Collioure.

(In Catalan: Cotlliure) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France.

It lies on the Mediterranean and was a part of the ancient Roussillon province.

Collioure AOC is also the name of a fine full-bodied red wine made of grenache and mourvedre grapes, produced here in one of the smallest AOC vineyards in France. The ancient terraced vines in the hills behind the town also provide tiny sunbaked grapes for the famous Banyuls (Banyuls AOC) aperitif and desert wine.
As the town has a strong Catalan culture, its own motto has been adopted by one of the local Catalan rugby team (USA Perpignan, France): Sempre endavant, mai morirem (Always forward, We'll never die). Under Michel Moly's leadership, the town has an alternative motto, Collioure sera toujours Collioure (Collioure shall always be Collioure) quoting French singer Maurice Chevalier's famous song titled Paris sera toujours Paris.
Collioure is famous throughout France for its three-day August 15 celebration, which attracts twice its population in visitors, who come to see the town's bodégas and fireworks.

Culture.

Collioure's church, Notre-Dame-des-Anges.In the early 20th century Collioure became a center of artistic activity, with several Fauve artists making it their meeting place. André Derain, Georges Braque, Othon Friesz, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Tsuguharu Fujita have all been inspired by Collioure's royal castle, medieval streets, its lighthouse converted into the church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges and its typical Mediterranean bay. Collioure's cemetery contains the tomb of Spanish poet Antonio Machado, who fled here to escape advancing Francoist troops at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.
The British historical novelist Patrick O'Brian lived in the town from 1949 until his death in 2000, and his novel The Catalans graphically describes Collioure life before major changes took place. He also wrote a biography of Picasso, who was an acquaintance. O'Brian and his wife Mary are also buried in the town cemetery.
Part of the action in Stephen Clarke's fourth comic novel featuring Paul West, Dial M for Merde, takes place in Collioure.
Machado's grave.Twenty reproductions of Matisse’s and Derain’s works are exposed exactly where these two masters of Fauvism painted the originals, in the early 20th century.

History.

Collioure used to be divided into two villages separated by the river Douy, the old town to the south named Port d'Avall (today known as Le Faubourg) and the upstream port, Port d'Amunt (the present La Ville). Collioure was taken in 1642 by the French troops of Maréchal de la Meilleraye. A decade later, the town was officially surrendered to France by the 1659 Treaty of Pyrenees. Because of its highly strategic importance, the town's fortifications, the Château Royal de Collioure and the Fort Saint-Elme stronghold, were improved by the military engineer Vauban during the reign of Louis XIV. Nevertheless, Collioure was besieged and occupied by the Spanish troops in 1793, marking the last Spanish attempt to take the city. The blockade was broken a year later by general Jacques François Dugommier. Twin towns Soria, Castile and León, Spain.

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