Sournia

Sournia Sornian
A general view of Sournia
Coat of arms
Sournia
Location within Languedoc-Roussillon region Sournia
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrénées
Department	Pyrénées-Orientales
Arrondissement	Prades
Canton	Sournia
Government
• Mayor (2001–2008)	Paul Blanc
Area1	29.99 km2 (11.58 sq mi)
Population (1999)2	367
• Density	12/km2 (32/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	66198 / 66730
Elevation	380–1,234 m (1,247–4,049 ft) (avg. 500 m or 1,600 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Sournia (Sornian in the Occitan language) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of south-western France. Its inhabitants are known as Sourniannais.

Geography

Sournia is a town of the Fenouillèdes, the languedocienne part of the Pyrénées-Orientales, in the canton of Sournia and in the arrondissement of Prades. The river Désix runs through the village. Sournia is 22 km from Ille-sur-Têt and from Vinça, 24 km from Prades and from Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet, 30 km from Latour-de-France and 34 km from Axat.
The commune is covered by the quality wine standard AOC 'Côtes-du-Roussillon'.
Sournia is crossed by the long distance footpath, GR 36.

Map of Sournia and its surrounding communes

Administration

The current mayor of Sournia is Paul Blanc, a senator, of the centre-right and right wing party UMP founded by Jacques Chirac.

Population

The population of Sournia in 2013 was 501 people.

Graph of population change 1794-1999

Population 1962-2008

Places of interest

• Ruins of the former church of Saint-Michel from the tenth century.
• The ancient church of Sainte-Félicité from the tenth and eleventh centuries.
• Church of Arsa from the twelfth century.

See also

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Orientales department

References

• INSEE