Province of Lleida


The Province of Lleida is one of the four provinces of Catalonia. It lies in northeastern Spain, in the western part of the autonomous community of Catalonia, and is bordered by the provinces of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Zaragoza and Huesca and the country of France and the principality of Andorra. It is often popularly referred to as Ponent.
Of the population of 414,015, about 30% live in the capital, Lleida. Some other towns in the province of Lleida are La Seu d'Urgell, Mollerussa, Cervera, Tàrrega, and Balaguer. There are 231 municipalities in Lleida.
Located in the Pyrenees, the Aran Valley is a special comarca with greater autonomy and with Aranese, a variety of Occitan, as its official language.
The Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park is located in this province.
The province enjoys a thriving fruit-growing industry, including pears and peaches.
According to the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, the provinces of Catalonia are due to be superseded by territorial units or vegueries based on a more historical political division, and the province of Lleida would become two territorial units: Ponent or Terres de Lleida Vegueria and Alt Pirineu i Aran Vegueria, the county of Solsona going to the Comarques Centrals Vegueria. The plan is currently on hold as of 2015.

Language

The province of Lleida has a characteristic Catalan dialect popularly known as lleidatà, with lo/''los used as the masculine definite article instead of el/els as well as its pronunciation in a large number of words. One example of the pronunciation is the a'' at the end of the word that is pronounced like an e. The local dialect, properly known as North-Western Catalan, is part of the Western Catalan block, and as such, shares some features with Valencian.
Lleida is the only province in Catalonia to have a second native language: Occitan, in the Aran Valley.
NationalityPopulation
Romania

Tourism

Lleida is located in the western part of Catalonia and in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, between Barcelona and Madrid, and not far from Zaragoza. It borders France and Andorra to the north. This is a popular destination for mountain activities such as skiing and adventure sports.

Nature

Lleida has a wide variety of landscapes. This includes the mountain area of the Pyrenees. The Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, the only National Park in Catalonia, and the Alt Pirineu and Cadí-Moixeró natural parks are all in the Pyrenees region. The Collegats-Terradets Territorial Park, the Boumort Natural Hunting Reserve and the Congost de Mont-rebei gorge are in the Pre-Pyrenees.
In contrast, the Lleida Plain has more peaceful landscapes. In some cases, these are rather sober, while in others there is fertile land with century-old olive trees, fruit trees, meadows and crop fields. In this area, it is particularly relevant to highlight such spectacular settings as the Estany d'Ivars i Vila-sana pool and the Aiguabarreig of the rivers Segre, Cinca and Ebro. On 6 January 2021, in Tuc de la Llança, Spain's absolute minimum temperature of was registered.

Sports

The comarques of Lleida are also market leaders within Spain in the provision of adventure sports, with more than 170 companies organising around fifty different activities on land and water and in the air. This area is also Spain's leading ski destination.
Lleida has 11 different ski resorts which are marketed under the brand "Neu de Lleida" and offer over of ski slopes. Their 81 ski lifts have the capacity to carry 115,000 skiers per hour, while the area immediately surrounding these winter sports complexes can also accommodate more than 30,000 visitors.

Transport

The province is served by Lleida–Alguaire Airport which provides direct routes to the Balearic Islands which are operated by Iberia. However, Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport is also frequently used by air travellers from the province which provides most domestic and international destinations. It is located south east of Lleida.

Culture

Lleida has a rich architectural heritage. The churches of the Vall de Boi have been declared part of a UNESCO [World Heritage Site]. Recently Lleida has started many new initiatives for tourists. These include: the Centre d'Observació de l'Univers, or PAM, of Montsec, which is an ambitious project that combines research, education and diffusion within the field of cultural and scientific tourism; the establishment of the Tren dels Llacs, a touristic railway that connects the provincial capital to the Pre-Pyrenees; the creation of new exhibition spaces ; the organisation of routes to help discover the natural, cultural and monumental treasures of Lleida ; and also projects to promote excellence in the field of tourism, such as the Network of Villages with Charm.

The city of Lleida

, the capital of the province, is notable for its historical-architectural legacy, which includes buildings such as the Seu Vella and the Knights Templar Castle of Gardeny. These buildings coexist with modern constructions such as La Llotja, a congress and conference centre. Other city landmarks include the diocese and county museum, the Jaume Morera Museum of Modern Art, and the "Roda Roda" Automobile Museum.

Composition of the Provincial Deputation

Population development

The historical population is given in the following chart:

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ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30
PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:500
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bar:1877 from:0 till:297 text:297,377
bar:1887 from:0 till:297 text:296,609
bar:1900 from:0 till:284 text:283,909
bar:1910 from:0 till:296 text:295,645
bar:1920 from:0 till:325 text:324,894
bar:1930 from:0 till:320 text:319,857
bar:1940 from:0 till:309 text:308,851
bar:1950 from:0 till:324 text:323,460
bar:1960 from:0 till:335 text:334,567
bar:1970 from:0 till:347 text:347,101
bar:1980 from:0 till:353 text:353,160
bar:1990 from:0 till:353 text:353,455
bar:2000 from:0 till:362 text:362,206
bar:2010 from:0 till:438 text:438,428
bar:2020 from:0 till:443 text:443,032
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text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"