct rain days = 5.1
|Nov rain days = 5.1
|Dec rain days = 5.3
|year rain days = 56.5
|Jan record high C = 22.8
|Feb record high C = 27.1
|Mar record high C = 28.0
|Apr record high C = 32.4
|May record high C = 34.6
|Jun record high C = 36.8
|Jul record high C = 40.5
|Aug record high C = 39.2
|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 = 40.5
|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
|Jan sun = 147.5
|Feb sun = 153.2
|Mar sun = 206.2
|Apr sun = 214.2
|May sun = 240.1
|Jun sun = 270.6
|Jul sun = 313.9
|Aug sun = 270.7
|Sep sun = 217.7
|Oct sun = 182.3
|Nov sun = 147.7
|Dec sun = 141.9
|year sun = 2506.0
|source 1 = Météo France<ref name="mf">{{cite web
|url = http://france.meteofrance.com/france/climat_france?CLIMAT_PORTLET.path=climatstationn%2F66136001 | title = Perpignan | accessdate =16 January 2010
|publisher=Météo France | language = French }} {{Dead link|<!-- CHECK -->date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot|date=March 2011}}</ref>
|date=August 2010
}}
=== Transport ===
Perpignan is served by the [[Gare de Perpignan]] railway station, which offers connections to Paris, Barcelona, Toulouse and several regional destinations. The motorway [[A9 autoroute|A9]] connects Perpignan with Barcelona and Montpellier. The nearest airport is [[Perpignan – Rivesaltes Airport]].
== Toponymy ==
;Attested forms
The name of Perpignan appears in [[927]] as ''Perpinianum'', followed in [[959]] by ''Villa Perpiniano'', ''Pirpinianum'' in the 11th c., ''Perpiniani'' in [[1176]]. ''Perpenyà'', which appears in the 13th c., is the most common form until the 15th c. and is still used in the 17th c.
==History==
Though settlement in the area goes back to [[Roman Empire|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 of Roussillon|Girard II]] bequeathed his lands to the [[List of Counts of Barcelona|Counts of Barcelona]]. Perpignan acquired the institutions of a partly self-governing [[Medieval commune|commune]] in 1197. French [[Feudalism|feudal rights]] over Roussillon were given up by [[Louis IX of France|Louis IX]] in the [[Treaty of Corbeil (1258)]].
When [[James I of Aragon|James I, the Conqueror]], [[Kingdom of Aragon|king of Aragon]] and [[Counts of Barcelona|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 [[Philip III of France]] died there in 1285, as he was returning from his unsuccessful [[crusade]] against the [[Crown of Aragon|Aragonese Crown]].
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 [[Crown of Castile|Castile]] in order to free himself to invade [[Italy]], restored it to [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]].
Again [[Siege of Perpignan (1642)|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.
==Economy==
Traditional commerce was in wine and [[olive oil]], corks (the [[cork oak]] ''Quercus suber'' grows in Perpignan's mild climate), wool and 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.
==Sport==
Perpignan is a rugby stronghold: their [[rugby union]] side, [[USA Perpignan]], is a regular competitor in the [[Heineken Cup]] and seven times champion of the [[Top 14]] (most recently in [[2008–09 Top 14 season|2009]]), while their [[rugby league]] side plays in the First Utility [[Super League]] under the name [[Catalans Dragons]]. The Dragons missed out on a victory as the first ever French club to make it to a [[Challenge Cup]] Final at Wembley Stadium in 2007, losing 30-8 against St. Helens in front of 84,000 people.
== Sites of interest ==
The [[Perpignan Cathedral|Cathedral of St. John the Baptist]] was begun in 1324 and finished in 1509.<ref>{{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 |accessdate=15 November 2011}} {{link language|fr}}</ref>
The 13th century [[Palace of the Kings of Majorca]] sits on the high citadel, surrounded by ramparts, reinforced for [[Louis XI of France|Louis XI]] and [[Charles V of France|Charles V]], which were updated in the 17th century by [[Louis XIV of France|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.
[[File:Place de la République Perpignan Panorama.jpg|thumb|left|1000px|Place de la République and theatre]]
[[File:Perpignan panorama le quai Sadi Carnot et le quai Vauban le long de la rivière la Basse.jpg|thumb|left|1000px|Sadi Carnot and Vauban walkways and the river Bassa]]
{{clear}}
==Culture==
Since 2004, the free three-day ''[[Guitares au Palais]]'' is 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]], [[Aaron and Bryce Dessner]] (2008).
[[File:Sanch perpignan 2007 (18).jpg|thumb|left|The famous "[[Sanch Procession]]" folklore, once forbidden by the [[Catholic Church|Church]], is still celebrated in Perpignan, [[Arles-sur-Tech]] and [[Collioure]].]]
Perpignan has a close connection with the sculptor [[Aristide Maillol]], who attended school there.
Following a visit in 1963, the Spanish [[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 the waiting room. 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]]''.<ref>Elliott King in Dawn Ades (ed.), ''Dalí'', Bompiani Arte, Milan, 2004, p. 448</ref> 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, «<span style="font-variant:small-caps">perpignan centre du monde</span>» (French for "<span style="font-variant:small-caps">perpignan centre of the world</span>").<ref>{{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 |publisher=Railfaneurope.net |accessdate=22 July 2009}}</ref>
[[File:Straatnaambord-in-Perpignan-trimmed.jpg|thumb|Perpignan street name sign in French and Catalan.]]
In 2008, Perpignan became Capital of Catalan Culture.<ref>[http://www.vilaweb.cat/www/diariescola/noticia?id=2688762 Perpinyà, Capital de la Cultura Catalana]</ref>
In Perpignan many [[Street or road name|street name signs]] are in both French and [[Catalan language|Catalan]].
==Notable people born in Perpignan==
* [[Menachem Meiri]] (1249–c. 1310), a famous Catalan rabbi, Talmudist and [[Maimonidean]].
* [[Louise Labé]] (1524–1566), a female Lyons poet of the [[Renaissance]] which at the siege of Perpignan, or in a tournament there, is said to have dressed in male clothing and fought on horseback in the ranks of the Dauphin, afterwards Henry II.
* [[Hyacinthe Rigaud]] (1659–1743), who painted the definitive portraits of Louis XIV.
* [[François Arago]] (1786–1853), the physicist, astronomer and liberal politician, who secured the abolition of [[slavery]] in the [[French colonies]] in 1853, was born in the nearby village of [[Estagel]] ([[Estagell]]) and is memorialized in the eponymous Place Arago that bears his statue in the centre of the town.
* [[Aristide Maillol]] (1861–1944). French Catalan sculptor and painter. Bronzes in the Garden of Tuileries, Paris and at the Metropolitan, NYC.
* [[Robert Brasillach]] (1909–1945), fascist author and journalist, executed for advocating collaboration with [[Nazi Germany]] during World War II.
* [[Frédérick Bousquet]] (born 1981), French freestyle and butterfly swimmer who competed at three consecutive Summer Olympics ([[Swimming at the 2000 Summer Olympics|2000]], [[Swimming at the 2004 Summer Olympics|2004]], and [[Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics|2008]]).
* [[Sandrine Erdely-Sayo]] (born 1968) pianist – youngest recipient of the French Minister of Culture Prize at 13 years old. She lives in Philadelphia where she became National Interest for the United States.
==International relations==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in France}}
===Twin towns – sister cities===
Perpignan is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:
{| class="wikitable"
|- valign="top"
|
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Hanover]], Germany, since 1960<ref name="Hanover">{{cite web|url=http://www.hannover.de/de/buerger/entwicklung/partnerschaften/staedte_regionspartnerschaften/index.html|title=Hanover – Twin Towns|publisher=2007–2009 [http://www.hanover.de/ HANNOVER.de] – Offizielles Portal der Landeshauptstadt und der Region Hannover in Zusammenarbeit mit hier.de |language=German|accessdate=17 July 2009}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|UK}} [[Lancaster, England|Lancaster]], United Kingdom, since 1962<ref name="Archant twinning">{{cite web|url=http://www.completefrance.com/language-culture/twin-towns|title=British towns twinned with French towns|accessdate = 11 July 2013|work=Archant Community Media Ltd}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|USA}} [[Lake Charles, Louisiana|Lake Charles]], United States, since 1993
||
*{{flagicon|USA}} [[Sarasota, Florida|Sarasota]], United States, from 1994<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sarasotasistercities.org/Perpignan.html |title=Sarasota Sister Cities Association, Sarasota Florida |publisher=Sarasotasistercities.org |accessdate=15 September 2011}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|LIB}} [[Tyre (Lebanon)|Tyre]], Lebanon, since 1997
*{{flagicon|ESP}} [[Lleida]], Catalonia, Spain since 2005
|}
==Partner towns==
{| class="wikitable"
|- valign="top"
|
*{{flagicon|ESP}} [[Girona]], Catalonia, Spain, since 1988
*{{flagicon|ESP}} [[Barcelona]], Catalonia, Spain, since 1994
*{{flagicon|ESP}} [[Figueres]], Catalonia, Spain, since 1996
||
*{{flagicon|ISR}} [[Ma'alot-Tarshiha]], Israel, since 1998
*{{flagicon|POR}} [[Tavira Municipality|Tavira]], Portugal, since 2001
|}
[[File:Gare-de-perpignan.jpg|thumb|Perpignan train station]]
==Gallery==
<gallery>
file:Perpignan - Le Castillet.jpg|Le Castillet
file:Perpignanrivierebasse.jpg|Bridge over river Basse
file:Font sirenes Perpinya.jpg|Mermaids fountain
file:086 Perpignan Rue.JPG|Town Centre
file:ChateauRoussillon Tour.jpg|Château Roussillon : tower of the old castle (13th and 14th centuries)
file:ChateauRoussillon ChapelleStPierre 01.jpg|Château Roussillon : Sainte-Marie and Saint-Pierre chapel (11th and 12th centuries)
file:087 Perpignan La Loge de Mer -1397, agrandi au XVIème-.JPG
file:088 Perpignan Cathédrale Saint-Jean.JPG|Cathédrale Saint-Jean
file:Perpignan-Cathedrale-02.JPG|Perpignan Cathedral
file:Lycée françois arago.jpeg|François Arago Liceum
file:Photo panoramique de la cathédrale de perpignan.jpg|Panoramic view of the Perpignan Cathedral
file:Palaisdesrois.jpg|Palace of the King of Mallorca
</gallery>
==See also==
*[[Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department]]
==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
*[http://www.insee.fr/fr/methodes/nomenclatures/cog/fichecommunale.asp?codedep=66&codecom=136 INSEE commune file]
*Alícia Marcet, ''Histoire de Perpignan, la fidelíssima'' (1995)
==External links==
{{Commons}}
* [http://www.ajuntament-perpinya.cat/ City council website] {{link language|ca}} {{link language|fr}}
* [http://histoireduroussillon.free.fr/Villages/Histoire/Perpignan.php History of Perpignan] {{link language|fr}}
* [http://www.perpignantourisme.com/ Perpignan Tourist Office] {{link language|ca}} {{link language|en}} {{link language|fr}} {{link language|de}} {{link language|es}}
* [http://www.anglophone-direct.com/Perpignan-Museums Museum guide] {{link language|en}}
* [http://www.perpignanairport.net/ Unofficial guide to Perpignan Airport] {{link language|en}}
* [http://www.ctpmperpignan.com/ Companie Transports – Public Bus System] {{link language|fr}}
{{Prefectures of departments of France}}
{{Pyrénées-Orientales communes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2012}}
[[Category:Perpignan| ]]
[[Category:Capitals of former nations]]
[[Category:Communes of Pyrénées-Orientales]]
[[Category:Northern Catalonia]]
[[Category:Prefectures in France]]
{{usedwp|Perpignan}}