Puigcerdà, Mountain municipality in Cerdanya, Catalonia, Spain.
Puigcerdà is a mountain town in Cerdanya at about 1,200 meters elevation, situated near the Spanish-French border by the Segre River. The town sits on elevated terrain and offers access to the neighboring French municipality of Bourg-Madame.
King Alfonso I of Aragon founded the town in 1178 as the new administrative center of Cerdanya, replacing the earlier capital of Hix. This establishment made it an important administrative post in the border region.
The Torre del Campanar stands as a 12th-century bell tower, the only remaining structure from the original parish church. Visitors today see this tower as a landmark that reflects the religious past of the town.
The railway network has connected the town to France since 1929 via the Portet-Saint-Simon line, enabling crossings of the Pyrenees. Visitors can easily walk through the compact town center and access the surrounding mountains.
During the Spanish Civil War, the town governed itself under a democratically elected Anarchist council, an exceptional case in Spanish administrative history. This unusual form of self-governance left traces in local memory.
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