Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales)

Prades
Prades
	View of Prades
	Coat of arms
	Location of Prades
	Prades Prades
	Coordinates: 42°37′05″N 2°25′22″E / 42.6181°N 2.4228°E
Country	France
Region	Occitanie
Department	Pyrénées-Orientales
Arrondissement	Prades
Canton	Les Pyrénées catalanes
Intercommunality	Conflent-Canigó
Government
• Mayor (2014 - 2020)	Jean Castex (UMP)
Area 1	10.87 km2 (4.20 sq mi)
Population (2014)	5,927
• Density	550/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Demonym	Pradéens
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	66149 /66500
Elevation	300–745 m (984–2,444 ft) ; (avg. 523 m or 1,716 ft)
Website	Official website
	1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Prades (Catalan: Prada de Conflent or, simply, Prada) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It was the capital of the historic Catalan comarque of Conflent.

It is a subprefecture in the department and the capital of the Prades arrondissement.

Name of the city

In Catalan, the name of the commune is Prada,^[1] a word that comes from the Latin word prata ("prairie").

Geography

Prades is the main ciy of the Conflent, a natural region of the Pyrénées-Orientales; it is at the foothill of the Canigou mountain, to the west of Perpignan. The Têt river flows through the city.

It has an area of 10.87 km² (4.20 sq mi) and its average altitude is 523 m (1,716 ft); at the city hall, the altitude is 356 m (1,168 ft).^[2]

Prades and its neighboring *communes*

The commune is at 44 km (27 mi) from Perpignan. It is surrounded by the communes Catllar, Eus, Los Masos, Clara, Taurinya, Codalet, Ria-Sirach.

Climate

The climate in Prades in the Köppen climate classification is Cfb - Oceanic climate with template summers.

Population

The inhabitants of Prades city are known, in French, as Pradéens (women: Pradéennes); Pradencs and Pradenques in Catalan.^[3]

With a population in 2014 of 5,927,^[4] Prades has a population density of 545 inhabitants/km².

Evolution of the population in Prades

Administration

Prades is a subprefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department since 1790. It is also the capital of the arrondissement of Prades and the administrative centre (French: chef-lieu) of the canton Les Pyrénées catalanes with 62 communes and 26,765 inhabitants in 2014.

It is part of the intercommunality Conflent Canigó (French: Communauté de communes Conflent Canigó).

Twinned and partner towns

Prades is twinned with:^[5]

Ripoll, Spain, from 1969
Kitzingen, Germany, from 1984
Lousã, Portugal, from 1991

Sites of interest

Some places of interest in or around Prades are:

Saint-Peter church with its bell-tower
Saint-Martin de Canoha (Sant Marti de Canoa) chapel
Jacomet House, dating back from the XVth century

People from or related to Prades

Pierre Nicolas Camille Jacquelin du Val (1828-1862), entomologist born in Prades.
Thomas Merton (1915–1968), trappist monk born in Prades.

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.