{{Infobox settlement | name = Puigcerdà | settlement_type = Municipality | official_name = <!-- if different from name --> | native_name = <!-- if different from name --> | image_skyline =Ayuntamiento de Puigcerdá - DSC 0490.JPG | image_alt = | image_caption = Casa de la Vila, the city hall | image_flag = Bandera de Puigcerdà.svg | image_shield = Coat of Arms of Puigcerdà.svg | nickname = | motto = | image_map = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Spain Catalonia vegueries#Spain | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_caption = Location in Catalonia | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{flag|Spain}} | subdivision_type1 = Autonomous community | subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Catalonia}} | subdivision_type2 = Province | subdivision_name2 = Girona | subdivision_type3 = Comarca | subdivision_name3 = Baixa Cerdanya | seat_type = <!-- Capital --> | seat = | coordinates = {{coord|42|25|54|N|1|55|42|E|region:ES_type:city|display=inline}} | coordinates_footnotes = | elevation_m = 1202 | elevation_min_m = | elevation_max_m = | area_footnotes =<ref name=idescat>{{cite web|url=http://www.idescat.cat/emex/?lang=en&id=171411|title=El municipi en xifres: Puigcerdà|publisher=Statistical Institute of Catalonia|access-date=2015-11-23}}</ref> | area_total_km2 = 18.9 | established_title = <!-- Founded --> | established_date = | population_as_of = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_as_of}} | population_footnotes = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_footnotes}} | population_total = {{Spain metadata Wikidata|population_total}} | population_demonym = Puigcerdanenc | population_note = | population_density_km2 = auto | timezone = CET | utc_offset = +1 | timezone_DST = CEST | utc_offset_DST = +2 | postal_code_type = Postal code | postal_code = | area_code_type = Dialing code | area_code = | leader_title = Mayor | leader_name = Albert Piñeira Brosel (2015)<ref name=municat>{{cite web|url=http://aplicacions.municat.gencat.cat/index.php?page=consulta&mostraEns=1714110007|title=Ajuntament de Puigcerdà|publisher=Generalitat of Catalonia|access-date=2015-11-13}}</ref> | leader_party = CiU | blank_name = Climate | blank_info = Cfb | website = {{URL|puigcerda.cat}} | footnotes = }}
'''Puigcerdà''' ({{IPA|ca|ˌputʃəɾˈða}}; {{langx|es|Puigcerdá}}, {{IPA|es|putʃθeɾˈða|pron}}) is the capital of the Catalan ''comarca'' of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the Segre River and on the border with France (it abuts directly on the French town of Bourg-Madame). It has a population of {{Population WD}}.
== History ==
Puigcerdà is located near the site of a Ceretani settlement, which was incorporated into Roman territory. The Roman town was named Julia Libyca (modern day Llívia).
Puigcerdà was founded in 1178 by King Alfonso I of Aragon, Count of Barcelona. In 1178 Puigcerdà replaced Hix as the capital of Cerdanya. Hix is now a village in the commune of Bourg-Madame, in the French part of Cerdanya.
In the closing stages of the 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War, the town was captured by a French army under the duc de Noailles but returned to Spain in the Treaties of Nijmegen.<ref>{{cite book |last1=De Périni |first1=Hardÿ |title=Batailles françaises, Volume V |date=1896 |publisher=Ernest Flammarion, Paris|page=215}}</ref>
Puigcerdà was unique during the Spanish Civil War in having a democratically elected Anarchist council.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-16 |title=Over the border…Puigcerdà |url=https://anglophone-direct.com/puigcerda/ |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=P-O Life |language=en-GB}}</ref>
The Portet-Saint-Simon–Puigcerdà railway was opened in 1929, crossing the Pyrenees to France.
==Main sights== *Puigcerdà Pool *Torre del Campanar (12th century), the ruins of a parish church destroyed in 1936 *Romanesque church of Sant Tomàs de Ventajola, dating from 958 *Romanesque church of Sant Andreu Vilallobent, dating to the 10th century and later restored *Convent of St. Dominic, founded in 1291 and finished in the 15th century *Old Hospital (1190), in Romanesque-Gothic style
== Notable people == * Pere Borrell del Caso (1835-1910), painter * Gemma Arró Ribot (born 1980), ski mountaineer * José Antonio Hermida (born 1978), 2010 cross country mountain biking world champion
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Puigcerdà}} * [http://aplicacions.municat.gencat.cat/index.php?page=consulta&mostraEns=1714110007 Government data pages] {{in lang|ca}}
{{Geographic location |Centre = Puigcerdà |N = Ur (France) |NE = Bourg-Madame (France) |E = Palau-de-Cerdagne (France) |SE = Alp |S = Fontanals de Cerdanya |SW = Bolvir |W = Guils de Cerdanya |NW = Enveitg (France) }} {{Cerdanya}} {{Municipalities in Girona|state=autocollapse}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puigcerda}} Category:Municipalities in Cerdanya (comarca) Category:1177 establishments in Europe Category:Municipalities in the Province of Girona Category:France–Spain border crossings Category:Populated places in the Province of Girona Category:12th-century establishments in Spain