Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via
Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via | |
|---|---|
 Church of St. Martin in Odeillo. | |
Location of Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via  | |
| Country | France |
| Region | Occitania |
| Department | Pyrénées-Orientales |
| Arrondissement | Prades |
| Canton | Saillagouse |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Jean-Louis Demelin |
| Area 1 | 29.60 km2 (11.43 sq mi) |
| Population (2007) | 1,992 |
| • Density | 67/km2 (170/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 66124 /66120 |
| Elevation | 1,312–2,212 m (4,304–7,257 ft) (avg. 1,800 m or 5,900 ft) |
| 1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. | |
Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via (Catalan: Font-romeu, Odelló i Vià), or Odeillo, is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales and Cerdagne near the Spanish border in the south of France.
It also is one of the oldest ski resorts in France and the oldest in the Pyrenees.
Geography
Localization
Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via is located in the canton of Saillagouse and in the arrondissement of Prades.
Transportation
- Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via is served by the Yellow train line, a railway which runs from Villefranche-de-Conflent through to Mont-Louis.
Toponymy
The names of Odeillo and Via appear in 839 as parrochia Hodellone et parrochia Avizano.[1]
The name of Font-Romeu means in Catalan : fountain of the pilgrim.[1]
History
Odeillo and Via are both mentioned for the first time in 839 among the places paying a fee to La Seu d'Urgell church. Nevertheless, Odeillo was at the time part of the County of Cerdanya, while Via was a property of the Urg family.[1]
On July 15th of 1035, Wifred II, Count of Cerdanya gives Odeillo to the Abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou, where he retires himself a short time before his death. The Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa also owned a few allods in Odeillo, as recognized by a papal bull from Sergius IV in 1011.[1]
Via remains a property of the Urg family until the 13th century. It is then bought by Peter of Fenouillet, viscount of Fenouillet and then viscount of Ille.[1]
A chapel is mentioned for the first time in Font-Romeu in 1525, on the territory of Odeillo. It already hosts a statue of the Virgin Mary from the 13th century, and a hermitage is built from 1693 to receive the pilgrims.[1]
Odeillo and Via both become communes in 1790. The commune of Via is abolished and included into Odeillo on July 10 of 1822.[2]
In 1881, a criminal fire causes the burning of 267 hectares in the forest of La Calme, near the Our Lady of Font-Romeu hermitage.[3]
Demography
Solar power
- The world's largest solar furnace in Odeillo can reach temperatures up to 3,500 °C (6,330 °F).
- THEMIS Solar Power R&D center is 3 km (1.9 mi) away in the village of Targassonne
.
See also
External links
References
- ^ a b c d e f Template:Fr Jean Sagnes (dir.), Le pays catalan, t. 2, Pau, Société nouvelle d'éditions régionales, 1985
- ^ Jean-Pierre Pélissier, Paroisses et communes de France : dictionnaire d'histoire administrative et démographique, vol. 66 : Pyrénées-Orientales, Paris, CNRS, 1986
- ^ Fabricio Cardenas, Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, Incendies de forêts en 1881, 13 february 2014
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