Perpignan

Perpignan (Catalan Perpinyà) is the préfecture (administrative capital city) of the département of Pyrenées-Orientales in southern France, and was the capital of the former province of Roussillon (French Catalonia). Contains 105,000 inhabitants, or 163,000 including its suburbs.

Founded around the year 900, Perpignan was the capital of the Aragonese kingdom of Majorca from 1276 until 1344. Captured by the French in September 1642, it was ceded by Spain 17 years later in the Treaty of the Pyrenees[?]. In May 1907 it was a seat of agitation by southern producers for government enforcement of wine quality following a collapse in prices.

The Catalan surrealist artist Salvador Dali declared the city's railway station the centre of the universe following a visit in 1963.

Perpignan is the birth place of painter, Hyacinthe Rigaud (1659-1743).