Llívia (; ) is a town in the '' comarca'' of Cerdanya,

province of Girona The Province of Girona ( ; ) is a Provinces of Spain, province in the northeastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It is bordered on the northwest by the province of Lleida, on the southwest ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It is a Spanish

exclave An enclave is a territory that is entirely surrounded by the territory of only one other state or entity. An enclave can be an independent territory or part of a larger one. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is s ...

surrounded by the French '' département'' of

Pyrénées-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales (; ; ; ), also known as Northern Catalonia, is a departments of France, department of the Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Southern France, adjacent to the northern Spain, Spanish ...

. It is named after Livia, the wife of

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

and matriarch of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Because of a technicality in the Treaty of the Pyrenees, signed in 1659, that transferred only "villages" in the Pyrenees to France, Llívia, which was a "town", remains under Spanish control. The Segre river, a tributary of the Spanish

Ebro The Ebro (Spanish and Basque ; , , ) is a river of the north and northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain. It rises in Cantabria and flows , almost entirely in an east-southeast direction. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, forming a de ...

, flows through Llívia. It has a population of . Llívia is separated from the rest of Spain by a corridor approximately wide, which includes the French communes of Ur and Bourg-Madame. This corridor is traversed by a road, owned by both France (where it is part of Route nationale 20 and RD68) and Spain (where it is part of N-154). Before the implementation of the Schengen Area, it was considered a "neutral road", a custom-free route with access for both French and Spanish people. With the implementation of the Schengen Area in 1995, there are now no formal borders. The two countries share a hospital in Llívia, as well as other local initiatives. Llívia is the site of the Esteve Pharmacy, in Llívia's municipal museum, which has a large albarello display as well as antique drugs and a collection of prescription books. It is also the site of Llívia castle, which is in ruins.

History

Before

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

, Llívia was the site of an Iberian oppidum that commanded the region. During the time of

, it was named after Livia, and was called ''Julia Lybica''. It was the capital of Cerdanya until it was replaced by Hix, a commune of Bourg-Madame,

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. In 672, during the period of the

Visigoths The Visigoths (; ) were a Germanic people united under the rule of a king and living within the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The Visigoths first appeared in the Balkans, as a Roman-allied Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian military group unite ...

, its citadel, the ''castrum Libiae'', was held by the rebel Flavius Paulus (Paul of Narbonne) against King Wamba. In the 8th century, it may also have been the scene of the siege by which governor Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi of Muslim Spain rid himself of the Moorish (Berber) rebel Uthman ibn Naissa ("Munnuza"), who had allied himself with Duke Eudo of Aquitaine to improve the chances of his rebellion, ahead of the Battle of Tours (732 or 733), also known as the Battle of Poitiers. In 1479, during the Catalan Civil War, Llívia castle was destroyed by the forces of Louis XI after fourteen months of siege. Following the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 ceded the ''comarques'' of Roussillon, Conflent, Capcir, Vallespir, and northern Cerdanya ("Cerdagne") to the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the Middle Ages, medieval and Early modern France, early modern period. It was one of the most powerful states in Europe from th ...

and established the Pyrenees as the border between France and Spain. However, the treaty stipulated that only villages were to be ceded to France, and Llívia was considered a town (''vila'' in Catalan), since it had the status of the ancient capital of Cerdanya. So Llívia remained a Spanish enclave within France. This situation was confirmed in the Treaty of Llívia, signed in 1660. The maps were not accurate and it was originally not obvious that Llívia would be an enclave. The borders were ratified in the Treaty of Bayonne in 1866. Under the Nationalist government of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

, residents required special passes to cross France to the rest of Spain. After the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, there were several initiatives to convert Llívia into a free republican territory. The road connecting Llívia to the rest of Spain was the location of the war of the stop signs;

stop sign A stop sign is a traffic sign designed to notify drivers that they must come to a complete stop and make sure the intersection (road), intersection (or level crossing, railroad crossing) is safely clear of vehicles and pedestrians before contin ...

s were placed by the French authorities and removed overnight by protesters on many instances in the 1980s. During the vote on the Catalan declaration of independence in 2017, 561 out of 591 votes cast in Llívia were in favor of independence. The referendum was deemed illegal by the Spanish courts, but the Spanish police did not intervene to stop the vote in the town.

Education

Escola Jaume I is in Llívia. It was built in the 1950s. In 2016, a school was constructed with a ground floor and a second floor.

References

External links

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Government data pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llivia Enclaves and exclaves France–Spain border France–Spain relations Municipalities in Cerdanya (comarca) Municipalities in the Province of Girona Populated places in the Province of Girona