Bourg-Madame

Bourg- Madame (in Catalan La Guingueta d' Ix) is a municipality with 1311 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2011 ) in the south of France, located in the department of Pyrenees- Orientales and thus in the Languedoc- Roussillon region. The municipality is part of the Pyrénées Catalanes Regional Natural Park.

The inhabitants are called in French Guinguettois because sooner was the city also Les Guinguettes d' Hix.

Geography

Bourg- Madame is located at 1150 meters in the broad high valley of Cerdanya, where the National Road N20 hits the river Segre, and directly on the border with Spain.

History

Already in the year 839 a pre-Romanesque church ( l' église d' Hix ) is mentioned at this point. 1177 was the Count of Barcelona and the Cerdanya build a fortress to secure the area administratively, commercially and militarily.

In the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659, the eastern part of the Cerdanya fell to France and the then so-called community Hix was the border town. In 1815 Hix was renamed in honor of the wife of the Count of Angoulême, Marie- Thérèse -Charlotte de France ( " Madame Royale " ) in Bourg- Madame. She was the daughter of King Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette.

Attractions

• L' église d' Hix - The church was first mentioned in the 9th century; but the Romanesque church dates from the 12th century.
• L' église de Caldegas - The Romanesque church was built shortly after the year 1000, and even restored in the 11th century.