Espéraza
Encyclopedia
Espéraza is a commune
in the Aude
department in southern France
.
It lies on the River Aude just north of the foothills of the Pyrenees
.
Communes of France
The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...
in the Aude
Aude
Aude is a department in south-central France named after the river Aude. The local council also calls the department "Cathar Country".Aude is also a frequent feminine French given name in Francophone countries, deriving initially from Aude or Oda, a wife of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, and mother...
department in southern France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
It lies on the River Aude just north of the foothills of the Pyrenees
Pyrenees
The Pyrenees is a range of mountains in southwest Europe that forms a natural border between France and Spain...
.
Population
History
- The church was built during the 13th century.
- One of the old pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela passes this way, through the mountains and on into Spain.
- In the early 20th century, Espéraza was known for hat making. The town has a Hat Making Museum. Around 1815, the village experienced a considerable economic growth thanks to Bugarach hatters who settled there. First in 1830, then 1878, then Espéraza enjoyed a prosperous period in the headgear. The arrival of the railway at that time certainly encouraged this growth industry. By 1929, there were 3000 Espéraza workers and 14 factories which allowed the village to become the second largest in the world of felt hats (after Monza, Italy). But fashion, a phenomenon unknown at the time, had a terrible impact on the garment industry. The hat was less and less worn in the mid-20th century, plunged Espéraza into an economic depression. Now all that remains of the 14 Espéraza hat factories is a museum after the last factorie burnt down in 2002.
- Especially since the late 20th century, Espéraza is known for the dinosaurDinosaurDinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
fossil bones and eggs discovered in the area. Those discoveries not only begun in the end of the 19th century, excavations still continue nowadays and still continue delivering new species of dinosaurs. DinosauriaDinosauria (museum)Dinosauria is a museum devoted to dinosaurs in Espéraza, Aude, a département of southern France.Opened in 1992, it is directed by the association which created it, which is also named Dinosauria. The museum exhibits at least 35 different species of dinosaurs, mounted skeletons or life-size models....
, the local museum, exhibits those fossils all along with life size reconstructions of dinosaurs.