Argelès-sur-Mer (French: [aʁʒəlɛs syʁ mɛʁ] ; Catalan: Argelers de la Marenda [əɾʒəˈlez ðə lə məˈɾendə]; Occitan: Argelers de Mar; lit. 'Argelès on Sea'), commonly known as Argelès (Catalan: Argelers [əɾʒəˈles]), is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the administrative region of Occitania, France.[3]
Argelès-sur-Mer | |
|---|---|
.JPG) The beach at Argelès-sur-Mer | |
.svg) Coat of arms | |
Location of Argelès-sur-Mer  | |
  Argelès-sur-Mer  Argelès-sur-Mer | |
| Coordinates: 42°32′42″N 3°01′25″E / 42.5449°N 3.0235°E | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Occitania |
| Department | Pyrénées-Orientales |
| Arrondissement | Céret |
| Canton | La Côte Vermeille |
| Intercommunality | CC Albères Côte Vermeille Illibéris |
| Government | |
| • Mayor (2020–2026) | Antoine Parra[1] |
| Area 1 | 58.67 km2 (22.65 sq mi) |
| Population (2021)[2] | 10,792 |
| • Density | 180/km2 (480/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 66008 /66700 |
| Elevation | 0–1,099 m (0–3,606 ft) (avg. 16 m or 52 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
It is about 25 km from Perpignan.
Geography
editArgelès-sur-Mer is located in the canton of La Côte Vermeille and in the arrondissement of Céret.
Argelès-sur-Mer is on the Côte Vermeille at the foot of the Albères mountain range, close to the Spanish border. It has the longest beach in the Pyrenées Orientales.
History
editIn 1939, the Argelés concentration camp was created on the beaches near the town. At its peak in March 1939, the camp contained about 100,000 Spaniards, mostly soldiers of the defeated Spanish Republican Army.[4]
During World War II, Argelès-sur-Mer was the location of a concentration camp, where up to 100,000 defeated Spanish Republicans were interned next to a windy beach in abysmal sanitary conditions by the French government after the defeat of the Spanish Republic. The refugees streamed to the camp from the winter of 1938/39 after the collapse of the Catalan front following the rebel offensive.[5]
Government and politics
editMayors
edit
| Mayor[6][7] | Term start | Term end |
|---|---|---|
| Assiscle Bech | 1790 | 1791 |
| Jean Grando | 1791 | 1793 |
| Joseph Arman | 1793 | 1794 |
| Jean Matignon | 1794 | 1794 |
| Damien Padallé | 1794 | 1796 |
| Bonaventure Verges | 1796 | 1796 |
| François-Xavier Boluix | 1796 | 1798 |
| Joseph Arman | 1798 | 1799 |
| François-Xavier Boluix | 1799 | 1800 |
| Marc Surjus | 1800 | 1813 |
| Côme Ferran | 1813 | June 1815 |
| Paul Pujas[8] | June 1815 | ? 1815 |
| Jean Azéma | 1815 | 1816 |
| Isidore Ferrer | 1816 | 1821 |
| Bonaventure Verges | 1821 | 1821 |
| Pierre Padallé | 1821 | 1827 |
| Bonaventure Julia | 1827 | 1829 |
| Joseph Arman | 1829 | 1830 |
| Pierre Padallé | 1830 | 1831 |
| Joseph Arman | 1831 | 1837 |
| Jean Germain Pujol | 1837 | 1840 |
| Alphonse Sebe | 1840 | 1848 |
| François Sine | 1848 | 1848 |
| Assiscle Padallé Bocamy | 1848 | 1848 |
| François Padallé Siné | 1848 | 1848 |
| Thomas Bech | 1848 | 1852 |
| Joseph Azema | 1852 | 1855 |
| Germain Barbie | 1855 | 1865 |
| Côme Ferran Comes | 1865 | 1870 |
| Joseph Baylet | 1870 | 1870 |
| Étienne Pujol | 1870 | 1874 |
| Jacques Lanquine | 1874 | 1876 |
| Étienne Pujol | 1876 | 1877 |
| Michel Moret | 1877 | 1878 |
| Étienne Pujol | 1878 | 1890 |
| Jean Padallé Bocamy | 1890 | 1892 |
| Marc Surjus-Coste | 1892 | 1893 |
| Pierre Moreto | 1893 | 1902 |
| Marc Surjus-Coste | 1902 | 1908 |
| Louis Courtais | 1908 | 1912 |
| Côme Anglade | 1912 | 1914 |
| Vincent Rouzaud | 1914 | 1915 |
| Dieudonné Vinyes | 1915 | 1918 |
| Côme Anglade | 1918 | 1919 |
| Louis Courtais | 1919 | 1922 |
| Frédéric Trescases | 1944 | 1945 |
| Joseph Farre | 1945 | 1947 |
| Germain Farre | 1947 | 1947 |
| Frédéric Trescases | 1947 | 1953 |
| Gaston Pams | 1953 | 1981 |
| Isidore Fourriques | 1981 | 1983 |
| Jean Carrère | 1983 | 2001 |
| Pierre Aylagas | 2001 | 2016 |
| Antoine Parra | 2016 |
Population and society
editDemography
edit
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| Source: EHESS[9] and INSEE (1968–2017)[10] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Education
editSports
editÉtoile sportive catalane is the rugby union club of Argelès-sur-Mer.
Culture
editSites of interest
edit
- Buildings
- Dolmen of the Collets de Cotlliure (Monument historique)
- Dolmen of the Cova de l'Alarb (Monument historique)
- Dolmen of Sant Pere dels Forquets
- Chapel of Saint-Jérôme d'Argelès, from the 10th century
- Church of Saint-Ferréol de la Pava (Monument historique), from the 10th century
- Parish church of Notre-Dame del Prat, from the 14th to the 20th centuries (Monument historique)
- Church of Sainte-Marie de Torreneules, from the 8th to the 10th centuries
- Abbey of Valbonne, from the 13th to the 14th centuries
- Church of Saint-Laurent-du-Mont, from the 12th century (Monument historique)
- Church of Saint-Martin-et-Sainte-Croix, from the 11th or 12th century, and the old village of Taxo d'Avall (both Monument historique)
- Church of Saint-Pierre dels Forquets, pre-romanesque ruins
- Castle of Pujols, from the 13th century (Monument historique)
- Massane tower, in the Albera Massif, from the 13th century
- Castle of Valmy, from the 19th century
- Casa de l'Albera, museum about the Albera Massif
- Natural sites
- National nature reserve of the Mas Larrieu
- National nature reserve of the Massane forest
- The Bois des pins is the historical pine forest located near the beach front. Created in the 1860s by the General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales, it still has to this day over 8,000 centenarian pines.[11]
Notable people
edit- Marcelle Narbonne (1898–2012) : supercentenarian who lived and died in Argelès-sur-Mer.
- David Ensor (1906–1987) : British lawyer, actor, author and Labour Party politician, lived and died in Argelès-sur-Mer.
- Marc Lièvremont (1968–) : former rugby union footballer raised in Argelès-sur-Mer and former member of the Étoile sportive catalane club.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
- ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
- ^ INSEE commune file
- ^ Corazón Helado de 1939 – Los exilios republicanos
- ^ Corazón Helado de 1939 - Los exilios republicanos Archived 2015-02-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ bislyjp.cpm, Marc Surjus : premier grand maire d'Argelès, mayors from 1790 to 1813.
- ^ Incomplete list of mayors on MairesGenWeb
- ^ (in French) Fabricio Cardenas, Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, Argelès, 11 juin 1815, 12 January 2014
- ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Argelès-sur-Mer, EHESS (in French).
- ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
- ^ Cárdenas, Fabricio (2014). 66 petites histoires du Pays Catalan [66 Little Stories of Catalan Country] (in French). Perpignan: Ultima Necat. ISBN 978-2-36771-006-8. OCLC 893847466.
External links
edit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Argelès-sur-Mer.