The origin of Perpignan is undoubtedly an old Roman villa having taken the name with the wire of the time of Manor house-Rossello. This site is currently 1 km from Perpignan in direction of Canet. The first mention of the city goes back to year 927 with the "Perpinianum Villa". Nowadays, Perpignan became a city where it makes good food, a city in permanent change which combines dynamism and knowledge food. With the meeting of two countries, between France and Spain, between sea and azure, Perpignan appears, anchored in the plain, with the foot of its mountain: Canigou. Perpignan shows in a bright way that the life here does not resemble any other and that definitely, nature and the men made the things well there. To the center of the international transportation routes, the city offers an astonishing geographical environment. Undoubtedly the reason for which El Salvador Dali saw in Perpignan the "center of the world". City open to all the currents of the world of the Mediterranean, to all its cultures…
The in love ones with history will discover with rapture the Palate of Kings de Majorque (the most significant monument of the city), the Cabin of Sea (seat of the consulate of Sea), the Palate of the Delegation, the Town hall in the heart of which exhibe proudly "the Mediterranean" head of work of Maillol… Without forgetting Castillet, emblême of Perpignan (built at the end of XIVème century) which was castle in turn, carries city and prison. But they is also while trying to lose itself in the narrow lanes fixed between walls of bricks and "Cayrous", by pushing the doors of the courses to penetrate in the patios and by delaying you in the places of life and reunion which are the places that you will discover the major heart of Perpignan. TheSaint-Jean-Le-Baptiste Cathedral and "Campo Santo" (larger cloister cemetery of France) mark the beginning of a discovery of the religious art in the city, walk which will also carry out you towards the Church Saint Jacques (starting point of Sanch: procession of the mysteries of the Good Friday) and the superb Garden of Miranda which
surrounds. Pretty streets in places, places in gardens, gardens in Bodegas you will see also other hidden beauties of the city as Julia Put it
To see
L ' together funerary Saint Jean of Perpignan was carried out from the very start the the XIV 2nd century. The funerary cloister Saint Jean is vastest and the oldest example of funerary cloister preserved in France. It is classified Historic building since June 30, 1910.
This building was built on the initiative of the abbot Guillaume Jorda between 1300 and 1330. The current building is composed of four galleries of approximately 54 meters length each one and shelters on three sides a series of enfeus (flat-bottomed funerary niche) cut in limestone monumental mason of Baixas. The four galleries of the cloister were originally covered with a wood lean-to building supported by columns with carved capitals. Each enfeu, with the purified Gothic forms, is marked escutcheons with the weapons of the rich person families of the nobility and Catalan middle-class. A central ossuary is dug in 1321 for the burial of the least fortunate.
built in two parts, to the XIV 2nd and the XVIII 2nd Centuries, it comprises two apses. Its single nave shelters splendid retables of Catalan style. Porch of XIV 2nd century old entry. Very beautiful garden of the old Bastion Saint-Jacob (Garden of Miranda).
L A Casa Xanxo was built 1507 at the request of Bernat Xanxo, a commercial rich person of the city, and has the characteristic to have crossed the ages without undergoing large modifications. With present property of the Town of Perpignan, she visits herself free.
Pams hotel
This private mansion is an original example of a rich person remains large middle-class men of the XIX 2nd Century end and the some Xx 2nd Century beginning (family BARDOU). In particular to notice the decoration of the large staircase and charming it "patio" very "Florentin" of pace. He is today the seat of Eurorégion and Visa for the Image
Palate of the Delegation ,Town hall , Place Sea
D epuis the Average Age, the place of the cabin forms the vital organs of Perpignan with the presence of the various local authorities: the Stock Exchange of the Merchants or Cabin of Sea, the Town hall and the Palate of the Delegation
In 1388, Jean Ier d' Aragon created a "Consulate of sea" intended to regulate and support the trade of Perpignan, primarily centered on the maritime trade. It is only into 1397 that the 1st cabin of sea is built in the Gothic style. It does not count whereas 4 arcades which will be prolonged by 2 similar openings in 1540, two years after the triumphal entry of Charles Quint in Perpignan. A commemorative plate embedded between the 2 new arcades testifies to this enlarging: "Reigning glorieusement in Spain, Charles Quint, Emperor of Rome, et étant consuls de mer les honorables Honoré Fomer, bourgeois, et François Mates, marchand, a été faite cette autre partie, l'an de la rédemption chrétienne 1540 " .
Au XVIIIe siècle, le Maréchal de Mailly , gouverneur du Roussillon, transforme la loge de mer en théâtre , qui deviendra relais de poste après la Révolution.
Enfin, en 1841, la Ville de Perpignan récupère l'édifice et en 1842, le café de France s'y installe. La copie de l'ancienne girouette d'angle , symbole du commerce maritime de la ville , a été fixée à cette période.
Cathédrale Saint Jean, place Gambetta
Sa façade de cailloux roulés et de briques est demeurée inachevée. On y adjoigna en 1631 un porche, seul vestige d'un ensemble plus important . Les chapelles latérales abritent de très beaux retables de style baroque catalan (XVII - XVIII ème Siècles).
L e Couvent des Minimes est un grand monastère situé sur le territoire de la paroisse Saint-Jacques depuis 1573. Pierre VALDES en fut le fondateur. On y vénéra Saint-François de Paul qui sauva Perpignan de la peste. Le cloître du convent date de 1617.
Serrat d'en Vaquer
D ès 1866, un projet de camp retranché planifiait la construction de 4 forts conçus en complément des fortifications de Perpignan devenues inefficaces face à l'évolution de l'artillerie. Seul le fort du Serrat d'en Vaquer fut construit en 1885. Véritable batterie d'artillerie il occupe une place stratégique permettant de dominer la plaine du Roussillon, et de protéger ainsi Perpignan de toute offensive espagnole.
Outre sa valeur historique le Serrat d'en Vaquer est mondialement connu comme site paléontologique
