Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales

French commune
nomcommune=Prades
Jacomet House (15th century) in Prades
région=Languedoc-Roussillon
département=Pyrénées-Orientales
("sous-préfecture")
arrondissement=Prades
canton=Prades (chief town)
insee=66149
cp=66500
maire=Jean-François Denis
mandat=2001-2008
intercomm="none"
longitude=2.42277777778 |latitude=42.6180555556
alt moy=357 m
alt mini=300 m
alt maxi=745 m
hectares=1,087
km²=10.87
sans=5,800
date-sans=1,999
dens=533
date-dens=1999

Prades ("Prada de Conflent" in Catalan) is a commune and a "sous-préfecture" of the Pyrénées-Orientales "département", in southwestern France. It is the capital of the historical Conflent comarca. Population (1999): 5,800 ("Pradéens").

Geography

It is located in the Pyrenees Mountains next to the Canigó and Têt River. [Fr. Tête Rivière] It's nearby towns include Codalet, Eus, Vinca, Villefranche

Miscellaneous

Prades was the birthplace of Thomas Merton (1915–1968), a famous Trappist (or Cistercian) monk who spent most of his life at the Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Kentucky in the United States.

It was also the adopted home of cellist Pablo Casals and grammarian Pompeu Fabra when they exiled from Spanish Civil War. A small museum in Prades commemorates Casals.

Every summer, since 1968, the Universitat Catalana d'Estiu ("Summer Catalan University") is celebrated.

Twin towns

Prades is twinned with:
* Ripoll, Spain
* Lousã, Portugal
* Kitzingen, Germany

External links

* [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/.escoles/Prada.htm Prada history (in Catalan)]
* [http://www.prades-festival-casals.com/ Prada Music Festival (in French)]
* [http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jan.alain/Prades.htm Pictures of Prades]