Alénya (; ca, Alenyà) is a commune in 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 ...

department in southern

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

. The village is surrounded by wine fields. Apricot and peach are also grown here.

Geography

Localisation

Alénya covers an area of , with 434 inhabitants per km². It is located about from

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

and borders the municipalities of

Saint-Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...

Canet-en-Roussillon Canet-en-Roussillon (; ca, Canet de Rosselló, ; oc, Canet de Rosselhon, ) is a commune and town in the French department of the Pyrénées-Orientales, administrative region of Occitania. Geography Canet-en-Roussillon is located in the can ...

, Saint-Cyprien,

Elne Elne (; ca, Elna ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. It lies in the former province of Roussillon, of which it was the first capital, being later replaced by Perpignan. Its inhabitants are still called '' ...

Corneilla del Vercol Corneilla-del-Vercol (; ca, Cornellà del Bercol) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Localisation Corneilla-del-Vercol is located in the canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris and in the arrondissem ...

, Théza, and Saleilles. Alénya has a Mediterranean climate. Alénya is located in the

canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris The Canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris is a French canton of Pyrénées-Orientales department, in Occitanie. At the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015, the canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris was created including 5 commun ...

and in the

arrondissement of Perpignan An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements'' ...

History

Alénya was first inhabited by the

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

and was conquered by the Romans in c. 121 BC. It was first mentioned in 904 in a document mentioning towns on the

. Before 1214 Alénya was only a small hamlet with little importance. That was the year its first church was built. A second church which still stands today was built in 1593. Among its attractions is a statue of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

from the fifteenth century.

Government and politics

Canton

In 1790, the commune of Alénya is included into the canton of Elne, then part of the Perpignan district. It is moved to the

canton of East-Perpignan Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

in 1801, before being included into the canton of Perpignan-3 in 1973 and, finally, into the

canton of La Côte Radieuse The Canton of La Côte Radieuse is a French former canton of Pyrénées-Orientales department, in Languedoc-Roussillon. It was created 25 January 1982 by the decree 82–84.canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris The Canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris is a French canton of Pyrénées-Orientales department, in Occitanie. At the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015, the canton of La Plaine d'Illibéris was created including 5 commun ...

.''Légifrance''
Décret n°2014-262 du 26 février 2014 portant délimitation des cantons dans le département des Pyrénées-Orientales.
/ref>

Mayors

Population

The people of Alénya are called ''Alényanais''.

Sites of interest

* The Sainte-Eulalie-et-Sainte-Julie church, built from 1593. * The Ortaffa medieval house. * The ''Pedra Martina'', a medieval boundary stone. * The ''Pompe Bonne'', an old fountain. * The former castle and Saint-Martin church of Boaça, both medieval and once located to the west of Alénya, were destroyed in 1974 to build a summer camp.

References

Communes of Pyrénées-Orientales {{PyrénéesOrientales-geo-stub