Jump to content

Sournia

Coordinates: 42°43′43″N 2°26′34″E / 42.7286°N 2.4428°E / 42.7286; 2.4428
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sournia
Sornià
Sornhan
A general view of Sournia
A general view of Sournia
Coat of arms of Sournia
Location of Sournia
Map
Sournia is located in France
Sournia
Sournia
Sournia is located in Occitanie
Sournia
Sournia
Coordinates: 42°43′43″N 2°26′34″E / 42.7286°N 2.4428°E / 42.7286; 2.4428
CountryFrance
RegionOccitania
DepartmentPyrénées-Orientales
ArrondissementPrades
CantonLa Vallée de l'Agly
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Yvon Crambes[1]
Area
1
29.99 km2 (11.58 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
486
 • Density16/km2 (42/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
66198 /66730
Elevation380–1,234 m (1,247–4,049 ft)
(avg. 500 m or 1,600 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Sournia (French pronunciation: [suʁnja] ; Catalan: Sornià; Occitan: Sornhan) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitanie region of south-western France. Its inhabitants are known as Sourniannais.

Geography

[edit]

Sournia is a town of the Fenouillèdes, the languedocienne part of the Pyrénées-Orientales, in the canton of La Vallée de l'Agly and in the arrondissement of Prades. The river Désix runs through the village. Sournia is 22 km from Ille-sur-Têt and from Vinça, 24 km from Prades and from Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet, 30 km from Latour-de-France and 34 km from Axat.
The commune is covered by the quality wine standard AOC 'Côtes-du-Roussillon'.
Sournia is crossed by the long-distance footpath, GR 36.

Map of Sournia and its surrounding communes

Administration

[edit]

The current mayor of Sournia is Paul Blanc, a senator, of the centre-right and right wing party UMP founded by Jacques Chirac.

Population

[edit]

The population of Sournia in 2017 was 498 people. For some reason at the end of the 19th century, the population of Sournia seemed to have a reputation for having one of the longest longevity in France, even though this fact was not clearly verified.[3]

Historical population
YearPop.±% p.a.
1793 761—    
1800 814+0.97%
1806 812−0.04%
1821 882+0.55%
1831 929+0.52%
1836 957+0.60%
1841 933−0.51%
1846 945+0.26%
1851 1,073+2.57%
1856 1,006−1.28%
1861 950−1.14%
1866 921−0.62%
1872 885−0.66%
1876 850−1.00%
1881 765−2.09%
1886 725−1.07%
1891 686−1.10%
1896 634−1.56%
YearPop.±% p.a.
1901 604−0.96%
1906 604+0.00%
1911 583−0.71%
1921 463−2.28%
1926 410−2.40%
1931 424+0.67%
1936 389−1.71%
1946 382−0.18%
1954 347−1.19%
1962 351+0.14%
1968 339−0.58%
1975 296−1.92%
1982 339+1.96%
1990 376+1.30%
1999 367−0.27%
2007 419+1.67%
2012 494+3.35%
2017 498+0.16%
Source: EHESS[4] and INSEE (1968–2017)[5]

Places of interest

[edit]
  • Ruins of the former church of Saint-Michel from the tenth century.[6]
  • The ancient church of Sainte-Félicité from the tenth and eleventh centuries.[6]
  • Church of Arsa from the twelfth century.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ (in French) Fabricio Cardenas, Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, Record de longévité à Sournia en 1897 , 3 January 2015
  4. ^ Des villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui: Commune data sheet Sournia, EHESS (in French).
  5. ^ Population en historique depuis 1968, INSEE
  6. ^ a b Rush, Simon John Nowell (2022), The first Romanesque architecture of Conflent, Pyrénées-Orientales, France (66). Tradition, system and style. [Thesis] Volume 1 (text), especially pages 126-7; and Volume 2 (illustrations), especially Figures 70-87.