View source for Canigó

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Short description|Mountain in the Pyrenees of southern France}}
{{Infobox mountain
| name              = Canigó
| photo             = Vinça, la retenue d'eau et le Canigou.jpg
| photo_caption     = Canigó, 2009
| elevation_m       = 2784.70
| elevation_ref     = <ref name="elevation">{{cite web |access-date=25 June 2024 |author=Luna Simon-Soubieille et Camille Richard--Merlat |date=24 June 2024 |title=Le Canigó mesure 2 784,70 mètres, selon les géomètres-experts des Pyrénées-Orientales |url=https://www.lindependant.fr/2024/06/24/mesure-du-canigo-un-symbole-pour-les-catalans-mais-pas-le-plus-haut-pic-des-pyrenees-orientales-12037447.php |website=lindependant.fr}}<!-- auto-translated from French by Module:CS1 translator -->.</ref>
| prominence_m      = 550
| prominence_ref    = 
| range             = [[Pyrenees]]
| parent_peak       = 
| listing           = [[List of mountains of France|Mountains of France]]
| location          = [[Pyrénées-Orientales]], [[France]]
| map               = Pyrenees
| coordinates       = {{coord|42|31|08|N|02|27|24|E|type:mountain_region:FR_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref   = 
| topo              = 
| first_ascent      = According to tradition, in 1285 by [[Peter III of Aragon]]
| easiest_route     = hike
|fetchwikidata=ALL
}}

The '''Canigó''' ({{langx|ca|Canigó}} {{IPA|ca|kəniˈɣo|}}, {{IPA|ca|kəniˈɣu|local}}; {{langx|fr|Canigou}} {{IPA|fr|kaniɡu|}}; {{langx|la|mons Canigosus or Canigonis}}) is a [[mountain]] located in the [[Pyrenees]] of southern [[France]].

The Canigó is located less than {{convert|50|km}} from the sea and has an elevation of {{convert|2,784.70|m}}.<ref name="elevation"/> Due to its sharp flanks and its dramatic location near the coast, until the 18th century the Canigó was believed to be the highest mountain in the [[Pyrenees]].<ref>[http://histoireduroussillon.free.fr/Decouvrir/Reliefs.php Histoire du Roussillon - Le relief des Pyrénées-Orientales]</ref>

Being between south and [[Northern Catalonia]], the mountain has a historical symbolical significance for [[Catalan people]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ribas |first1=Joseph |title=El Canigó història i mite |date=1996 |publisher=Eumo Editorial |location=Vic |isbn=9788476027578 |pages=11–12}}</ref>

In good weather, it is visible from [[Marseille]] on 8 February and 31 October, due to atmospheric optical effects.{{cn|date=October 2025}}

== Geography ==
The Canigó is located in [[Pyrénées-Orientales]], south of [[Prades, Pyrénées-Orientales|Prades]] and north of [[Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste]]. Its summit lies on the border between two communes: [[Vernet-les-Bains]] and [[Taurinya]] (although the territories of two other communes - [[Casteil]] and [[Valmanya]] - approach quite closely to the summit).<ref>Pierre Bousigue, Canigou - de l'ombre à la lumière, 2019, p118</ref> Its location makes it visible from the plains of [[Roussillon]] and from [[Conflent]] in [[France]], and as well from [[Empordà]] in [[Spain]].<ref>''Guide du Roussillon et de l'Andorre : touristique, historique, social, économique'', Perpignan, Sud Roussillon, 1968, 286 p.</ref>

Twice a year, in early February and at the end of October, with good weather, the Canigó can be seen at sunset from as far as [[Marseille]], {{cvt|250|km}} away, by [[refraction]] of light.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://canigou.allauch.free.fr/Explications.htm | title=Le Canigou vu depuis Allauch et Marseille }}</ref> This phenomenon was observed in 1808 by baron [[Franz Xaver von Zach]] from the [[Notre-Dame de la Garde]] basilica in Marseille.<ref>{{66 PHPC}}</ref> All year long, it can also be seen, with good weather, from [[Agde]], [[Port-Camargue]] and the [[Montagne Noire]].

<gallery mode=packed>
Canigó.jpeg|Canigó, 2004
Canigou April 1st 2024.jpg|Canigó from Bompas, Perpignan, 1 April 2024
Canigou2.jpg|Canigó from Bompas, Perpignan 31 March 2024
Canigó.jpg|View from the Pic dels Set Homes
</gallery>

[[File:Canigou face Est.jpg|thumb|The east face of the Pic du Canigó]]

==Trekking and sightseeing==
{{wide image|Pyrenees Canigou Summit.jpg|600px|View from the summit}}

Jeep tracks on the north side of the massif lead to the Chalet des Cortalets (at 2150 m) which is a popular outpost with walkers.

There are two ancient monasteries at the foot of the mountain, [[Martin-du-Canigou]] and [[Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa]].

==Canigó Flame==
[[File:Encesa de la Flama al cim del Canigó.JPG|thumb|The Flame being lit at the top of Canigó]]
The mountain has symbolical significance for [[Catalonia|Catalan people]]. On its summit stands a cross that is often decorated with the [[Senyera|Catalan flag]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pyrenees-team.com/pteam/photos/canigou/canigoug/3 |title=Pyrénées Team - Croix du Canigó |access-date=1 February 2009 |archive-date=19 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719002236/http://www.pyrenees-team.com/pteam/photos/canigou/canigoug/3 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Every year on 23 June, the night before [[Midsummer|St. John's day]] (''nit de Sant Joan''), there is a ceremony called ''Flama del Canigó''. French Catalans carry a flaming torch from [[Perpignan]] to the cross and the Catalonian flag on top of the mountain, and people light bonfires throughout the area.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YT_JBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA58 |pages=58–59 |title=The Colors of Catalonia: In the Footsteps of Twentieth-Century Artists |first=Virginie |last=Raguenaud |publisher=Gemma |year=2012 |isbn=9781934848425}}</ref>

==Literature==
The Canigó inspired the epic poem "Canigó"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ribas |first1=Joseph |title=Canigou, montagne sacrée des Pyrénées |date=1993 |publisher=Loubatières |location=Portet-sur-Garonne |isbn=978-2-86266606-8 |pages=128–129 |edition=1}}</ref> by Catalan poet [[Jacint Verdaguer i Santaló]]. 
In these verses Verdaguer compares the snowy mountain to a [[Magnolia]] flower (pages 27–28):
[[File:500ptes.jpg|150px|thumb|This Spanish banknote of 1971 had a portrait of Verdaguer on one side, and a picture of Canigó, from [[Vernet-les-Bains]] (in France), on the other.]]
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|ca|Lo Canigó és una magnòlia immensa
que en un rebrot del Pirineu se bada;
per abelles té fades que la volten,
per papallons los cisnes i les àligues.
Formen son càlzer escarides serres
que plateja l'hivern i l'estiu daura,
grandiós beire on beu olors l'estrella,
los aires rellentor, los núvols aigua.
Les boscúries de pins són sos bardissos,
los Estanyols ses gotes de rosada,
i és son pistil aqueix palau aurífic,
somni d'[[Aloja (mythology)|aloja]] que del cel davalla.}}

|The Canigó is an immense magnolia
that blooms in an offshoot of the Pyrenees;
its bees are the fairies that surround it,
and its butterflies the swans and the eagles.
Its cup are jagged mountain chains,
colored in silver by the winter and in gold by the summer,
huge cup where the star drinks fragrances,
the airs freshness and the clouds water.
The pine forests are its hedges
and the ponds its dew drops,
and its pistil is that golden palace,
seen by the nymph in her dreams descending from heaven.}}

While he was staying in [[Vernet-les-Bains]] in 1911, Kipling wrote about Canigou. In a letter to the Club Alpin, he praised it as a "[[:Commons:File:Kipling letter about Canigou mountain.pdf|magician among mountains]]".

Kipling also wrote a light-hearted short story entitled ''Why Snow Falls at Vernet''. It makes fun of the English habit of always talking about the weather.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/whysnowfallsatvernetkipling1911|title = Why Snow Falls at Vernet ( Kipling, 1911)|date = 20 February 2003}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Prieuré de Serrabone]]
* [[St-Martin-du-Canigou]] monastery
* [[Vernet-les-Bains]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*[http://ca.wikisource.org/wiki/Canig%C3%B3 Canigó by Verdaguer; Full text - Wikitext]

==External links==
{{Commons category|Canigou}}
*[http://www.canigo.cat/ Canigo.cat] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526131511/http://canigo.cat/ |date=2013-05-26 }} All information about the Canigou massif: nature, culture and itineraries (in Catalan)

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

[[Category:Mountains of the Pyrenees]]
[[Category:Catalan symbols]]
[[Category:Mountains of Pyrénées-Orientales]]