imported>Entranced98: Adding local short description: "Protected area in France", overriding Wikidata description "protected area"

2024-11-10T10:09:48Z

Adding local short description: "Protected area in France", overriding Wikidata description "protected area"

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{{Short description|Protected area in France}}
[[File:Anse de Paulilles.jpg|thumb|right|Paulilles]]
'''Paulilles''' ({{langx|ca|Polilles}}) is a [[protected area]] on the Mediterranean Sea, located between the towns of [[Port-Vendres]], and [[Banyuls-sur-Mer]] in [[Pyrénées-Orientales]], [[North Catalonia]], France.

== History ==

=== The Dynamite Factory ===
Paulilles Recreational Park occupies a rehabilitated [[dynamite]] factory site protected as an [[ecological network]] by the [[Natura 2000]] European organisation. Originally serving as the French [[Alfred Nobel|Nobel]] Dynamite Factory, it was created by Nobel's associate in France, Paul François Barbe, and built in 1870.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://histoireduroussillon.free.fr/Villages/Histoire/Paulilles.php|title = Paulilles}}</ref>
Several accidents over the years caused multiple deaths: the most important ones killed 20 workers in 1882<ref>Article in ''Le Républicain des Pyrénées Orientales'', 26 January 1882</ref> and 5 in 1885.<ref>Fabricio Cardenas, [http://vieuxpapierspo.blogspot.fr/2015/07/explosion-paulilles-en-1885.html Vieux papiers des Pyrénées-Orientales, ''Explosion à Paulilles en 1885 ''], 6 July 2015</ref>

=== Protecting the environment ===
In July 1991, the installations were closed by the Société nationale des poudres et des explosifs (SNPE), and later sold to the [[Conservatoire du littoral]] in 1998 to protect the area from real estate developers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.conservatoire-du-littoral.fr/front/process/Content.asp?rub=8&rubec=108&site=1990 |title=Conservatoire du littoral |accessdate=2009-03-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614082531/http://www.conservatoire-du-littoral.fr/front/process/Content.asp?rub=8&rubec=108&site=1990 |archivedate=2009-06-14 }}</ref>
In 2005, the [[General Council of the Pyrénées-Orientales]] launched the renovation to ready 9 buildings, destroy nearly 70, and landscape 17 hectares to turn Paulilles into a free and ecological recreational park, a museum on the [[industrial heritage]] of the factory and a traditional Catalan boat repair facility [https://web.archive.org/web/20090225032932/http://www.cg66.fr/environnement/espaces_naturels/paulilles/index.html].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cete-aix.fr/imgarea/Cotita_9_Paulilles_oct2008_COCHE_INCA.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2009-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081115043453/http://www.cete-aix.fr/imgarea/Cotita_9_Paulilles_oct2008_COCHE_INCA.pdf |archive-date=2008-11-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Paulilles opens to the public in June 2008.

== Geography ==
[[File:Posidonia 2 Alberto Romeo.jpg|thumb|[[Posidonia]]]]
Paulilles is located about 2 miles (3 km) south of [[Port-Vendres]] behind the '''Las Portas pass''' along the scenic [[Route départementale 914]]. It is a small scale Mediterranean bay, forming a prairie down to the sea between the '''Béar cape''', and the '''Oullestrell cape''' and forms three beaches: '''Bernardi''', '''del Mitg''', '''Fourat''' separated by small cliffs in the bay.
The original forest has been well preserved and is typical of the [[Mediterranean region]].
It is composed of [[Aleppo pine]] (Pinus halepensis), [[Maritime Pine]] (Pinus pinaster), [[Stone Pine]] (Pinus pinea), for the [[Pinaceae]]) family. Also [[Quercus ilex|Holm oak]] (Quercus ilex), [[Cork Oak]] (Quercus suber) and [[Olive]] trees (Olea europaea).
Local flora is well represented with the [[Armeria]] of Roussillon (Armeria ruscinonensis Girard), the polycarpon of Catalonia (Polycarpon polycarpoides), the [[Thymelaea]] hirsuta, the Limonium tremolsii, and also [[Tamarix]] ([[Tamaricaceae]]), and Gattiliers (Vitex agnus-castus).

All the waters around Paulilles are also protected by [[Natura 2000]], for its [[Posidonia oceanica]], a species of [[seagrass]] that is endemic to the Mediterranean Sea and [[Coralline algae]]s that offers shelter and nursing home for the rich aquatic life.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://natura2000.ecologie.gouv.fr/sites/FR9101482.html |title=Natura 2000 : Fiche du site FR9101482 (POSIDONIES DE LA COTE DES ALBERES) |accessdate=2009-04-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206192701/http://natura2000.ecologie.gouv.fr/sites/FR9101482.html |archivedate=2008-12-06 }}</ref>
This marine plants forms large underwater meadows of high importance to the [[Nature conservation|environmental conservation]] of the region.

== Recreational opportunities ==
* [[Biking]]
* [[Hiking]]
* [[Walking]]
* [[Bird watching]]
* [[Human swimming|Swimming]]
* [[Scuba diving]]

== See also ==
{{Portal|Ecology}}
* [[Côte Vermeille]]
* [[European Route of Industrial Heritage]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|Histoire de Paulilles}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100417053735/http://www.conservatoire-du-littoral.fr/front/process/Content.asp?rub=8&rubec=108&site=1990&entite=108 Website of the Conservatoire du littoral]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090225032932/http://www.cg66.fr/environnement/espaces_naturels/paulilles/index.html Presentation of the rehab project by the General Council of Pyrenees Orientales]
{{coord|42|30|05|N|3|07|25|E |region:FR_type:landmark |display=title}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20081115043453/http://www.cete-aix.fr/imgarea/Cotita_9_Paulilles_oct2008_COCHE_INCA.pdf Detailed architecture information on the rehabilitation of Paulilles]

{{Visitor attractions in Pyrénées-Orientales}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Nature reserves in France]]
[[Category:Protected areas of France]]
[[Category:Industrial history]]
[[Category:Geography of Pyrénées-Orientales]]
[[Category:Northern Catalonia]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Pyrénées-Orientales]]

Paulilles - Revision history

imported>Entranced98: Adding local short description: "Protected area in France", overriding Wikidata description "protected area"