Argelès-sur-Mer

Argelès-sur-Mer (French pronunciation: ​[aʁʒlɛs syʁ mɛʁ]; Catalan: Argelers de la Marenda or Argelers [əɾʒəˈles]) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.

Argelès-sur-Mer
Commune
The beach at Argelès-sur-Mer
Coat of arms
Location of Argelès-sur-Mer
Argelès-sur-Mer Show map of France Argelès-sur-Mer Show map of Occitanie
Coordinates: 42°32′42″N 3°01′25″E
Country	France
Region	Occitanie
Department	Pyrénées-Orientales
Arrondissement	Céret
Canton	La Côte Vermeille
Intercommunality	CC Albères Côte Vermeille Illibéris
Government
• Mayor (2020-2026)	Antoine Parra
Area ^1	58.67 km^2 (22.65 sq mi)
Population  (2017-01-01)[1]	10,383
• Density	180/km^2 (460/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 km^2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

It is about 25 km from Perpignan.

Geography

Argelès-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.

Map of Argelès-sur-Mer and its surrounding communes

History

Main article: Camp de concentration d'Argelès-sur-Mer

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.[2]

Government and politics

Mayors

Signature of mayor Paul Pujas in 1815.

Mayor[3] · [4]	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[5]	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

Demography

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% 1793 847 —     1800 1,064 +25.6% 1806 1,173 +10.2% 1821 1,401 +19.4% 1831 1,478 +5.5% 1836 1,964 +32.9% 1841 2,136 +8.8% 1846 2,251 +5.4% 1851 2,325 +3.3% 1856 2,447 +5.2% 1861 2,456 +0.4% 1866 2,537 +3.3%

Year Pop. ±% 1872 2,600 +2.5% 1876 2,833 +9.0% 1881 3,134 +10.6% 1886 3,303 +5.4% 1891 3,413 +3.3% 1896 3,307 −3.1% 1901 3,358 +1.5% 1906 2,913 −13.3% 1911 2,837 −2.6% 1921 2,851 +0.5% 1926 2,835 −0.6% 1931 2,966 +4.6%

Year Pop. ±% 1936 2,945 −0.7% 1946 2,968 +0.8% 1954 2,907 −2.1% 1962 3,659 +25.9% 1968 5,022 +37.3% 1975 5,100 +1.6% 1982 5,723 +12.2% 1990 7,188 +25.6% 1999 9,069 +26.2% 2006 9,928 +9.5% 2009 10,033 +1.1% 2015 10,383 +3.5%

Education

Sports

Étoile sportive catalane is the rugby union club of Argelès-sur-Mer.

Culture

Sites of interest

Dolmen of the Collets de Cotlliure

Notre-Dame del Prat

Town hall

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.[6]

Notable people

• 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

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department

References

• INSEE commune file

1. "Populations légales 2017". INSEE. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
2. Corazón Helado de 1939 - Los exilios republicanos Archived 2015-02-18 at the Wayback Machine
3. bislyjp.cpm, Marc Surjus : premier grand maire d'Argelès, mayors from 1790 to 1813.
4. Incomplete list of mayors on MairesGenWeb
5. (in French) Fabricio Cardenas, Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, Argelès, 11 juin 1815, 12 January 2014
6. 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

• Town council website
• Information in Catalan Encyclopaedia