Perpignan

Perpignan (Catalan Perpinyà) is a commune and the préfecture (administrative capital city) of the Pyrénées-Orientales département in southern France, and was the capital of the former province of Roussillon (French Catalonia). Population (1999): 105,115 (163,000 including the suburbs).

Miscellaneous

Following a visit in 1963 the Catalan surrealist artist Salvador Dalí declared the city's railway station the centre of the universe. Above the station is a monument in Dali's honour, and on the station's ground is painted, in big letters, « perpignan centre du monde » (French for "perpignan centre of the world") 1.

Related Topics:
1963 - Surrealist - Salvador Dalí - Railway station - Universe

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Perpignan is a rugby football stronghold: their rugby union side, USA Perpignan, is a regular competitor in the Heineken Cup, and a rugby league side from Perpignan will play in the Super League from 2006 under the name Les Catalans.

Related Topics:
Rugby football - Rugby union - USA Perpignan - Heineken Cup - Rugby league - Super League - Les Catalans

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Births

Perpignan is the birthplace of:

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• Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743), who painted the definitive portaits of Louis XIV
• Dominique Arago (1786-1853), the physicist, astronomer and liberal politician, who secured the abolition of slavery in the French colonies in 1853, was born in a nearby village and is memorialized in a square that bears his statue
• Robert Brasillach (1909-1945), pro-Nazi author in the Vichy France

Twin towns

• Twin towns:
• Hanover, Germany, 1960
• Lancaster, United Kingdom, 1962
• Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States, 1993
• Sarasota, Florida, United States, 1995
• Tyre, Lebanon, 1997
• Partner towns:
• Girona, Catalonia, 1988
• Barcelona, Catalonia, 1994
• Figueres, Catalonia, 1996
• Maalot-Tarshiha, Israel, 1998
• Tavira, Portugal, 2001
• Partner region:
• Generalitat de Catalunya