{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox French commune |name = Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via |commune status = Commune |arrondissement = Prades |image = Eglise-odeillo.jpg |caption = Church of St. Martin in Odeillo |image coat of arms = Blason ville fr Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via (Pyrénées-Orientales).svg |canton = Les Pyrénées catalanes |INSEE = 66124 |postal code = 66120 |mayor = Alain Luneau<ref>{{cite web|title=Répertoire national des élus: les maires|url=https://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/r/2876a346-d50c-4911-934e-19ee07b0e503|publisher=data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises|date=13 September 2022|language=fr}}</ref> |term = 2020&ndash;2026 |intercommunality = |coordinates = {{coord|42.4983|2.0347|format=dms|display=inline,title}} |elevation m = 1800 |elevation min m = 1312 |elevation max m = 2212 |area km2 = 29.60 |population = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_total}} |population date = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}} |population footnotes = {{France metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}} }} '''Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via''' ({{IPA|fr|fɔ̃ ʁɔmø ɔdɛjo vja|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-Fabricio Cardenas (Culex)-Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via.wav}}; {{langx|ca|Font-romeu, Odelló i Vià}}), or simply '''Odeillo''', is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales and Cerdagne near the Spanish border in the south of France.<ref>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/metadonnees/geographie/commune/66124-font-romeu-odeillo-via INSEE commune file]</ref> It comprises the villages of Odeillo and Via, as well as Font-Romeu, one of the oldest ski resorts in France and the oldest in the Pyrenees.

== Geography ==

=== Localization === Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades. It is bordered by the communes of Angoustrine-Villeneuve-des-Escaldes, Targasonne, Égat, Estavar, Saillagouse, Eyne and Bolquère.

thumb|center|300px|Map of Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via and its surrounding communes

=== Transportation === Font-Romeu-Odeillo-Via station is served by the Yellow Train line, a railway which runs from Villefranche-de-Conflent to Latour-de-Carol.

== Toponymy == The names of Odeillo and Via appear in 839 as ''parrochia Hodellone et parrochia Avizano''.<ref name="sagnes">{{in lang|fr}} Jean Sagnes (dir.), Le pays catalan, t. 2, Pau, Société nouvelle d'éditions régionales, 1985</ref>

The name ''Font-Romeu'' means in Catalan "fountain of the pilgrim".<ref name="sagnes"/>

== History == Odeillo and Via were both mentioned for the first time in 839 among the places paying a fee to La Seu d'Urgell church. Nevertheless, Odeillo was at the time part of the County of Cerdanya, while Via was a property of the Urg family.<ref name="sagnes"/>

On 15 July 1035, Wifred II, Count of Cerdanya, gave Odeillo to the Abbey of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou, where he retired himself a short time before his death. The Abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa also owned a few allods in Odeillo, as recognized by a papal bull from Sergius IV in 1011.<ref name="sagnes"/>

Via remained a property of the Urg family until the 13th century. It was then bought by Peter of Fenouillet, viscount of Fenouillet and then viscount of Ille.<ref name="sagnes"/>

A chapel was mentioned for the first time in Font-Romeu in 1525, on the territory of Odeillo. It already hosted a statue of the Virgin Mary from the 13th century, and a hermitage was built from 1693 to receive the pilgrims.<ref name="sagnes"/>

Odeillo and Via both became communes in 1790. The commune of Via was abolished and included into Odeillo on 10 July 1822.<ref>Jean-Pierre Pélissier, Paroisses et communes de France: dictionnaire d'histoire administrative et démographique, vol. 66 : Pyrénées-Orientales, Paris, CNRS, 1986</ref>

In 1881, a wildfire caused by arson spread throughout 267 hectares of the forest of La Calme in the north of the commune.<ref>Fabricio Cardenas, [http://vieuxpapierspo.blogspot.fr/2014/02/incendies-de-forets-en-1881.html Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, ''Incendies de forêts en 1881''], 13 February 2014</ref>

== Demography ==

{{Historical populations | align = none | cols = 1 | percentages = pagr | source = INSEE<ref name=pophist>[https://www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/8643952?geo=COM-66124#tableau-POPREF_G1 Population municipale entre 1968 et 2023], INSEE</ref> | graph-pos = right |1968 | 1857 |1975 | 2098 |1982 | 2150 |1990 | 1857 |1999 | 2003 |2007 | 1992 |2012 | 1843 |2017 | 1928 |2023 |1762 }}

== Solar power == * The world's largest solar furnace in Odeillo can reach temperatures of {{convert|3500|C|F}}. * THEMIS Solar Power R&D center is {{convert|3|km|mi|abbr=on}} away in the village of Targasonne. [[Image:Font Romeu France.jpg|thumb|center|The solar furnace at Odeillo]]

== See also == * Arboretum de Font-Romeu * Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == {{Commons}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122825/http://www.virtualburo.fr/Telechargements/articles/Bartczak_Tourisme_fonromeu.pdf L'invention d'une destination touristique]

{{Pyrénées-Orientales communes}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontromeuodeillovia}} Category:Communes of Pyrénées-Orientales