Sournia Sornià Sornhan
Commune
A general view of Sournia
Coat of arms
Location of Sournia
Sournia Show map of France Sournia Show map of Occitanie
Coordinates: 42°43′43″N 2°26′34″E / 42.7286°N 2.4428°E / 42.7286; 2.4428
Country	France
Region	Occitania
Department	Pyrénées-Orientales
Arrondissement	Prades
Canton	La Vallée de l'Agly
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Yvon Crambes[1]
Area 1	29.99 km2 (11.58 sq mi)
Population  (Jan. 2020)[2]	492
• Density	16/km2 (42/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
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.

Sournia (French pronunciation: [suʁnja] ^ⓘ; Catalan: Sornià; Occitan: Sornhan) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in the Occitanie 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 La Vallée de l'Agly 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.

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 2017 was 498 people. For some reason at the end of the 19th century, the population of Sournia seemed to have a reputation for having one of the longest longevity in France, even though this fact was not clearly verified.^[3]

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.