Prades (Pyrénées-Orientales)

Prades ( 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, 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  and its average altitude is ; at the city hall, the altitude is .

+ Prades and its neighboring communes 350px|Map of the commune of Prades

The commune is at  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.

With a population in 2014 of 5,927, Prades has a population density of  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 () of the canton Les Pyrénées catalanes with 62 communes and 26,765 inhabitants in 2014.

It is part of the intercommunality Conflent Canigó ().

 Twinned and partner towns 
Prades is twinned with:
  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.

 Gallery 

Related pages
 Arrondissement of Prades
 Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department

References

Other websites

 Mairie de Prades website 
 Prades tourist information office 
 Universitat Catalana d'Estiu (Catalan Summer University) 

Category:Subprefectures in France
Category:Communes in Pyrénées-Orientales