Prades (; ) is a subprefecture of the

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ca, Pirineus Orientals ; oc, Pirenèus Orientals ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea. ...

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

in the

Occitanie Occitanie may refer to: *Occitania, a region in southern France called ''Occitanie'' in French *Occitania (administrative region) Occitania ( ; french: Occitanie ; oc, Occitània ; ca, Occitània ) is the southernmost administrative region of ...

region of

Southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...

. In 2018, the commune had a population of 6,063. Prades is the capital of the historical Conflent comarca. Its inhabitants are called ''Pradéens'' and ''Pradéennes'' in French and ''Pradencs'' and ''Pradenques'' in Catalan. It is also the hometown of Jean Castex, who served as

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister ...

from 2020 to 2022.

Geography

Prades is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades, in the Pyrenees Mountains next to the Canigó and Têt River. Its nearby towns include Codalet,

Eus Eus ( in both French and Catalan) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localization Eus is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades. Population ...

Vinça Vinça (; ca, Vinçà) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Vinça is located in the canton of Le Canigou and in the arrondissement of Prades. Population Transport The N116 road passes cl ...

and Villefranche-de-Conflent. Map commune FR insee code 66149

Politics and administration

Mayors

Twin towns

Prades is twinned with: * Ripoll, Catalonia, Spain *

Lousã Lousã () is a town and municipality in the district of Coimbra, in the central part of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 17,604, in an area of 138.40 km2. History The oldest evidence provides an indication of a human presence in this ...

, Portugal * Kitzingen, Germany

Population and society

Demography

Events

The Prades Festival, which specialises in

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, was begun in 1950, when eminent musicians were invited to play with Casals to commemorate the bicentenary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach. This followed a decade during which Casals had declined to play in public because of events in Spain. From the first festival, recordings of performances at Prades were released on the

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

record label. The festival moved to Perpignan in 1951, but returned to Prades the following year. It was renamed the Pablo Casals Festival in 1982. ;Universitat Catalana d'Estiu Every summer, since 1968, the Universitat Catalana d'Estiu (''Catalan Summer University'') is held at Prada de Conflent. It is an academic event which usually lasts ten days, open to everybody, where scholars, artists, and other personalities coming from all over the Catalan Countries lecture and discuss about a variety of topics of general interest.

Notable people

* Wilfred the Hairy (died 13 August 897), 9th-century Count of Urgell, Cerdanya, Barcelona, Girona, Besalú and Ausona – born in Prades *

Francés de Corteta Francés de Corteta, also known as Corteta de Prades (in French François de Cortète and Cortète de Prades; Agen, 1586 – Hautefage, September 3, 1667) was a nobleman from the Agen province and an Occitan-language poet and baroque play writ ...

, nobleman and poet * Pierre Nicolas Camille Jacquelin du Val (1828–1862), entomologist – born in Prades *

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was an American Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, poet, social activist and scholar of comparative religion. On May 26, 1949, he was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and giv ...

(1915–1968), trappist monk – born in Prades Prades was also the adopted home of

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

Pablo Casals Pau Casals i Defilló (Catalan: ; 29 December 187622 October 1973), usually known in English by his Castilian Spanish name Pablo Casals,

and

grammarian Grammarian may refer to: * Alexandrine grammarians, philologists and textual scholars in Hellenistic Alexandria in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE * Biblical grammarians, scholars who study the Bible and the Hebrew language * Grammarian (Greco-Roman ...

Pompeu Fabra Pompeu Fabra i Poch (; Gràcia, Barcelona, 20 February 1868 – Prada de Conflent, 25 December 1948) was a Spanish engineer and grammarian. He was the main author of the normative reform of contemporary Catalan language. Life Pompeu Fabra w ...

during their exile from the Spanish Civil War. A small museum in Prades commemorates Casals.

References

Communes of Pyrénées-Orientales Subprefectures in France {{PyrénéesOrientales-geo-stub