The Province of Lleida (; ; ) is one of the four

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. It lies in northeastern

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, in the western part of the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

, and is bordered by the provinces of Girona,

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, Tarragona,

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

and Huesca and the country of

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and the principality of

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. It is often popularly referred to as Ponent (i.e. the West). Of the population of 414,015 (2007), about 30% live in the capital,

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

. Some other towns in the province of Lleida are La Seu d'Urgell (the

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

of which is also the co-prince of

), 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 (''unitats territorials'') 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 (the entire southern area) and Alt Pirineu i Aran Vegueria (the entire northern part plus the comarca of Cerdanya, part of which is currently in the

Province of Girona The Province of Girona ( ; ) is a Provinces of Spain, province in the northeastern part of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. It is bordered on the northwest by the province of Lleida, on the southwest ...

), the county of Solsona going to the Comarques Centrals (Central Counties) 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 In grammar, an article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" ...

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 Valencian can refer to: * Something related to the Valencian Community ( Valencian Country) in Spain * Something related to the city of Valencia * Something related to the province of Valencia in Spain * Something related to the old Kingdom of ...

(whose dialects are also part of that group). Lleida is the only province in Catalonia to have a second native language: Occitan, in the Aran Valley.

Tourism

Lleida is located in the western part of

and in the northeast of the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, between

and

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, and not far from

. It borders France and

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 (''High Pyrenees'') 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 (confluence) 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 (local districts) 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" (Lleida Snow) 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.

Culture

Lleida has a rich architectural heritage. The churches of the Vall de Boi have been declared part of a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Recently Lleida has started many new initiatives for tourists. These include: the Centre d'Observació de l'Univers (Centre for Observing the Universe), 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 (Lakes Train), a touristic railway that connects the provincial capital to the Pre-Pyrenees; the creation of new exhibition spaces (including the Museum of Lleida, the Paper Dresses Museum of Mollerussa and the Skiing Museum of the Val d'Aran); the organisation of routes to help discover the natural, cultural and monumental treasures of Lleida (with the Castles of Sió Route, the Pyrenean Counties and Nostalgic Pallars Route, the Wine Route of Les Garrigues, and the Literary Routes of Pallars, etc.); 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 (old cathedral) and the

Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, mainly known as the Knights Templar, was a Military order (religious society), military order of the Catholic Church, Catholic faith, and one of the most important military ord ...

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 (which has a collection of Roman, Islamic, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque artefacts and paintings), 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: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:30 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:500 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:50 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till 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 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"

Notes and references

External links

Patronat de TurismeDiputació de LleidaXanascat the National Network of Youth Hostels of Catalonia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lleida, Province of