Welcome to Lleida Province!
Lleida is a province in Catalonia. The Province of Lleida (Occitan: Lhèida) is one of the four provinces of Catalonia. In the western part of Catalonia, and is bordered by the Provinces of Girona, Barcelona, Tarragona, Zaragoza and Huesca and the countries of France and Andorra. It is often popularly referred to as Ponent (i.e. the West).
Of the population of 414,015 (2007), about 30% live in the capital, Lleida. Some other towns in the Province of Lleida are La Seu d'Urgell (see of the archbishop, who is also the co-prince to Andorra), Mollerussa, Cervera, Tàrrega, and Balaguer. There are 231 municipalities in Lleida. (See List of municipalities in Lleida.)
Located in the Pyrenees, the Aran Valley is a special comarca with greater autonomy and with Aranese, a variety of Occitan, as its official language.
The Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park is located in this province.
The province enjoys a thriving fruit-growing industry, including pears and peaches.
According to the 2006 Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia, the provinces of Catalonia are due to be superseded by territorial units (unitats territorials) or vegueries based on a more historical political division, and the Province of Lleida would become two territorial units: Ponent or Terres de Lleida Vegueria (the entire southern area) and Alt Pirineu i Aran Vegueria (the entire northern part plus the comarca of Cerdanya, part of which is currently in the Province of Girona), the county of Solsona going to the Comarques Centrals (Central Counties) Vegueria. The plan is on hold for the time being (2015).